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More Canadian ethnic minorities should wear the Remembrance Day poppy
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All Canadians should try to take part in state traditions.
A blog posting in the UK-based Daily Telegraph recently caught my attention. It argues that few British ethnic minorities wear the poppy - a symbol that honours British soldiers who died in war.
Although I disagree with the reasons provided, namely, a liberal conspiracy designed to eliminate state tradition so as not to offend ethnic minorities, I do note the observation - ethnic minorities rarely wear the poppy, from my perspective anyway.
I was at a wedding reception this past week along with a fairly racially diverse crowd. I noticed that most white Canadians were wearing poppies, while most of the visible minorities were not, including myself. Has Canada fallen prey to the liberal lobby as well?
Hardly.
Canadians can openly demand the banning of burkas and have the right to reprint cartoons that are deemed offensive to a particular group. If there is some liberal effort underway preventing certain parties from offending minorities, they're thankfully not doing a very good job.
The reasons are not related to minority appeasement as much as they're related to the subjective relationship that individual, whatever his/her race, has towards their country, and the personal connection towards the tradition in question. In the case of minorities in Britain, a history of racism does not help.
Respect for the state cannot be expected or forced through indoctrination - it has to be earned. Canada has earned that respect through a tradition of inclusion and acceptance, but visible ethnic minorities may still lack that personal connection towards certain state traditions. This should not be confused with disloyalty or insensitivity.
The poppy may resonate more with Canadians who belong to military families, and those who have ancestors who fought at Vimy Ridge. It may mean less to Canadians who don't belong to military families, and even less to visible ethnic minorities who are not tied to Canadian war history. Although many ethnic groups fought with the British during WWI, their conception of colonialism is vastly different from Canadians.
Still, I believe ethnic minorities should wear the poppy not as a symbol to prove their loyalty, but out of respect for state tradition. Judging state loyalty or implying disloyalty through the mere presence or absence of an observable symbol is naive to say the least. Such logic would make a mockery of the concept of nationalism itself.
The answer does not lie in handing out poppies to ethnic primary school age children and combining that with a crash course in Canadian history. The tradition is something that must be handed down from within the family. It is up to first generation ethnic Canadians to pass these traditions on to future generations, and it is up to future generations to create that link between their culture and the mainstream, while carving out their own unique ethnic Canadian identities.
It is a tradition worth remembering by all.
Check out Canada International Affairs.
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