The landmass we call Canada came about through evolution not revolution. Although some claim - probably correctly - that the Vikings were the first Europeans to set foot on North America, in Newfoundland about one thousand years ago - it is generally conceded that John Cabot was the first European to sight Newfoundland when he hove to off St. John's in 1497. Later, other Europeans came and made claims to the land in the name of their sponsors.
Greeting these Europeans were North American natives - erroneously dubbed Indians - whose communities were known as tribes. These tribes were not always friendly to each other. [The Mohawks' genocide of the Neutral Nation is but one example.] Some tribes were nomads who wandered far and wide in search of food while others were more 'stay at home' types. In either case, these 'Indians' were Canada's initial peoples.
As more and more Europeans arrived and settled the land - and on several occasions fought the natives - and as more and more Europeans opted to move west in search of greener pastures, they took with them their religions and European customs including known laws. In time, some of their laws and religious holidays became entrenched and were common among all ex-European residents of Canada. [Christmas and Easter for Christians and Passover and Hanukkah for Jews.] One point that was clear was that state and religion were to be separate. Europeans had seen how corrupted a country became when religious leaders tended to hold sway with the reining monarch. In England, state and religion were separated and have been separate in England [UK] and Canada since the first Englishmen arrived. Later, French explorers did nothing to change the status quo.
When the Canadian West was being opened to immigrants, Canada's then-foreign minister, Clifford Sifton, beat the bushes of the USA, Britain and, especially, east-central Europe. He encouraged immigration and many of today's quality Prairie Canadian families trace their 'Canadianism' to Sifton. These non-English speaking immigrants assimilated and strengthened the Canadian fabric. They did not wish to stand alone; rather they became part of the Prairies - strong and free citizens of their new country.
Today, there are some among the Canadian population who propose that the Judeo-Christian foundation upon which the first and subsequent Europeans based their common laws and religious offerings be discarded, or seriously eroded, in favour of other religions that were not present at the birth of Canada.
While Canada is a country that welcomes people from diverse parts of the world with a variety of customs and religions, that very act of welcoming does not extend to corrupting the basis upon which Canada was founded five centuries ago.
Canadians accept immigrants with open arms but will not tolerate immigrants who wish to change five hundred years of Judeo-Christian beliefs and/or trample on Canadian laws and customs forged over those five hundred years by hard working, honest people who wished only to build a better country. Yes, they were immigrants and to the natives must have been seen to be rather outlandish with their religions and customs; however, it was those immigrant Europeans and Americans who built Canada, often with the aid of the natives. Tecumseh comes to mind readily.
Now, it seems that some immigrants who follow a non-Jewish or non-Christian belief want to either eliminate Jewish and Christian holidays or alter them in such a way that their importance is diminished to the point of not being relevant. In their place, some want to insert non-Jewish or non-Christian holidays/celebrations to appease some recent immigrants. The idea of people emigrating from their homeland and immigrating to a new land carries with it the idea that the old will be given up and the new will be clasped to the bosom. A new life will have begun. That is not to write that the old ways need to be discarded but that they ought not to supplant the new country's mores. In Vancouver, over the years the Greek community was able to celebrate its customs; the Greeks did not clamour for a return to Greece in Vancouver. They became quality citizens who respected their new country while recognising their old.
Canadians will not tolerate immigrants who come to this country, presumably on the premise to become citizens, yet retain their former warlike ways and take every opportunity to disrupt the Canadian quiet with feudal-type wars on public turf. Nor will Canadians take kindly to native-born Canadians who suggest strongly that other religions and/or customs ought to be entrenched in Canadian fabric at the expense of centuries' old traditions and beliefs. A strong religious foundation is the basis upon which a competent country is created. To date, Canada has fared well in global events, has performed magnificently in many theatres and has been recognised as a civil, caring, understanding country willing to accept immigrants from all parts of the world; that acceptance, however, does not extend to rolling over and playing dead to every foreign suggestion that Canada's tried and true religious and civil systems ought to be cast aside in favour of some recent arrival's desire to follow a faith or law heretofore unknown in Canada. Canada has shown itself capable of accepting and tolerating others whose faiths are not Christian or Jewish but not to the extent that those founding Canadian faiths are to be extinguished by latecomers to this land.
It is in the best interests of Canadians that Canada retains its founding religions and laws and builds on a base of understanding and tolerance for others. State and religion are separate but one cannot exist without the other. In Canada, for over five hundred years state and religion have remained apart but not divorced and Canada is a better place because of that. Most of Canada's civil and criminal laws are based on Judeo-Christian underpinnings. That is what has made Canada great and a desirable place in which to immigrate.
Bob Orrick is a retired private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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