September 23, 2008

In my idealistic youth, I took a year off work and traveled
around the globe. I imagined myself as a citizen of the
world, unbounded by county.

Since then, my rose-coloured glasses have been replaced by
bifocals but the dream is still alive. Canadians have
become world citizens in a way I had not imagined. We
inhabit almost every corner of the globe.

Three million Canadians live outside of Canada. One out
every ten citizens of Hong Kong is Canadian.

Canadians are outward-looking. A huge majority of young
Canadians say they want to live, study or work abroad.
According to an Environics poll, international issues such
as climate change and global social justice are primary
political concerns. It's not that youths don't care what
happens at home but it takes second place.

Forty per cent of Canadians say they donate money to
international charities. Twenty per cent send remittances to
overseas relatives. An increasing portion of Canada's
international trade consists of Canadians doing commerce
with their homelands of their parents

The same poll reveals that the Canadians back home like our
global position. Nearly 70 per cent of the respondents
thought it was a positive thing for Canada's image that
millions live outside the country.

Not everyone seems to understand the value of Canadians
living abroad. The 50,000 Canadians who live in Lebanon
were shocked to learn that Prime Minister Harper had given
tacit approval for Israel's attack on Lebanon when he called
it a "measured response."

How can the bombing of Canadians by a foreign power be
regarded as justifiable? The Conservative government's
actions were scary. What other circumstances would warrant
an attack on our own citizens? Only when Harper became
embarrassed by other countries who were rescuing their own
citizens did he hastily organize the evacuation of 7,000
Canadians.

It was left to then-Conservative MP Garth Turner to explain
the inexplicable. Maybe these global Canadians shouldn't
really be Canadians: "Should citizenship expire after a
certain period of time if you don't live in Canada anymore?
Should it take longer occupancy to get Canadian
citizenship?" he mused.

The Canadian Taxpayers Association wondered of the cost of
rescuing this Canadians was worth it. "I think a lot of
taxpayers across this country are going to be wondering why
so much money was spent on people -- (who are) citizens, but
who don't reside in Canada."

Ah, I see. It's worth spending billions to rescue Afghanis
from the Taliban but not worth a fraction of that to rescue
Canadians.

Apparently the Conservative government sees Canadian
descendants of immigrants who choose to live abroad as
second-class citizens. It's a narrow view of citizenship
that is reminiscent of Quebec separatists who complained
that immigrants to that province were not "pure laine," like
themselves who represented the true Quebec culture.

Yesterday's battles are no longer a concern for young
Quebeckers. They dismiss the politics of the conquest and
separation that absorbed their parents' and grandparents'
energies.

Canadians living abroad are asset. Not only do they spread
worthwhile Canadian values, they provide business
opportunities because they are familiar with language and
culture of the county of their roots. This is especially
true of young, bright Canadians who are returning to their
ancestor's homeland now that China is becoming a world
superpower. That kind of link is invaluable and should be
cultivated.

Canadian values are worth spreading. An Ipsos-Reid survey
revealed just how global our ideals are. Near the top was
peacekeeping. This response has to be vexing to Canada's
hawks that want to turn Canada into a warrior nation.
Somebody has to be wrong; either the citizens of Canada are
wrong or the government of Canada is wrong. Peacekeeping
and war-mongering can't both be a Canadian values.

We also value ethnic diversity and multiculturalism. We
take pride in our global citizens who are anchored in Canada
while enhanced by the rich cultures of their immigrant
parents.

Like young Quebeckers, all Canadians are over narrow the
definitions of citizenship and now think about the big
picture. Gone are the notions of hyphenated Canadians, pure
Canadian stock, and second class citizens.

We are proud of Canadian values. The new cosmopolitan
Canadian confidently strides the globe. The world is
becoming Canadian, not by military conquest, but by the
persuasion of our ambassadors of peace, tolerance and other
Canadian values. At last, I can rejoice in the new global
Canadian citizen.


David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

go back to my Columns in the