Canada’s selective patriotism

In Canada, patriotism is hard to get just right. We do it well on Remembrance Day, with veterans, the national anthem, the Royal anthem, and even prayer – when it’s allowed.

Other times, it might be better to leave it to the Americans, who have established traditions: hand over heart during the anthem, flag laws, and other formalities. 

Canadians booing the American national anthem at sporting events, for example, just comes across as boorish. Observe how Boston didn’t really have the heart to match us in jeering O Canada at the final game of the 4 Nations hockey tournament.

Similarly, Canadians are making a lot of noise about boycotting American goods over Trump’s tariff threats. And while there’s value in supporting a Buy Canadian effort, and we’re at least confronting interprovincial trade barriers that have long frustrated domestic free trade, there’s something off about our response.

For one thing, it resembles other movements that flare up quickly and without much thought: pandemic responses, climate policies, claims of mass graves at residential schools, gender identity debates, racial and DEI policies, Ukraine-Russia. 

In each of these issues, it was difficult to ask questions or challenge the popular narrative without facing social ostracization.

We see the same thing happening now. Try making the case that Trump might have some legitimate grievances and it could cost you a friendship.

Trump’s approach is often brash, and sometimes off-base, but that’s his deal-making style. Anyone who hasn’t figured that out by now hasn’t been paying attention. “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after,” he wrote in The Art of the Deal.

He often doesn’t get everything he wanted, and what he does get often benefits his opponent in some way too. Which makes it hard to understand why every proposal is greeted with maximum outrage.

There’s also the matter of Canadian hypocrisy. Where is this country’s equivalent of national anthem booing when it comes to China?

Despite rampant human rights abuses, religious persecution, suppression of free speech, military aggression, foreign political interference, cyber espionage, and a lack of transparency about the pandemic, China remains our second-largest trading partner. Canadians willingly spend their money on Chinese goods, which make up 10 per cent of our total imports. Yet if you told someone you’re boycotting Chinese products, you’d more likely be seen as a zealot, not a patriot.

There’s also Canada’s own imperialism when it comes to foreign policy. We can rage about Trump’s harshness about our soft border, but we seem unbothered by Canada’s colonial attitude toward third-world countries.

For years, Canada has tied foreign aid to reproductive rights and climate policies in developing nations, pushing progressive values onto people who would rather have food, medicine, education, clean water, and security.

Canada’s Catholic bishops have criticized this ideological approach to foreign policy, warning against using aid to override common sense and humanitarian responsibilities. The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) has pointed out how Canada funds organizations promoting abortion and reproductive rights in countries where abortion is illegal.

Yet in n 2024, Canada used its “feminist approach” to justify $5.3 billion in “climate finance for developing countries.”

While there’s been plenty of Canadian anger about being bullied by Trump, there’s little interest – aside from Catholic observers – in questioning Canada’s pushing reproductive and climate policies on unwilling recipients

It may feel satisfying to boo a national anthem or switch from bourbon to Irish whiskey to protest Trump’s latest tactic, but our selective outrage might be better directed toward those oppressing and exploiting the vulnerable around the world.

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