Should I Hang My Head over My Heritage?
I sometimes take the occasion to write a July 1 post for Proclaim & Defend because, as a Canadian, I have an inner compulsion (no doubt driven by our national angst) to remind the world (i.e. my American friends) that I am different from you all. (See, I can’t even do “y’all” right.)
Kidding aside, this year serious challenges rise on the left and on the right against the sense of pride that most Christians in free and democratic societies take in their homelands. The citizens of the United States are well-known for their patriotism, and your day of celebration will come just around the corner. In other countries around the globe, though nations with less liberty and freedom than either Canada or the USA, people will still find pleasure when their nation makes some achievement in the world. We only need to witness the joy that an Olympic gold medal brings. Even the lesser medals stir us up. When Greg Joy won a bronze in high jump in the Montreal Olympics, my teenage heart surged with pride, along with all my fellow Canadians. We usually do fairly well in the Winter games, not so well in the Summer event.
Back to this year… On the left, we find in Canada accusing voices raised against our nation, our history, and our leaders of the past, along with anger and shame about our sense of nationhood. In comradeship with leftists just to our south, we find growing opposition to acknowledging the achievements of our past. Our first prime minister, John A. MacDonald, finds statues honoring him taken down, stored away, with a sense of embarrassment. MacDonald, along with others, made Canada a nation, independent from Britain, with a system of justice and rule of law that enshrined freedom and makes Canada one of the leading nations in the world to this day. (Yes, we aren’t a first-ranked power, but we are among the top ten or so in terms of personal and political freedom. That is something.)
MacDonald, along with many others, including our current prime minister’s father, supported a system of residential schools for “native” children. The idea was to take the children away from their homes on the reservations and educate them “properly” so they would assimilate into the dominant culture. Whatever merit such an idea might have had (not much, if any, almost everyone agrees), the desired result never came about. Along with the bitterness, anger, and disruption caused by forced removal of children from their homes, today we know that many of the children of those residential schools suffered real abuse, physical and sexual. Recently, with the discoveries of numerous unmarked graves holding the remains of missing children at some of the residential schools, the wounds are reopening. Our First Nations people (as they are now called) are understandably upset, and so should we all be. The whole system was wrong-headed from the beginning and could not achieve what it set out to do, instead doing much harm.
This is one issue, among several others, that have the left especially stirred up about Canada. The usual Critical Race Theory attacks on traditions, institutions, and historical figures are busy demanding the renaming of schools and streets, the toppling of statues and the condemnation of any who don’t pronounce the shibboleths of the left correctly. In my city, Victoria, BC, the “woke” city mayor and her council cancelled all Canada Day celebrations. I guess they are ashamed to live here.
On the right, many in Canada are likewise outraged and exercised about their government. During this most Covid of all years, we’ve seen a frightening rise of government intervention and authority in all our lives. It is just now ebbing nationwide, at varying rates province-by-province. Reportedly, in my province, we will be “masks optional” starting today. I’ve told people which way I’m opting!
The onerous restrictions are not the only fear of those on the right. Our Federal government is taking steps to curtail personal freedom, finding the excesses of online behaviour as the excuse. The proposed bill addresses “hate speech” online. While threats and violence are unacceptable, critics fear liberal courts and government officials expanding the definition so that free speech turns into suppressed speech. Freedom loving citizens have understandable fears concerning these measures.
Not only that, we also see the actions of governments in some provinces enforcing the Covid mitigation restrictions in place over this last year. Notoriously, churches received some of this attention. Two pastors in Alberta, Bible believing men, found themselves at odds with the government. They both experienced arrest this spring. One of them currently remains in jail. Other churches in Ontario and British Columbia were heavily fined for their resistance to restrictions and are fighting those fines in the courts.
It is not my purpose to argue here concerning the legitimacy of government action in these cases. Some on the right call this religious persecution. Others see this as legitimate government activity, given the rule of law and the responsibility of governments for public health. I will note that Christians suspect government of anti-Christian animus, almost by default. The Lexham Bible Dictionary defines persecution this way: “Mistreatment of a person or group on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, or beliefs.”1 The key to discerning persecution, according to this definition, is the basis of the treatment. If the treatment is because of “religion or beliefs,” it would seem to be “mistreatment” and therefore persecution. If the treatment is because of unlawful actions, it would seem to be a different matter altogether.
Regardless, the growing “woke” domination of governments, from the national level all the way down to the local civic level; the willing acceptance of government intervention in normal freedoms; the shocking treatment of some Christians — these all cause people on the right to wonder what happened to their country.
And that brings me to my opening question: Should I Hang My Head over My Heritage?
It is true that I live in a flawed society led by flawed human beings. It is true that some of my leaders despise my faith and would suppress it if they could. Nevertheless…
- I live in a nation where I have a right to vote and have a real part to play in deciding how things are done in governing our affairs. Not so in many nations around the world.
- I live in a nation where the rule of law grants me protection from the whims of tyrants, holding my leaders to account for their actions.
- I live in a nation with a system of justice based on laws, I have the right to appeal decisions rendered against me or my interests. I can band together with like-minded citizens and make my voice heard in the courts.
- I live in a nation where freedom of speech and freedom of the press exist. I can speak out through the media in various ways to make my voice heard. I need fear no reprisals for this. Again, not so in many other nations.
- I live in a nation where the government can’t force me into a government-approved church (there is no such established church in Canada, praise the Lord!). I can freely preach the gospel, call men and women to faith, and disciple Christians openly. None of these freedoms look to vanish any time soon.
One could go on, but I live in a nation that many people of the world envy, and will pay a great price or take great risks in attempts to join our society.
These benefits came about in my nation because of the flawed men who built the country (and are subject now to cancellation by the ignorant mobs). The current leaders are likewise flawed. They will get their turn at historical scrutiny eventually, some sooner than others. Though some of them may oppose the principles that gave me the freedoms I enjoy, their antagonism is no cause for shame in me! (They may be prompts to greater activity in exercising my political rights, however!)
Whether it be the errors of the past or errors of the future, the blessings I enjoy in Canada, today, on Canada Day remain my real heritage as a Canadian. They can cancel Canada Day celebrations, but they can’t cancel the essential blessings that make my country one that the world envies, despite our flaws.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
- Ronald D. Roberts, “Persecution,” in John D. Barry et al., eds., Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016). [↩]
Nicely put. Warmed my American by birth, Canadian by choice, heart. God keep our land, glorious and free.
My ancestors fled religious persecution in the 17th century to seek freedom in the New World – in what would become Canada. My grandfather was born in Lennoxville, Quebec. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal. So, from a man who considers himself 1/4 Canadian, Joyeuse fete du Canada!
Great article, Don.
Interesting thoughts, as we have in the last year been living in tyranny have had all our human rights violated and Indigenous peoples are still to this day being violated,killed,murdered,poisoned. But you have that privilege as you are probably white and you and your people are not originally from here! Just because it use to be that way doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. We are not trees we can move to change, move to something that represents trust, understanding TRUE reconciliation. Don’t confuse shame with recognizing time for CHANGE.
Hi Jennie
Thank you for the comment.
Well, for my part, I have nowhere else to go. I am originally from here. My great-great-grandfather was “from” the Atlantic Ocean (he was born on a ship coming over from Scotland). His family left Scotland because they had nothing and the landowners were squeezing the poor out. He grew up to become a shipbuilder in Nova Scotia and then from their various branches of my family meandered west. They built a life for themselves.
It is true that many things were done that were wrong, including the residential schools. I had a friend who was in one of the residential school children. The whole story is complicated, and it is easy to sit in judgement because we know better now, right? But my friend told me stories that showed that the schools were truly the wrong solution to the problem of living together in this land. One of the things that helped my friend was that he found Jesus Christ as his saviour and learned to forgive. I don’t think the solution to that problem (or the many other problems between First Nations people and the rest of us) can be solved by stoking anger and “putting up your dukes” as my friend used to say.
I had the privilege of preaching the gospel to his whole band when my friend passed away a few years ago. There were many parts of that ceremony that were new to me, as his band did things at a funeral that were different from my experience. Two things in particular impressed me. One was that, during the meal after the funeral, various ones would stand up, say who they were and where they were from (some came from a distance) and announce that they were contributing a gift to the family to help with the funeral expenses. I don’t know if that is the practice everywhere, but it was done here and I was so impressed with that kind of community experience. The second thing was at the graveside. There, after the casket was lowered into the graveside, and a brief service, those who were there took turns putting a few shovel fulls of dirt into the grave. In other words, it wasn’t left open, and people leave it to the groundskeepers, everyone who was there just pitched in to finish the job. I had a hand in that too. That kind of community spirit was very impressive to me.
So here is the thing. There has to come a time when we put the past in the past. My ancestors were mistreated at times in the old country. That’s why they came looking for a new country. If you want to go further back, no doubt among my ancestors were Viking raiders who did their share of mistreating as well. I don’t think we will go forward if all we do is promote anger over past wrongs. Yes they were wrong. What can we do about it? Will money solve it? Will taking turns at oppressing people solve it? I don’t think so.
Our country was built by people who were flawed. In some cases, their worldview was very deficient. Nevertheless, they gave us a country where we have free speech, freedom to move about, freedom to take advantage of education, freedom to make something out of future. I think we need to spend our energy in that direction, starting with faith in Jesus Christ, then working hard and living for him day by day. If we do that, he will bless us abundantly. In the meantime, for all their flaws, the founders of our country gave us a place where we have the freedom to do these things. We should rejoice in that. That is my point.
Thanks for prompting my second essay! And thanks again for commenting.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3