British News Article About Canada

[Flytyer]

This was sent to me by a long time friend over in the UK and it's a pretty accurate observation in how we are perceived in the global community I think.

 

Salute to a brave and modest nation -

Kevin Myers, 'The Sunday Telegraph' LONDON:

 

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan,

probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware

that Canadian troops are deployed in the region.

 

And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest

of the world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it

always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.. It seems

that Canada 's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid

both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once

the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.

 

Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge

of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a

dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her

fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the

hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the

wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously

cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

 

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American

continent with the United States , and for being a selfless

friend of Britain in two global conflicts.

 

For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different

directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an

address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that

it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

 

Yet it's purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom

in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any

democracy. Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population

of seven million people served in the armed forces during the

First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied

victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps

the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

 

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright

neglect, it's unique contribution to victory being absorbed

into the popular Memory as somehow or other the work of the

British.

 

The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy

began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing

nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than

120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings,

during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.

 

Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and

the fourth largest air force in the world. The world

thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had

the previous time.

 

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only

if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a

campaign in which the United States had clearly not

participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of

course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of

a separate Canadian identity.

 

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving

in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they

are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald

Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison,

David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd

have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher

Plummer, British.

 

It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian

ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is

as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom

Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

 

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the

achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world

is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of

themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the

world's population has provided 10% of the world's

peacekeeping forces.

 

Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the

greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates,

and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East

Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

 

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular

non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in

which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali

infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a

uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally,

the Canadians received no international credit.

 

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic

and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it

in Afghanistan ?

 

Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does

honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being

thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It

is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet

such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving

Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.

 

Lest we forget.

 

 

[headscan]

Excellent article. Sadly, I think even most Canadians are unaware of our contributions not only in both world wars but also peacekeeping efforts in Crete and Rwanda among others.

[darrinhurst]

Great article. Nice to see another Nation recognizing Canada for her contributions in global conflict.

[KnotLikely]

Thanks for passing this on, and especially to those who serve, and have served on our behalf.

[Flytyer]

Thanks for passing this on, and especially to those who serve, and have served on our behalf.

 

No problem, this article was passed on to me by a retired RAF officer I have known since the mid 80's and he thought I would appreciate it. I glad some of you there appreciate it as well.

 

[Highlander]

Here's a link to the original article from 2002.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/persona...ot---again.html

 

This was written following the US bombing Canadian soldiers, killing 4.

 

I'm proud to be a Canadian. I'm proud that Canada participates in so many peacekeeping missions and I am grateful for the brave men and women who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces.

[SilverDoctor]

Thanks for posting this, it speaks volumes about the depth and heart of this Nation. May she never change.

[rhuseby]

Canadians may not be chest thumper, and much of the world may be ignorant of our contributions, but where we have been our troops are remembered. As an example, we receive tulips from the Netherlands every year because our troops were given the toughest terrain in Europe to liberate in WW2. As long as we remember what Canadians have done, that's what's important. Here's to the troops, you are the best of us.

[gillmy]

I am a bit of a history buff and it is nice that someone in the media has reflected upon some of the truth of Canada's involvement in world events. Canada has a proud, if not secret, history. It is better to have others speak of your deeds, than speak of them yourself.