Happy Canada Day to a nation of modest flag-wavers

Canada Day is the best kind of party we can think of because everyone’s welcome.

Whether you’re gazing across a Newfoundland fiord, lazing in the sand on a Great Lakes beach or watching the sun set off Vancouver Island, you’re in.

Your family could have been here for generations. You could have stepped off a plane 50 years ago or yesterday.

It matters not. You’re invited. You’re on the guest list.

Because that’s the kind of place this country’s become as it marks the 151st anniversary of Confederation.

It’s the kind of country where brass bands — not tanks — lead the national holiday parades.

It’s the kind of country that sends fireworks — not missiles — into the sky.

It’s the kind of country that’s as likely to apologize for a centuries-old military victory as chest-thump about it.

And it’s the kind of country that embraces an inclusive, even self-deprecating brand of patriotism instead of the narrow, virulent version of nationalism infecting so much of today’s world.

That achievement is as worth celebrating this July 1st as the anniversary itself.

As vast as Canada is, these days it increasingly feels like a small, isolated island of tolerance and civility surrounded by roiled seas of toxic negativity and crass populism.

Look how our southern neighbour has abdicated its role as leader of the free world and taken in the welcome mat for the kind of newcomers who, in fact, made the U.S. what it is today. Muslims and Mexicans top the “need-not-apply” list.

The mean-spirited motto of “America First” has inspired the U.S, to plan building a wall to keep migrants out while locking in cages thousands of child migrants who somehow slipped in. What a disgrace.

Yet the United States is not the only country sickened by this particular strain of angry, selfish, xenophobic nationalism.

It’s spreading like a germ — through countries like Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Russia and even pockets of France and Germany. It’s the ugly scowl of primitive tribalism given a slick, 21st-century facelift. And you find it wherever the biggest tribe starts beating up the smaller ones.

Perhaps such ruminations are too serious for what’s supposed to be a feel-good Canadian summer weekend of picnics, parties and dinners sizzling on cottage barbecues.

Why not, in fact, celebrate the arrival of another Canadian summer, especially when another Canadian winter is not so far off ?

So party on this weekend, folks. But spare a few moments to consider what it means to be a patriotic Canadian today.

We, the Canadian people, are not defined by the DNA of our ancestors, the location of our birth, the shade of our complexion, the accent in which we speak, the party we vote for or the deity we worship.

We are Canadian because through a collective, ongoing act of will, we agree to live together in this big, beautiful land according to the rule of law, the rights and freedoms enshrined for us and the decisions flowing from our own, democratic choices.

Oh Canada. We love what we have. May we never slam the door shut to those who want to join us, or ignore our Indigenous Peoples seeking reconciliation.

Perhaps this is the light — and it’s brighter than any fireworks — we Canadians shine, not just to show ourselves the way but for the whole world to see in these turbulent times.