Some commentators refer to the country I call Canada as “so-called Canada”.  The implication of that naming is that Canada lacks moral legitimacy as a state, because it was created through colonialism and the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Lest this appellation be summarily dismissed as the ravings of crackpots, it must be noted that it has been used by academics in a number of contexts.  Dalhousie University, for example, calls upon “all residents of so-called Canada to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation.”[1]  York University has sponsored a book launch and discussion on “Climate Justice in So-Called Canada“[2].  Many individual academics have published articles using that designation.  The label has also been used by proponents of Palestinian independence from “so-called Israel”.

While the moral legitimacy of Canada as a state is a perfectly acceptable topic for debate, it is arguably shallow and sterile to suggest that Canada is unique in this regard.  All of the Americas were colonized and their indigenous peoples exploited.  Most of Africa was treated in the same way.  Earlier in history, the Romans, the Vikings and the French subjected England to violent colonization.  The lands of France and Italy were savaged by the various Huns and Goths.  The last two millennia provide innumerable examples of violence of one people against another.

It is also shallow and sterile to insist that the moral legitimacy of states arises only from its history.  There are several other factors to be considered, many more important than colonial or exploration history:

• Consent of the governed
• The rule of law
• International recognition
• Historical continuity

In these four factors, the moral legitimacy of Canada is clear.

Even if moral condemnation were justified, it is mean-spirited and unproductive simply to issue a condemnation without offering a path to redemption.  In Canada, one path has been the efforts towards truth and reconciliation.  This approach was also undertaken in South Africa at the end of apartheid.  Germany has long moved on from its holocaust horrors.

History should never be forgotten, but unjust actions in the past do not mandate perpetual censure, especially when efforts of restitution are made.  In my view those who perpetuate the trope of “so-called Canada” lack historical, intellectual, moral, emotional, and spiritual coherence.  They should get a life beyond virtue signalling and try one based on historical understanding and the moral and spiritual imperative of forgiveness.

---

[1] https://www.dal.ca/dept/vpei/edia/education/events-and-campaigns/truth-and-reconcillation-day.html

[2] https://www.yorku.ca/research/cikl/events/the-end-of-this-world-climate-justice-in-so-called-canada/