Canadian Heroes

The Canadian government, in preparation for the 150^th anniversary of Confederation in 2017, has commissioned a study to discover Canadians' greatest heroes from the years since Confederation.

The results have been pretty lame, mostly politicians: Pierre Trudeau, Lester Pearson, Tommy Douglas, Jack Layton, Sir John A. Macdonald, Terry Fox, David Suzuki, Wayne Gretzky, Chris Hadfield, Romeo Dallaire.

Predictably, there has been a public outcry about there being no women on the list. As if it is the responsibility of the rest of us (that is, men) to ensure that women have made an outstanding contribution. If everything is the responsibility of men, though, you can see why there are no heroines on the list. You don't get to be a hero without taking responsibility for your own acts.

But apart from this, it is an uninspiring list. Recent politicians are an intrinsically lousy choice for national heroes: they are partisan, not national, figures. And can always be suspected of pure self-interest. Canada is peculiar in its fondness for politicians. Almost nobody else puts heads of government (as opposed to heads of state) on their bank notes. Most nations feature great artists, composers, or writers.

Suzuki, too, is a divisive figure, who has done nothing remotely heroic; nothing that did not further his own career.

We can certainly do better. Canada has a lot of real heroes—I'd venture to say that we have produced more true heroes, per generation and per capita, than most other countries. Why do we not celebrate them?

Part of the problem, no doubt, is that we are awfully ignorant of our own history. For everyone on the list except Sir John A., the CBC's respondents seem to be relying on living memory.

But isn't there a tautology here? The government should be, and is here trying to, promote a Canadian sense of history. Perhaps they are going about it the wrong way. Perhaps, instead of asking the man in the street, they should be asking historians.

May I offer a few more Canadian heroes, whom I think more worthy of remembrance in 2017 than most of those on the list? Note the rules of engagement: these must be only post-Confederation. And my own rule: they must not be divisive figures.

You want women? Catherine Doherty, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Ma Murray, Rose Prince, Alice Munro. Montgomery virtually founded our national literature; Munro has the Nobel Prize. I deliberately omit the usual reference to the Famous Five: divisive, purely self-interested, and proponents of notably bad ideas like eugenics and temperance.

War heroes? Georges Vanier, Billy Bishop, Bill Barker, Raymond Collishaw, Roy Brown, Charles Fox, Thomas Prince.

Sports heroes? Too many! Gretzky, sure, but also Ned Hanlan, Maurice Richard, Bobby Orr, Joe Malone, Frank McGee, Patrick Roy, Howie Morenz, and on and on. Better to stick with those already dead, jut in case someone turns out to be OJ Simpson or Oscar Pistorius.

Literary heroes: Thomas D'Arcy McGee (also political, but I think a unifying figure), Stephen Leacock, Robert W. Service, Emile Nelligan, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Northrop Frye.

Not to mention, among those hard to classify: “Wild Goose” Jack Miner. Francis Scofield (ask the Koreans). Oliver Avison. St. Andre Bessette. Timothy Eaton. Marshall McLuhan. William Kurelek.

Not to mention scientists and inventors! Alexander Graham Bell, Hans Selye, Sir Sandford Fleming, and so on.

Perhaps you have your own.