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HEROES &
SYMBOLS
 

This essay appeared in the 1999 edition of Great Questions of Canada.

Article Two by Charlotte Gray

I suffer from a very Canadian syndrome: TGIH.

What is TGIH? Well, let me explain it this way. Living here, I often suffer hero envy. Why can't Canada produce a brilliant literary bad boy like Jay McInerney, or a steely-minded politician like Margaret Thatcher, or an outrageous sports personality like Dennis Rodman? Why don't we spawn larger than life characters who bend the rules to fit them, rather than shaping their behaviour to the norm?

But then I leave Canada, perhaps to spend a few days on the turf of one of these braggadocio characters. On my return, I am overwhelmed by TGIH. Thank God I'm Home -- in a country where bully-boy tactics are not celebrated and civility is the norm; a country where we put forgotten prime ministers, like Robert Borden, on our bank notes, rather than kings and conquerors. The political and military heroes of other countries are celebrated for their fierce individualism and driving determination. But these are not Canadian qualities: Canada is not a militaristic nation.

We admire other virtues. Our public discourse is rarely characterized by Sturm und Drang, and when presented with a silver lining, we instinctively look for the clouds. I don't care if people elsewhere jeer at Canada for being a decaffeinated version of the States. They can keep their Supermen and Superwomen. I breathe a sigh of relief when I am back in the land of Clark Kent virtues -- modesty, respect for others, a certain diffidence, a well-developed sense of the ridiculous, and a steady ability to work for the common good.

My counterpart, Peter Newman, has suggested the one essential characteristic of all Canadian heroes is that they are dead. He claims that if a living Canadian claimed hero status, the rest of us would dismiss him as a boaster: we are, he states, "fuelled by envy".

I would argue Mr. Newman is using an outdated definition of heroism; his examples of heroes are European, pre-twentieth-century soldiers and explorers who displayed against-the-odds bravery in the service of some national ideal. That kind of bravery is passé in the age of microchip empires and dissolving national borders. Its only current manifestation is in the nerves-of-steel take-over duels between the contemporary titans of capitalism tracked by Mr. Newman himself. Head-to-head battles within the business establishment make amusing reading, but selflessness and national pride play no role in corporate slugfests.

Nonetheless, there is a Canadian appetite for people who symbolize our nation. When the Millennium Partnership Project offered to fund projects celebrating Canada's past achievements and individuals of note, it was inundated with applications. Almost 200 have already been granted: two of the projects are a wooden sculpture of Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief who fought for the British in 1812, and a national tour of a bronze maquette representing the five sturdy women who fought the Persons Case in 1929.

For those who wish to feed our appetite for heroes, the challenge is to redefine heroism. Which unsung heroes typify the best aspects of Canada: a tolerant, successful and unpretentious society, with a sense of humour and a remarkable collective ability both to promote change and adapt to it?

Just because our virtues are modest doesn't mean we have to celebrate wimps. Once you start matching Canadian qualities to Canadian achievers, you quickly realize there is plenty of material -- among the living and the dead -- to work with.