How We See Ourselves
Matters.
We see ourselves as a Peacekeeping Nation, therefore - we are a Peacekeeping Nation.
Ever since the start of the War on Terror, we've been fed this line, and it's just a line, by the Right that, in fact, Canada is NOT a Peacekeeping Nation.
Well, I'm sorry, but we are. In fact, we have made a conscious effort over the generations to distinguish ourselves from the United States by having a foreign policy that is not invasive and not militaristic any more than it is isolationist, as U.S. foreign policy so often has been.
THAT is what makes us a Peacekeeping Nation, Dear Reader. We collectively strive for peaceful resolutions of conflicts both real and potential - in spite of our great big powerful neighbour to the South.
You know, it occurs to me that the United States used to have a Peace Corp and it used to be quite isolationist. We were never that because we had a consciousness to our foreign policy that did not require a proactive peace movement and an involvement in the foreign policies of other countries that made the notion of isolationism seem defeatist.
Trudeau didn't pull the expression "Citizen of the World" out of thin air.
In any case, I'm prepared to argue that this new insistent line coming from inside the country that we are NOT a Nation of Peacekeepers is just more illegitimacy from the Right. Like I say, how we see ourselves matters and we see ourselves as a Nation of Peacekeepers.
Therefore, a Nation of Peacekeepers we are. Rick Hillier and his New Conservative government be damned.
Go ahead, Dude, resign your military office and run for political office. You'll find out what we think of military leaders who meddle in politics.
