wp ready

BULKING UP.

The Angus Reid Institute revealed last month that the percentage of us who feel “very proud” to be Canadians has fallen from 78% in 1985 to 34% in 2024.

This was before Donald Trump called for our annexation, which 94% of us don’t want and which 4 in 5 Americans say should be up to us.

It seems Canada’s flickering pride shines most brightly when it’s threatened. But what can we do to restore that pride so that it doesn’t appear only when Canada’s very existence is at stake? What can we do about our painful reluctance to beat our chests with pride at being Canadians?

There are some time-honoured ways nations bulk up on patriotism. One of them is to make something mandatory that used to be voluntary. A right becomes an obligation because we’re all in this together. Like…

1. Compulsory military service. Nearly all countries have mandatory military service during times of war. 66 countries have it all the time. If you’re a North Korean man, you’ll serve a minimum of 8 years from age 17 (and 5 years if you’re a woman.) Closer to home, Israel has largely compulsory service for three years for men and two years for women, and Switzerland, Finland, and Norway all require military service of 6 to 12 months, Switzerland and Finland for men, and Norway for men and women.

With most every Israeli from 18 to 21 deferring their education or first civilian jobs until their early 20s, Israel now has one of the most robust entrepreneurial cultures in the world, and especially entrepreneurial military cultures, and it shows.

2. Compulsory national service. Compulsory non-military service mostly happens as a variant in countries that have compulsory military service.

That said, in 2021 France’s Emmanuel Macron launched a national service program that targets all 15-to-17-year olds to “increase the cohesion of the nation.” It involves a 12-day residential stay and 84 hours a year of volunteer work.

True, it’s voluntary, but participants “have to hand over their mobile phones to their supervisors and are placed in collective accommodations far away from their home community.”

Also, as an American you can still volunteer for The Peace Corps, now in its 64th year, and Canada also still has Katimavik, founded in 1977 by Jacques Hébert and Barney Danson, though no one would call it a broad national initiative anymore.

3. Compulsory voting is also used to enforce patriotism. But while over two dozen countries claim they have mandatory voting in national elections, and you may have trouble securing day care if you don’t vote in Italy or Mexico, only two countries have formal sanctions for not voting: Singapore and Australia. Their citizens may be wild about their homelands, but I don’t sense it’s because they’re forced to vote.

But in this month especially, when our ideals and world both seem on fire, let me modestly propose different kinds of compulsory activities that Canadians can engage in which will set us apart from other nations in the world and thereby help forge a different kind of national identity.

For example, why don’t we offer compulsory death education in our schools?

We’re getting there with sex education, and some schools offer courses on how to handle our finances. But while sex and money affect most of us, death comes to us all. And to not learn about the physical, psychological and practical realities of death strikes me as cruel and unusual punishment for families everywhere.

And why don’t we require that young people spend time with frail old people, so they can see what the arc of their own lives will be? I know that youth is wasted on the young, but helping old people gives you a preview of just how precious life is and encourages you not to waste a single day of it.

And finally, what if Canada was the first nation on earth to ban the use of tobacco?

Not just in public places, but everywhere. Can you give me a single argument why people should be allowed to smoke when its normal and usual use can kill you and thousands of others, and cost the nation billions of dollars each year? The only one I know is, “it’s legal.” Which is wearing thin.

Meanwhile…

1. Liberals born and bred. What the once and future kings of the Liberal Party think about the world. First, Michael Ignatieff in The Washington. Post. Next, Mark Carney on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

2. Mating habits of the rich and British. First, how Michael Caine got the girl. Next, Bill Nighy (who’s rumoured to be dating Vogue’s Anna Wintour) on looking sharp and chic. Finally, Fergie exiting the 60 Minutes set long ago in Sydney.

3. How America will invade Canada. This isn’t the first time Washington has rattled its sabres against us. In 1927, the US War Department drew up plans for invading Canada called War Plan Red, as part of a hypothetical war with the British Empire.

And why America will annex/buy/invade Greenland.

4. Travel broadens your perspective. But too much travel? TVO’s new six-part doc series, Overbooked, premiering Jan. 24, shows how to rethink it.

Meanwhile, the luxury hospitality group Belmond has launched half a dozen one-hour ‘Long Shots.’ They’re Slow Travel videos of their Royal Scotsman choo-chooing through the Scottish Highlands, to the waves washing up onto Portofino, to…well, you get the idea.

5. Bring on the doorstoppers. Why we should read more Dickens and Tolstoy. Plus why knowing things about the past is hard. Plus, you can still buy these dictionaries of political correctness. And finally, where to find scissors that last.

6. Where deranged masculinity is all the rage. Tina Brown reports. Plus, what happens when a father acts as his son’s second in a duel…and when guys surprise.

7. Tips for a better life. Start with 11 tiny ways. Then add a spoon of self-confidence.Then choose one of Drake or Kendrick Lamar. No, you can’t choose both. And never, ever take someone’s handicapped parking space.

8. I like to watch…the 15 best movie endings of all time, ranked by quality, impact and cultural staying power…plus 8 perfect episodes of TV, from Veep to Girls to Gray’s Anatomy.

9. It’s okay if Canada isn’t for you. A CBC poll reveals that two-fifths of newcomers would rather go home. Even now…”Statistics Canada’s latest analysis on out-migration shows more than 15 per cent of immigrants leave the country within 20 years of arriving.”

10. What I’m correcting. Last week in my essay on post-literate societies, I claimed that “99% of Canadians can read and write.” This is wrong (and, as one corrector noted, “risibly so”) if the definition of “literacy” is applied to the percentage of Canadians who can do so at least at a high school level. It turns out in doing that, half of us fall short.

I will be in the sun next week, never far from my computer, but far from eager to turn it on. The next Omnium Gatherum blog will arrive dark and early on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Share this post

Leave a Comment

RamsayWrites

Subscribe to my Free Weekly Omnium-Gatherum Blog:

  • Every Saturday the Omnium-Gatherum blog is delivered straight to your InBox
  • Full archive
  • Posting comments and joining the community
  • First to hear about other Ramsay events and activities

Get posts directly to your inbox

Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Sign Up for Updates!

Get news from Ramsay Inc. in your inbox.

Name(Required)
Email Lists
Email Lists(Required)