Canadians - Who are we?

Who are we? How are we perceived in the world? It should be a simple exercise to determine our national identify yet for some reason it is difficult to define Canadians. We understand our roots: we are the creation of two clearly defined societies: the English and the French. The British being noted for their unflagging will with liberty, equality and fraternity being the foundations of France. As De Gaulle said to France, "to represent something beyond ourselves, to light up the world, to glow with the torch of civilization itself." This is what Canada must be: a beacon. A clearly defined beacon. The spirit and direction of a nation is founded upon and reflected in historic heritage. People are what they create and how they remember it.
What are Canadians? We draw from the British, French and American societies. All of which are democratic societies so we know we are democratic but what does that mean? Our government is democratic, our commitment to capitalism is tempered by social democracy, our rule of law, our liberalism, internationalism; we have both Common and Civil law, constitutional monarchy with our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the rule of parliament and the power of the courts, economy of public and private ownership - a mixture of US capitalism with British and French Socialism. We have social programs not as broad and encompassing as Britain and France or as limited as the US. We have two languages. We like peacekeeping and oppose capital punishment. A greater percentage of our work force is unionized, our income tax is higher than the US but lower than Britain and France. Our approach to immigration is similar to the US and Britain. WE ARE THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS. It is easy to define once we recognize that we have sculpted the best world by imitating and implementing the best practices of the societies that contributed to our birth. We are not a mirror image of Britain, France of America - we are Canada strong and free. Yes, our beginnings were based on compromise and we are still compromising because we are constantly driven to achieve excellence. Compromise has been the bane of our existence but by being open to change and influence from other worlds we have created the best of all worlds. That is what Canada is: the best of all worlds and that is what it means to be Canadian.
Yes, we struggle with national identity because our society is a copulation of converging cultures, our geography is boundless and tempered with regional diversity but rather than identify, ratify or promote our cultural and regional differences we need to remember the fact that we chose Canada. The reality is this: We chose and choose to be here. It may have been a decision made by our ancestors or it may have been a decision made by our parents or the individual for that matter but whether we are first, second, third or tenth generation Canadian it is crucial that we remember we are all Canadian. Period!
First and foremost we are Canadian. We must remove the hyphened Canadian from our dialogue.
In the 1960s, under the guidance of the Liberal Party of Canada we adopted universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan, replaced the Union Jack and found that we were a prosperous, safe, compassionate, orderly place to be; to the world we were noted for our peacekeeping abilities on the world's battlefields. Canada was the peacekeeper. We demonstrated peace through our inherent desire to compromise. Some would say that we are boring or we say we are sorry far too often but that is what we do: we compromise because we are always searching for the best of all worlds not just for Canadians but for citizens of the world. That is what we are citizens of the world with clearly defined objectives founded in liberty, democracy, productivity and compassion. (Andrew Cohen)

Citizenship - defining expectations

We have the easiest citizenship to obtain in the world. We ask for nothing in return. Why? We need to table a clearer expectation of citizenship. Currently, citizenship is deemed a right not a privilege. For some reason, I am not certain, when this happened but there has been a shift from citizenship being a privilege to it being a 'right'. The Canadian Citizenship and Immigration website lists the roles and responsibilities of citizens. 1) Citizens have an obligation to vote in elections; 2) to help others in the community; 3) care for and protect our heritage and environment; 4) obey our laws; 5) express opinions freely while respecting the rights and freedoms of others; 6) eliminate discrimination and injustice. If we subscribed to this Canada would be a better place for everyone! But Canada is fragmented. We have a cavalier view of citizenship which fosters a sense of entitlement. What does it mean to be Canadian?