When it comes to “National Pride” in *the* most Western countries in the world, what exactly does that phrase mean?

When I was sixteen I was sitting in a civics class and we were talking about national pride. I couldn’t explain at that tender age, why it was that I wasn’t “proud” to come from Canada, but I can now so I am going to.

Canada is a place filled with rape abuse and trauma that happens every single day and goes ignored hourly. Right now as I write this a little girl, a little boy, or a group of them is being abused. As you read this, someone in Canada is being abused.

And when and if they come forward, the chances are very high that they will be asked ridiculously dumbass questions like “Did you enjoy it?” and “Are you sure you didn’t want it?” if they are heard at all.

Cops in Canada are notorious for excusing and ignoring allegations of rape abuse and trauma from victims.

So what’s to be proud of?

Historically the RCMP was designed to control the Indigenous population. We all know this as fact because it’s absolutely true. If not for the Indigenous community living here before white English people took over, there would be no Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Historically speaking, there have been more allegations of rape and sexual abuse in the RCMP, than there have been in any other organized community, in the country. Just a thought.

Historically speaking, Canada has never been the kind of place where outsiders are welcome – especially when they are Black, Brown, or Indigenous.

The Komagata Maru incident is proof of that. 75 human people died because the government of British Columbia refused to allow the boat to dock. The Canadian government eventually forced the boat out of Canadian waters, but worry not, there’s a memorial in Vancouver’s downtown district, so no one will ever forget.

Our history as a nation – in Canada – is disturbing, and it should make you uncomfortable about being born here.

I have wanted to visit Hawaii for ages but the reason that I haven’t bothered to go was largely because I was young, and then when I was old enough the Indigenous people were begging folks like me not to come.

That doesn’t stop folks from flocking to the shores of the ancient island in the millions every year, and one would think that tourism is good for business, but unfortunately, many of the Indigenous people who live in Hawaii are suffering due to tourism taking away from their business as people spend money at resorts and less money on the actual island.

If I know that, how come you don’t? Why are you not using your social media platforms to speak to activists in other communities to hear what they are saying, if social media isn’t for that, then what’s it for?!

We as a society need to do much better before we can say that we deserve to have National Pride.

Flint Michigan still doesn’t have clean water, it’s been ten years since the water crisis started and now it’s starting to happen across America and Canada too.

The way that we drill into the land for oil is having a serious ecological effect on our water systems which is making it harder for humans around the globe to access clean, drinkable water.

Right now children in Palestine are drinking water from broken and bombed-out pipes because they do not have access to clean drinkable water due to the war on the Palestinian people.

Yes, you read that right, the war on the Palestinians must end, because it’s not having a single effect on Hamas, which Netanyahu swears is his only goal, but I digress.

My point here is that if you want me to be proud of my country and the people who live here, then give me a reason to be, because right now I see none. I see absolutely no reason to celebrate a country sending bombs and soldiers to kill the most marginalized among us, for fucking oil.

Here’s what I am proud of.

I am proud that national treasure and author Nada Chehade has chosen Canada as her living place.

I am proud that Black vocal creative and rapper Kelsea Ogbewe lives here.

I am proud of all the men, women, trans, lesbian, gay, non-binary, and two-spirit people, who have found their place in this hell hole of a country. I am proud of all those who raise their voices and all those who whisper, who live, play, and be in a country, that tells them constantly they aren’t welcome in this conquered nation.

I am proud to study the work of those who came before, something I really need to take some time to work on, so that I can learn how to do better than they were able to do, given the time and what they were working with.

My mom said to me yesterday during the debate, that what was weird was how “fast” everything seems to be moving in terms of the regression we’re facing. This is how it is with Conservatives.

For all their “God made me do it” values and ideals, at the end of the day, they just want to be able to say “I did that,” even if their version of “I did that” is detrimental to everyone and everything around them.

I keep saying “We as a society….” because I don’t believe that any one of us can change the world alone. I used to, I used to think that it was the people in front of the camera who mattered the most in the whole wide world, or else why would the camera be focused on them?

But now that anyone can be in front of a camera at any given moment of the day, doing whatever they please, I am starting to realize just how important community is to the survival of…the whole.

So yes, we as a society need to do better. We need to demand better of our elected officials, and not after the fact but beforehand. Maybe it’s time to put the Greens in office for a while, maybe it’s time to make a radical decision to vote radically because what we’ve *been* doing hasn’t been working.

I never thought I’d be the kind of person who would cheer for Death until I saw what people were capable of doing to children on the other side of the planet while talking about protecting children on this side of the planet.

Make no mistake, certain people on this planet are perfectly okay with what’s happening to the children of this world, and many of them are the same folks that we vote for. They sleep perfectly well knowing children are being raped, abused, blown up, and murdered, for cell phones, oil, gas, and money.

I know. It hurts. But now that you accept that fact, you know how to fight them back, you just have to decide if you have what it takes to say something.

That’s one of the most fundamentally powerful things about living in North America, we actually do have the power to cause change, by working together, unifying our voices, and demanding it, we can have whatever we want and they can’t say no because we outnumber them.

The proof is in the vote my dears.

If you’re going to say that you really and truly do have “National Pride”, then you have to acknowledge that at the end of the day, there’s no way to be truly proud of how we got here.

Sending all my love,

Devon J Hall