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We need new thinking, new practices

History and Commentary from a Prairie Perspective

Earlier this week, when thumbing without purpose through cable channels, I chanced upon a program which, at first glance, I took to be a half-baked comedy. It wasn't an intended comedy; it was American Idol. During the brief interval before I thumbed away, my old-fashioned sensibilities were affronted by a singer who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket and panel of adjudicators who appeared to have escaped from a carnival of clowns. The praise which they heaped on the contestant was - if you will pardon the expression - a form of verbal diarrhoea. Nevertheless, the contestant had his four minutes of fame. Idols have a longer shelf life throughout the larger field of American history where hyperbolic heroes abound and more are being created every week.

Canadians aren't very skilled in hyperbolic history. We don't glorify Canadians as heroes; we just print their names in bold-face type. First on many lists would be Leif Erickson, but he wasn't a Canadian. He was, in the days before political correctness, a Scandahoovian. I'm sure many Canadians would list Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Sam Steele of the Yukon, Billy Bishop and perhaps Raymond Collishaw, who was unfortunate in never having a good publicity agent. (If you know anything about him, go to the head of the history class.) My list includes Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. They resisted exploitation in order to preserve a heritage.

From the fur-trading era to the present, exploitation has been a part of Canadian history. Furs traded for things of lesser value ended up as coats for milady and beaver hats for all the fops of Europe. Cod fish have been over-harvested to the point of extinction.

Old-growth forests have been clear-cut. Inland waterways have been, and are being, poisoned by the detritus of the mining and petroleum industries. Exploitation that destroys the values and environmental treasures of a cherished heritage is at the core of the Idle No More movement. The problem the protestors bring into sharp focus has been made more complex over the years by the structures of government and the legal system. We are tripping over our own rules.

Premier Wall of Saskatchewan sees the issue more starkly. He believes wealth from non-renewable resources should not under any circumstances be ear-marked for the First Nations. He sees it as something that belongs, equally, to every citizen of the province. (It goes without saying that the wealth from extractive industries available for the benefit of all is the smaller portion which remains after the oligarchs of commerce and foreign investors have gobbled up their share.)

Beliefs are the intangibles in every environment. They have their effects. Although the bloody wars that tormented Christendom for over 300 years were over by the 18th century, their effects still lingered in later years. In 1885, the two most powerful provinces in Canada were Catholic Quebec and Protestant Ontario. Their political hostilities were factors in bringing about the North West Rebellion and in its aftermath.

Now, the doctrinal disputes which torment Islam spread murder and destruction far beyond the countries where the schisms first took place. Killing in the name of God is insanity, an insult to God. So was the massacre of little children at Newtown, Conn. So is the gun culture which makes such mass killings possible.

Worldwide, we need new thinking as well as new practices. In Canada we need leadership that can resolve the problem of exploiting our natural resources while avoiding environmental degradation. The leader may be unrecognized among us now.

When that leader emerges, Canadians already expect that he or she, unlike Esau, will not sell the heritage of all Canadians for a mess of pottage.

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