Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kyrei]

Article
From April 21, 2002

Kevin Myers, The Sunday Telegraph

LONDON - Until the deaths last week of four Canadian soldiers accidentally killed by a U.S. warplane in Afghanistan, probably almost no o ne outside the h ome country had been aware that Canadian troops were deployed in the r egion. And as always, Canada will now bury its dead, just as the rest of the world as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets n early everything Canada ever does.

It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored. Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular Memory as somehow or other the work of the "British." The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth-largest air force in the world.

The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British. It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular on-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia, in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun.

It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This week, four more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.

[Zoobot]

A-freakin-men!

I have two words for anyone that doubts: Romeo Dallaire (The commander of the peacekeepers in Rwanda). That guy is one of the very few that I would have no problems tacking the word "hero" to. Despite the fact that he considers himself to have failed in his mission.

[yawarakaijin]

It was a nice article. From a simply historical perspective Canadians should feel proud of their countries willingness to help their allies in times of trouble. No need to get into nationalistic slagging match with Americans here. Canadians should simply feel proud of their country's contributions and leave it at that.
It is somewhat sad that Canada's role in major conflicts have gone seemingly unnoticed in the mainstream media. It seems today that if the younger generation hasnt seen it portrayed on the big screen then it never happened.

On an interesting and admittedly dorkish side note I have just fought my way through Call of Duty 3 on the X-Box 360 in which the Canadian scenarios actually played a large part in the game, it was nice

[khyber]

[ed4444]

The person who wrote the article (Kevin Myers) is a famous Irish writer/journalist.

Here is a bit about him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Myers

His writing during the Northern Irish troubles was excellent. His strong opinions often get him into trouble however.

[shifter2009]

Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American

Seriously, we don't really want them. They can be Canadian. On a serious note, we don't give the Canucks enough credit in our current wars and have expanded the NHL to far south. The Stanely cup finals should never feature a team from under the Mason-Dixon line.

[twg]

"Your queen loves you, Canada. Yes... I love you."

[Doogie]

[Rey Mysterio 619]

Awesome article, thanks for posting that. The Brits finally get something right for a change.

[Hollywoodaction]

"It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers. "



As I mentioned in another thread, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen soon. She now lives in Vegas.

[Gamecock]

A really nice article, indeed. Cheers to our brave and honorable neighbors to the north. Despite your arrogance and strange fondness for maple syrup, I like most of you, and I do respect the quiet and unsung work your armed forces have done around the globe as part of UN peacekeepers.

My great-uncle was a GI on the peninsula during the Korean war, and to this day he will tell anyone who will listen about the group of Canadian soldiers who saved his life when pinned down in the mountains on a frigid January day...

[Slep]

Dallaire took a fellowship at the genocide studies program my university, not the greatest public speaker but still an amazing human being.

I briefly worked with him on stuff involving Darfur. I'm happy he's in the senate, one of the few that actually have it right on foreign policy.