It should have been obvious that the anti-Canadian left would come for Remembrance Day eventually. The bigger surprise was how long they waited before incorporating ritual humiliation and scolding into the ceremonies of Nov. 11.
Of all the holidays, sombre and celebratory, Remembrance Day should strike decent and competent people as the one above the culture wars. It is deeply dishonourable to shoehorn modern ideologies onto the holiday that commemorates and pays tribute to Canada’s soldiers, both living and passed on.
Then again, Remembrance Day is also the holiday that would most offend the rapacious sensibilities of the anti-Canadian left. The Red Ensign, Canada’s Union Jack-adorned flag prior to 1965, flies alongside the modern red Maple Leaf. God Save the King is sung alongside O Canada.
More than any other holiday, Remembrance Day makes people aware that there was a Canada prior to the 21st century, in which flags, patriotism, and martial duty were among the most deeply held values. That is not to say that Remembrance Day should ever be a celebration of warfare or militarism. It must never.
What Remembrance Day does remind people of is that men and women were willing to volunteer by the hundreds of thousands to fight for a country and empire that the anti-Canadian left wish to gut and render meaningless.
Aretha Phillip, chief of protocol for the City of Toronto, began the city’s Remembrance Day ceremony with a series of land acknowledgments, mentions of colonialism, settlers, and allusions to the Atlantic slave trade. As I’ve previously noted, only clowns refer to other Canadians as “settlers,” but this is, after all, Toronto’s municipal government in question.
Land acknowledgments, which began as thoughtful measures of respect paid to Indigenous peoples on appropriate occasions, have evolved into an ideology. Every event paid for by the taxpayer is not complete without describing Canada as sitting upon “unceded,” “unconquered,” or “unoccupied” lands, all of which delegitimize the country.
By invoking decolonial ideology, Phillip’s words undermined the moral foundations of the Canada that the fallen and living soldiers made the greatest sacrifices for. There is no scenario in decolonial theory in which the birth, life, and times of Canada are anything but forced, oppressive, and unnatural.
What is the point of having the state honour the soldiers of the supposed “settler-colonial” state that, as decolonial ideologues have made it clear, is inherently evil.
Aretha Phillip was not alone in dishonouring the fallen. Calgary’s unpopular mayor, Jyoti Gondek, also made sure that the settler-Indigenous distinction was mentioned at length during the city’s ceremonies on Monday morning.
Comforting as it would be to believe that such decolonial faux-musings were confined to Toronto, this movement has infected the entire country.
It is entirely plausible that Aretha Phillip and Jyoti Gondek have no self-awareness and ordered their younger, equally clueless staff to write their speeches for them. Or, perhaps it was all deliberate, and either Phillip, Gondek, or their staff knew exactly what they were doing.
The attempt by the modern left to refashion Canada Day into a day of solemn remembrance, with all the spirit of celebrating a dead loved one’s birthday, fits the pattern of delegitimizing the national idea of Canada.
Surely, for the urban left that dwells in soulless grey buildings and revels in having unlimited Thai food options on Uber Eats, the national Canada is a foreign country. The red Maple Leaf flag is simply a corporate logo for the global outpost of post-nationalism labelled as Canada, and the Red Ensign may as well be the flag of Uruguay as far as familiarity goes.
Post-national and decolonial ideology are not identical, but they pair together more smoothly than almonds and milk chocolate. If the idea of Canada becomes one associated purely with oppression and evil, then it makes complete sense for it to become a country where, “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,” as post-national enthusiasts like PM Justin Trudeau would have it.
One of the biggest wonders of decolonial and post-national ideology is how such niche sets of beliefs became so powerful.
From statue toppling to flag burning, much of the public has found expressions of that ideology to be distasteful at best, and repellent at worst. Leftists do understand this, which is why they act outside of the law by tearing down monuments, while simultaneously infiltrating the public service. It should be made clear that there is no evidence that this infiltration is a mass, coordinated conspiracy.
However, the past 12 months of non-stop anti-Israel demonstrations have proved that huge swathes of university and college students have been fully captured by this anti-Canadian, anti-civilization ideology. When one spends four years at university and comes away with a degree in sociology or post-colonial studies, public sector make-work is one of the few options available that does not pay minimum wage.
These bureaucrats, whether at the federal, provincial, or municipal level, are the ones who plan the taxpayer holiday ceremonies and write the scripts for the actual politicians and managers.
It would be ideal if Remembrance Day remained the one holiday free of decolonial, anti-Canadian ideology and a safe harbour from the culture war. That is not the case anymore.
The left needs no invitation to desecrate Remembrance Day, just as muggers do not require invitations to rob innocent civilians. When attacked by a vicious assailant, there are two options: offer no defence and hope the mugger will have mercy, or fight back with the same energy and determination to save what is yours.
National Post