The last word
Some say if we’re to be a nation we can’t all just drift about in our own tribes, cliques, niches and enclaves. In order to exist successfully as a collective we need defining ideals, national projects, grand designs. We need things we can all stand up for and hang our hats, hijabs and turbans on.
This might be a good idea but what would it entail? Wars are national projects but they tend not to be much fun. We built ourselves a big railway and that was a national project, but Chinese labourers didn’t find it a very rewarding mechanism of social inclusion. We could all sign a document that expresses “Canadian values” but would that document be written by General Rick Hillier or comedian Rick Mercer?
From Unlikely Utopia, by Michael Adams