Forward: Today is the first day of summer, and it also happens to be World Handshake Day. In honour of this quiet and peaceful practice, I thought that I would try my hand at a short reflection about Canada as it prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday. I am Canadian, and I’d like to extend my hand in friendship to a country that has given me so much in my lifetime. If I’ve mishandled the vocabulary in this writing or if I have been far too freehanded with my recollection of history, please lend me a guiding hand by sending me some feedback. I don’t purport to know Canadian history like the back of my hand, but I do have my own simplistic view of the country. It goes without saying that if you’d prefer just to review how I’ve used the word “hand” (or variations thereof) in this post; that’s okay, too.
We’ve got to hand it to our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald: he had firsthand knowledge of the importance of unifying Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1867. If he hadn’t taken matters into his own hands, the country probably wouldn’t have existed today. Sir John A. Macdonald was accused of being too heavy-handed and perhaps somewhat underhanded during the series of negotiations that led to Confederation, but he managed to prevent the objections to unification from getting out of hand. Indigenous communities were neither invited to, nor represented at, the negotiating table. They only heard the news secondhand. This exclusion of the original inhabitants of our land was not exactly the Prime Minister’s best handiwork.
After Confederation, the Dominion began to grow hand over fist. With the addition of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, the Yukon in 1898, and Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, the union was just about complete. Hopes for an independent Newfoundland were dashed in April 1949 when, in a narrow show of hands, the island joined the union. Finally, in 1999, the federal government worked hand in glove with the Inuit people to bring the third territory of Nunavut into Confederation.
What seems to be true is that over the years Canadians haven’t always been willing to shake hands and make nice. Growing discontent in Quebec in the 1970’s fuelled the separatists’ desire to emancipate from the rest of Canada. In 1995, the “Yes Vote” almost succeeded. It seemed as if the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing in that nail-biter of a referendum. The historical tension between Francophones and Anglophones in Canada goes hand in hand with the animosity Indigenous people feel to this day for the history of injustice that they’ve suffered at the hands of the Canadian Government and its agencies. Many indigenous community members still live from hand to mouth in northern regions of Canada, and many have felt the need to take the law – and their lives – into their own hands. Many have been dealt a hand of poor cards in life, but they play it as well as they can.
With all the disturbing incidents of outright exclusion, land expropriation, cultural appropriation, infighting and sleights of hand it seems remarkable to me that we’ve managed to stay together all this time. Politeness and resilience still prevail in the public arena over cruder displays of disappointment. As citizens, we’ve neither thrown up our hands in defeat nor resorted to distasteful hand gestures to express profound disapproval. Perhaps there is hope, yet.
As Canada’s 150th birthday approaches, I think we should celebrate by taking each other by the hand in an effort to heal these historic wounds – quietly and peacefully. Let’s celebrate the fact that we live in a country where respect for all people, all cultures, and all beliefs is possible. It is possible when everyone’s contribution to the country we live in is acknowledged and supported. Let’s hand something down to the future generations that is cloaked in something other than chicanery and shame. I trust that the Canadian government will have its hands full for at least another 150 years if it were to choose constitutional reversals to right the wrongs of the past. Now, wouldn’t that be about as exciting as a three-way handshake?
Happy Birthday, Kanata! / Bon Anniversaire, Kanata!
PS: If you counted 35 English-language expressions that use the word “hand“, don’t forget to give yourself a pat on the back.
