manitoba, like canada, was founded on three separate and equal pillars of power-- english, french, and aboriginal. (in fact, the original schools act of 1870 declared manitoba to be an officially bilingual province).
today, it's a nation of immigrants from all over the world. in winnipeg, for example, the # of fillipino immigrants now outnumbers the ukranian population, and those two populations combined are almost equal to the "english" population.
to me, it's an insult to all canadians that we pay ceremonial homage to the queen of england.
we're no longer someone's colonial fur trade post.
why should our flags, our constitution, our national character, our money, etc, still reflect that long-gone age of oppression, theft, and conquest?
what does the flag (or queen) of england have to do with today's canada?
i'm all about heritage, but canada's heritage is way more varied and diverse than the union jacks on our flags might suggest.
this issue is one that gets me a little steamed. sorry. i'm trying to be nice about it though. :)
i say it's time to scrap every last vestige of "british"-ness from canada, and make a new heritage that is our own, and doesn't look to some other country or their queen for a sense of identity.
By that logic, what does the bison have to do with today's Canada? What is our heritage, or current identity for that matter? I'm not a monarchist by any stretch. I thinks it's a bad joke in the present day. If we are but a country (or province) of immigrants, how would a flag represent it? Steal the olympic rings logo? I just get a little concerned when we start erasing our roots. What the hell is our identity? What is a defining factor that makes us Canadian? I don't really see a culture for people to embrace. Freedom, yes, but that is not uniquely Canadian per say. I'm all mixed up.
me too, but i heard someone (cliff eyland) say once that canada could embrace a sort of "pan-aboriginal" identity, where, in MB for example, we look to Louis Riel and the Metis as forming a kind of common heritage or cultural point of reference.
it's a thorny and complicated series of questions, really, that we need to keep asking and addressing as canadians.
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10 comments:
Speaking of rewriting history, battle re-enactments etc.
It's funny, I always thought it was a boring flag. Until the NDP said we need a new one!
i say get rid of the union jack.
I say, like sports crests and logos, it's always good to change and update flags.
I thought you guys would be all about the heritage. Interesting. How about an ALFA blog submissions "contest"?
manitoba, like canada, was founded on three separate and equal pillars of power-- english, french, and aboriginal. (in fact, the original schools act of 1870 declared manitoba to be an officially bilingual province).
today, it's a nation of immigrants from all over the world. in winnipeg, for example, the # of fillipino immigrants now outnumbers the ukranian population, and those two populations combined are almost equal to the "english" population.
to me, it's an insult to all canadians that we pay ceremonial homage to the queen of england.
we're no longer someone's colonial fur trade post.
why should our flags, our constitution, our national character, our money, etc, still reflect that long-gone age of oppression, theft, and conquest?
what does the flag (or queen) of england have to do with today's canada?
i'm all about heritage, but canada's heritage is way more varied and diverse than the union jacks on our flags might suggest.
this issue is one that gets me a little steamed. sorry. i'm trying to be nice about it though. :)
i say it's time to scrap every last vestige of "british"-ness from canada, and make a new heritage that is our own, and doesn't look to some other country or their queen for a sense of identity.
long live the free nation of northern onmanisask!
By that logic, what does the bison have to do with today's Canada? What is our heritage, or current identity for that matter? I'm not a monarchist by any stretch. I thinks it's a bad joke in the present day. If we are but a country (or province) of immigrants, how would a flag represent it? Steal the olympic rings logo? I just get a little concerned when we start erasing our roots. What the hell is our identity? What is a defining factor that makes us Canadian? I don't really see a culture for people to embrace. Freedom, yes, but that is not uniquely Canadian per say. I'm all mixed up.
me too, but i heard someone (cliff eyland) say once that canada could embrace a sort of "pan-aboriginal" identity, where, in MB for example, we look to Louis Riel and the Metis as forming a kind of common heritage or cultural point of reference.
it's a thorny and complicated series of questions, really, that we need to keep asking and addressing as canadians.
Do we really "need" to have a new flag? Change just for the sake of change is boring and usually unsuccesful.
word verf: rebarph
I like its aesthetic.
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