The Flowering Of Canadian Patriotism

Canadians don’t usually wear our patriotism on our sleeves. We like to keep it classy, subtle, sophisticated. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. We keep it neatly tucked away in our unconscious mind, just like we tend to keep our flags folded up somewhere until July 1^st. But when the spectre of American annexation rises, everything changes.

I have never seen so many Canada flags in my life – fluttering from decks, from cars, from pickup trucks, strung across hedges and fences. One household presumably impacted by the 2025 Maple Leaf Flag Shortage has printed out an image of the flag and taped it to the inside of a window – resourceful! One local grocery store is bedecked with nationalist dazzle like never before, and shoppers are scrutinizing product labels with laser focus.

The woke folk have for the most part gone silent with their usual campaign to topple statues of great Canadians, rename every school and street in sight, and vilify our history in school curriculum. All of this nonsense was a luxury we could afford to tolerate in peacetime. When our sovereignty is threatened, Canadians toss the self-flagellation aside like an old glove.

Our sovereignty is under siege by the Idiocracy presently governing the United States, a country which has since before its founding in the late 1700s believed that it is endowed by God with a Manifest Destiny to overspread its limits and absorb North and South America (this whimsical vision now apparently includes Greenland).

In 1775, nine months before the Declaration of Independence, Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery led an unprovoked assault against Quebec and were soundly defeated. In 1812, the U.S. launched another invasion, which Thomas Jefferson claimed would be a “mere matter of marching”. The British, French Canadian, and Native defenders fought valiantly and drove back the invaders. One British force put the White House to the torch, and over dinner that evening extinguished their candles so as to dine by the light of the flames.

The U.S. turned to other means. Instead of congratulating Canada, Congress passed a unanimous resolution condemning our Confederation. The U.S. allowed Irish Fenians to use America as a base from which to launch violent cross-border raids. American agents tried to co-opt Louis Riel’s first rebellion by bribing him to support annexation (Riel refused). American designs to seize what is now Canada’s west coast were frustrated by patriots like Amor De Cosmos, who founded the Times Colonist and pushed for B.C. to join Canada – there’s a man who truly deserves a statue!

In the 1891 and 1911 elections, free trade with the U.S. was put to the ballot and rejected by Canadians – in both cases, the U.S. government saw economic union as a path to eventual political union. In the 1988 free trade election…but that’s a story that deserves its own column.

By no means do I hate Americans, but history shows there has always been an element in the U.S. that supports annexation. That is why we remain vigilant, buy Canadian, and fly our flag.

Editor’s note: My 500-word Counter Current column is published once every two weeks in the Islands Marketplace paper on Salt Spring Island. This piece will appear in the February 21st, 2025 issue.