The Canadian flag has been hanging for many years. The balconies of the apartments on the 8th floor near Bank Street and McLaren Street are like countless similar balconies throughout Otawa and numerous similar flags hanging from the windows. No one has wondered what this or what others mean. No one had to.
So far, that is, it no longer exists.
Friday's 155thbirthday in Canada is celebrated loudly, as if it had lasted for years until two events. There is a possibility. 19 Pandemic, and secondly, the bodies of hundreds of indigenous children were found in unmarked tombs — few remained in a party mood. But this year, singing and hilarious making are back, and it's expected to surf on the bright red tide of T-shirts, hats and face paint. And, as always, the flag will undulate from the balcony and windows.
However, the 2022 version of Canada Day promises to be completely different. The swarm of includes veterans for freedom and similar members, a group supporting the "Free Convoy" with the Canadian flag for the month of this winter. .. Multifaceted attacks on vaccine and mask obligations, the Tordo government, diversity, and other issues it feels undermine their notion of freedom.
For many looking from the other side of the ideology spectrum, the diversion of maple leaves as evidence of patriotism is January 6th. Same as the method. The mobs of the US Capitol caused a riot with glittering stars and streaks of dazzling gingoism.
What did former Prime Minister Lester Pearson make from all of this? When Pearson first raised the new Canadian flag on the hill of the Capitol in 1965, he said: The land of people who fear a decent God. Fair and generous in all transactions. Sensitive, tolerant and compassionate to all men.
"Under this flag," he added. Not for sneaky nationalism or narrow nationalism, but for patriotism based on deep and equal pride that every Canadian will feel for every part of this good land.
I don't feel that way right now. Sadly, for many, the sight of the Canadian flag is not so universal in the core beliefs that we have always recognized as essentially Canadians, and many beliefs are noisy. It is accompanied by a morbid feeling associated with the knowledge of "defending". The loyalty professed by these groups is not what Pearson wanted the new flag to inspire.
Part 8 Theth floor flag is from Sadie Moore, a nurse at Otawa Hospital. During the "freedom" occupation, she and some of her centertown friends roamed the center of downtown trying to find out who was the "good" and who was the "bad". As a nurse who "did her own research", she has little sympathy for anti-bakers and maskers.
"If you have the Canadian flag, we talked about how it is a symbol of being part of a free convoy.
Only then did she realize that many passers-by saw her flag and would think she was also in favor of the fleet. "I felt I needed to take it down or put up a comprehensive symbol like a pride flag, and I could show the world that I was supportive and kind.
In the end, she says she dropped the flag, but the decision to do so was largely due to her move to another downtown apartment. I did.
"I don't think I withdrew it," she says. "I would have made it protect myself." But when I was walking in a car with a flag or a property with a lot of flags, "Is it just celebrating Canada Day, or a warrior of freedom?" I still have the feeling that "Is it?" "
There is no place to raise a new flag in her new place, so others will do the job. She says she has to undertake.
"I told my friend the other day, but I still love Canada and I don't want to stop loving Canada as a country, so go ahead. , Don't let them hijack our flag. "
bdeachman@postmedia.com
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