CBC Radio Letter of the Day
2009-03-18

Q with Jian Ghomeshi is one of my favourite radio shows and I was listening to it online last Monday when some twat from (one of my most hated organisations) the Dominion Institute was whinging that Canadians aren't Canadian enough (whatever the fuck that means) anymore. In his interview he says we should copy other countries' policies to become more Canadian and that we shouldn't be allowed to have dual citizenship (even though he has dual citizenship himself). Did I mention he was a twat?

As you might imagine, it pissed me off royally, so I wrote a letter and it made Letter of the day. The podcasts are below.

TWATPOD(The twat's segment starts at 19:18)

LETTEROFTHEDAYPOD (My letter starts at 15:00)

I don't know if my letter had anything to do with expediting my British citizenship application, but I received a letter from the Home Office saying my application had been approved on the VERY day my letter was read out. Only a month after I sent it in... Spooky. In other news, Suck it Canadian government for taking a fucking YEAR to process Kate's Canadian citizenship application.

So yeah, I am half limey now. RULE BRITANNIA! Pass me the spotted dick.

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The letter in its entirety:

Hi Jian,

I just wanted to comment on your guest, Rudyard Griffith's ideas about forging a stronger Canadian identity in his new book. I find it interesting that he thinks copying Germany by making civic service mandatory or by copying Australia by making voting mandatory will somehow make us more Canadian or help Canada in some way. I, for one, believe that people should have the choice as to whether or not they volunteer for service or vote or do anything for that matter. Abstaining from voting can be as powerful as voting if you don't agree with any of the leader's policies. Having a huge voter turnout can give political leaders a false sense that they are doing a good job when they clearly aren't.

Having said that, those ideas pale in comparison to his last point that people who are born in Canada shouldn't be allowed dual citizenship.

What good can possibly come of that? Canada's history as a cultural mosaic, rather than the melting pot in the states is PRECISELY what makes us different from the US and other countries. But it should go both ways. Canadians' desire to live and work abroad, to experience other cultures should be celebrated, not stymied. Living abroad will only enhance one's Canadianness (if there is such a word).

It amazes me how members of the Dominion Institute (such as Mr Griffiths), an institute who's sole purpose, apparently, is to educate Canadians on their history, can so easily forget that we are country of immigrants. How can we possibly tempt people from other countries to come here to live, work and become Canadian when we don't afford our own citizens the same courtesy?

Living in the UK and looking at Canada from the outside has given me a perspective on Canada I could not have gotten any other way, and made me even MORE proud to be from where I am from when I see how things are done in other countries.

This overly patriotic, right wing, protectionist rhetoric displayed by Mr Griffiths is everything that is wrong with Canada today. When will people like him realise that the best way to carve out a Canadian identity is to give people the freedom to do it themselves? Forcing an identity on people has never worked and will never work in a free society; perhaps a move abroad would help him to see some proof of that.

Sincerely,

Rob Cutforth