Continuing the theme of "Do Canadians even care anymore?"
This article suggests some do:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Licia_Corbella/2004/12/12/pf-778554.html
Power of the Maple Leaf
Flag patch does us proud and nowhere more so than our troops' deeds in Afghanistan
By Licia Corbella, Sun, December 12, 2004
Much fuss is being made about a U.S. company selling special kits to help Americans look like Canadians while travelling abroad.
"Americans Traveling Overseas -- Consider Going Canadian!" states the website of www.t-shirtking.com.
The enterprising company is selling "Go Canadian" disguise kits for $24.95 -- U.S. of course.
The kits include a Canadian flag emblazoned T-shirt, badge, sticker, pin and a tongue-in-cheek guide book on "How to Speak Canadian, Eh?"
This story has been covered in newspapers and on newscasts around the world -- like it's something new.
But anyone who has ever backpacked around Europe or anywhere else, for that matter, knows that Americans have been donning Canadian flag patches and pins for decades now.
Way back in 1981, I spent a year travelling through Europe and north Africa.
Even back then -- with no illegal U.S. war taking place -- most Americans I met on the road passed themselves off as Canadians.
At the beginning of my travels when I saw a Canadian flag on a backpack I assumed (silly me) that they were Canadians and would ask: "Where in Canada are you from?"
Halfway through my travels, I learned to start asking: "So are you Canadian or American?"
I actually met one American fella who walked around with a Canadian flag on his backpack but always put an American flag pin on his shirt or coat in restaurants in order to get better service, since Canadians are considered notoriously cheap tippers while Americans are deemed the best!
But it wasn't just the Americans who had, or at least wanted, a Canadian patch on their packs.
One time, after engaging in a long conversation with a charming fella on a train, I fell asleep only to wake up minus the gold watch my mother had given me for high school graduation.
Luckily for me, the guy was a thief but not a liar. He told me which beach in Spain he was planning on going to, so at the next stop I got off the train I was on, headed back in the direction I came from and found the thief relaxing on the beach he had raved about earlier.
With a chivalrous Spanish gent in tow I marched straight up to my former train companion, held out my hand and said: "Give me my watch."
He did. He also returned to me the Canadian patch he had brazenly unstitched from my pack, while I was using it as my pillow!
I asked him why on earth he wanted my patch and he said: "Few people trust Moroccans, but everybody trusts Canadians."
Ah, the power of the Maple Leaf!
I recall feeling deep pride about my country that day.
But I've never felt prouder of Canada than when I was in Afghanistan last year at this very time.
Last year, 2,000 Canadian forces troops -- working under NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were stationed in Kabul and doing a world of good for the war-weary people of Afghanistan.
Our soldiers all wore little Canadian flags on their shoulders and you could spot them around town while on patrol waving to the children in the dusty streets.
While I was there, dozens of Canadian troops donated their days off helping the good folk of Samaritan's Purse distribute toy-filled shoe boxes to needy children in orphanages and displaced persons camps.
Our soldiers, always professional and kind, became well-known by many of the children in these orphanages over the months of their tour.
It was because of our soldiers that new wells had been dug, desks, backpacks and supplies provided for their schools, mattresses and heating oil and food provided for their orphanages.
But most of all, our troops -- 2,000 strong and the largest single contingent in Afghanistan at the time -- brought peace to the beautiful people of that devastated country.
Now there are some 650 Canadian troops there and even though amazing things are taking place, including last Tuesday's swearing in of Afghanistan's newly elected president Hamid Karzai -- thanks in large part to Canada and the U.S. -- we are not hearing much about it.
One of the people I met while over in Afghanistan was Alberta rancher and independent film-maker Garth Pritchard.
Pritchard recently returned from Afghanistan again, where he taped amazing footage of women in burkas, defying brutal husbands and threats of death by hiding Taliban members, to stand in line at polling stations and vote in free and democratic elections not just for the first time in their oppressed lives, but for the first time in their country's history.
Yes, Garth has documented the story of our troops protecting these people, so why haven't any of us seen it? Why isn't this Canadian story being shown to us?
I don't have the answer to that.
CBC won't air his stuff. Instead, watching the CBC, you'd never know we had any troops over there at all, let alone the incredible changes they have brought to Afghanistan.
For a variety of complex reasons, Garth can't get any of those tens of millions of taxpayers dollars made available to other Canadian film makers because most of that money stays in Quebec and Ontario.
So, the proudest moments of our flag go unnoticed. Instead, we must make do with stories that are decades old, about Americans disguising themselves as Canadians, rather than stories of real Canadians wearing their flag proudly and at great risk.
