An Unabashed Flag

Being Canadian, I am not prone to overt displays of patriotism.

The FLQ Crisis cast a long shadow over the Quebec in which I grew up. Speaking openly about being a proud Canadian… well that was just asking someone to spit in your poutine.  We were a divided province for many years, the Oui and the Non votes broke neighbourly fences, many of which were replaced with brick walls and empty windows.

I grew up cautious about speaking politically, preferring to stay friends and classmates rather than have to choose a side of the street, schoolyard, province or country.

Nevertheless, I am an ardent Canadian, proud of our diverse and complicated heritage, our imperfect democracy, our home and native land. I just don’t talk about it much.

So the quick bursts of red and white pride which I have felt bloom in my chest upon seeing Canadian flags displayed in Olympic enthusiasm all over Vancouver have been something of a surprise. 

The first of these was on the morning run to school - we passed a hedge, a typical Vancouver high laurel hedge, but untypically, it was draped in Canadian flags, white and red lights in the shape of the Olympic rings, and a banner. I did a double take, and then just about teared up. We don’t do that sort of thing here.

The anticipation that has built for the 2010 Winter Games in my city has created public displays of Canadian patriotism the likes of which I do not ever remember witnessing.

There was an article in the New York Times this week about Canada’s quest for a gold medal win at home in which the author discussed our collective I’m-just-proud-to-be-here-knowing-I-did-my-best tendencies:

“Talk like this, so nakedly ambitious, makes some Canadians uneasy. Theirs is a vast country that in many ways is run like a small town, with small-town values, and it has a highly developed culture of modesty, if not a collective inferiority complex. The athletic record in general is a little underwhelming, and some Canadians think that is because their countrymen prefer that, considering a good effort just as valuable as a trunkload of trophies, maybe better.”

I hope we win gold medals. I hope there is another Olympic moment like Daniel Igali’s gold medal flag dance in Sydney 2000 for his was a Canadian celebration born not from a collective inferiority complex but one of hard work and genuine pride in citizenship.

I hope the gold we might win at these Winter Games can be a deep vein that runs down through the next generations, a mine of pride and achievement, a moment Canadians, especially this next generation of Canadians, can look to as a moment that shaped their ambitions and unfurled an unabashed flag in their hearts.

EarnestGirl lives and writes, moms, and will be waving her Canadian flag proudly in a beautiful city on the West Coast of Canada. You can also find her writing here.