On Shaman's Rock

 Dusk is falling over the federal election campaign. Soon it will be dark, the campaigning over, and an election result presumably known Monday night. 

But after listening to all the promises, all the hyperbole and examination of the issues, I’m still wondering why one of the real issues troubling Canada has not been whispered.

That issue starts with ’se’ and ends with ’ism’.

If you are thinking separatism, you are wrong. Talk of Quebec separation has been around since the beginning and will be with us long into the future.

I’m thinking sectionalism, in which groups of us huddle tightly into our own sections, thinking less and understanding less, about the lives our fellow Canadians huddled in their own sections.

Canada is one of the world’s most sectionalized nations. Look around. There’s Atlantic Canada, Central Canada, the Prairies, British Columbia and the North. All sectionalized by geology or language, culture or climate.

Atlantic Canada is off on its own, separated from Ontario and the West by Quebec with its French language and culture. The Prairie provinces are sectionalized by the vast wilderness of Northwestern Ontario and the Rocky Mountains which leave B.C. perched alone on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Above all this is the barely populated North, separated mainly by geology and climate.

None of this is new. Canada always has been like this. 

However, it seems that the different sections, or regions, of our country are losing touch with each other. We don’t know each other as well as we used to and each section has been going its own way with less thought about the concerns, problems and dreams of the others.

This certainly has affected our politics. Our federal politics are controlled by one section – Central Canada. Sure, we elect MPs from all parts of Canada, but the power and decisions really lie with people from Central Canada, which is southern Ontario and Quebec.

For instance, the three politicians with any chance of becoming prime minister next week – Justin Trudeau, Erin O’Toole and Jagmeet Singh - all are products of the Central Canadian core: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal.

In the last 100 years, 11 of 14 prime ministers have been from Central Canada. Richard Bennett was from New Brunswick (1930-1935), Alberta’s Joe Clark served less than a year in 1979-80 and Kim Campbell of B.C. did less than six months in 1993.

What our country needs is more ideas and more leadership from all sections of the country. We also need to know more about each other, and understand each other, so it becomes easier for us to work together.

Despite the marvels of modern communication technology, Canadians know less about each other than in the past.

Two years ago, Historica Canada, an organization dedicated to enhancing awareness of the country's history and citizenship, conducted a survey that shows just how little we know about ourselves and our history.

Sixty-seven per cent of those who completed the survey got a failing grade. 

Scores were particularly poor for questions about Canadian science and innovation. Most test takers did not know that the world’s first Internet archive and the Jolly Jumper baby exercise swing were Canadian inventions.

I suppose it is not critical that we all know that, or that most Historica survey takers did not know that the first recorded instance of Hallowe’en costume dressing in North America was documented in Vancouver in 1898. But knowing more about other regions and their people, even if it is just trivia, helps us to understand each other.

Complicating Canada’s sectionalism problem is the fact that most of the sections hug the American border. A majority of Canadians live within 160 kilometres of the U.S. border and have a huge amount of their facts, opinions, and ideas influenced by American culture.

We need to work at ensuring a unified Canadian identity and increasing sectionalism will not help us to do that. Allowing sectionalism to grow will make Canada a series of islands that do what they think best for themselves instead of the overall country.

Sectionalism is not the biggest issue we have considering what we’ve been going through with Covid and climate change. It is, however, something worth thinking about.

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