It's OK to fly the Canadian flag again

As long as it's a symbol that you hate Trump and America

Back when Julie competed internationally as a triathlete, at her request I sewed a Canadian flag patch onto her backpack. Most Canadians were proud of our country. After all, we had created a peaceful society, economic success, a friendly culture, social stability and mobility, universal healthcare, and more.

But how things have changed. Particularly since 2015, we have been morphed into a culture that feels shame and hatred for itself instead of pride.

This event was cancelled when attendance fell to only 5000, from previous levels of 25,000

Sesquicentennial Self-Reproach

This issue of self-hatred really struck me in our sesquicentennial year. Although prior to that I had heard rumblings about how we were colonizers and oppressors, it had been more of a fringe idea, easily ignored and laughed off. But in 2017 the suggestion that we should feel shame, not pride, in being Canadian burst into the mainstream: a cover story in many newspapers and the lead for many newscasts. Many planned Canada Day celebrations were scaled back or cancelled altogether.

The Dalhousie University student union told us in no uncertain terms that Canada was too horrible a country to celebrate, and voted to boycott the sesquicentennial celebrations.

Things got so strange that we had immigrants (Sorry. I mean “New Canadians”) explaining to us why we should be ashamed of ourselves as a people, and telling us we shouldn’t celebrate Canada Day. The Dalhousie student featured below was a member of student council and one of the most vocal in promoting hatred of our Canadian identity. Where did she come from that made her so high and mighty, and gave her the credibility to criticize Canada and Canadians? Iran.

It was fine to burn the flag on the steps of the legislature, as long as it was for approved reasons. How quickly would it have been shut down if these were anti-mask protesters?

Is Trudeau the Cause, or a symptom, of the problem?

Should this increase in self-loathing surprise us? After all, we voted in a prime minister in 2015 who called us “the first post-national state”, "built around a system of colonialism, of discrimination, of systemic racism". He agreed with the results of the MMIW inquiry, stating that “what we have done amounts to genocide”. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Canadians cheered for him, and voted him in repeatedly. If you buy his bill of goods, only a white nationalist would sew a Canadian flag on his wife’s luggage. Did we vote in someone who disrespects Canada because deep in our hearts, we had already lost faith in our country? Is Trudeau a cause or an effect of our self-loathing?

In the summer of 2020, through his endorsement of the BLM riots, Trudeau implied that every Canadian is complicit in racism and even genocide. After all, it is “systemic”, and the “system” was created by Canadians.

At least he had a mask on to “stay safe”

Then in 2021, his government, and the media which it controls, went all-in on the Kamloops “mass grave” hoax. It wasn’t enough for them to personally feel ashamed if they saw fit, but they forced us all to keep our flags at half-mast for a full 5 months. (Compare that to 10 days at half-mast for the death of Queen Elizabeth II - the longest-serving monarch in British History). Seeing the Canadian flag at half-mast changed it from a symbol of pride to a constant visual reminder of our “racist, genocidal” nature.

There were people who staged their own form of protest by putting Canadian flags back to full mast during those 5 months in 2021. And some people were extremely mirthful about it.

Truckers

The most overt negativity towards the Canadian flag that I have experienced from the left was during the Trucker Rally. Once the Truckers were vilified by the press, putting a Canadian flag on your house or car -or God-forbid your big rig - was the ultimate sign that you were (pick any -ist) racist, misogynist, homophobic, and worse. It was one degree away from flying a swastika or confederate flag. Legacy media told us that it was a terrible thing that our flag had been coopted as a symbol of protest.

The Maple Leaf is back in style

But suddenly it’s fine to fly the flag again. Is it because Canadians have come together as a people? Is it because we have finally figured out that the “systemic racism” and “genocide” charges are ridiculous? Have we found a new pride in our country?

No. We are flying the flag again as a symbol that we agree on a common enemy. The Maple Leaf is now the official flag of “I Hate Trump”.

It turns out it actually IS fine to fly the flag as a form of protest after all, as long as you are protesting the right thing. Analogous to how was fine to gather to support BLM during COVID restrictions but not to protest masks or lockdowns, it was wrong to use the flag to protest Trudeau but fine to fly a Canadian flag to protest Trump.

For us Canucks, anti-Americanism is in our DNA, as Canadian as hockey or paying excessive taxes and getting little back for them. It’s who we are. We may be genocidal racists, but we can revel in the fact that Americans are even worse. Even if we hate Canada, we can all gel around the fact that we hate America even more. So fly your colours Canadians, if not proudly, at least angrily and derisively.

A tweet is worth 1000 words. Thank you Max Bernier.

And so old Maple Leaf, I’m glad to see you back in style. I only wish it wasn’t for the wrong reasons.