A recent poll by Ipsos, on behalf of Historica Canada, has found that fewer than one in five Canadians could pass a basic test of our country’s history.

Let that sink in for a moment…82 per cent failed. Mostly young Canadians, too. Those aged 55 and up had the highest pass rate, which leads me to believe that the problem must stem from what we are (or, rather, aren’t) teaching our young people.

It takes me back to when Justin Trudeau said that Canada is the first post-national state. Unfortunately for Trudeau, that’s not his call to make. We can’t simply ignore our history, our culture, and what makes us uniquely Canadian — nor should we.

And let me preface this by affirming: I do not believe Canada’s history is all sunshine and daisies. We have incredibly dark aspects of our history and, thankfully, those conversations have now entered the mainstream. The history of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, the Indian Act…these topics are important for all Canadians to study, and reconciliation is still a work in progress. 

But it seems the trend these days is to reject our national identity and write off the entirety of Canada’s past as nothing more than a colonial stain on world history. Well, as a Métis Canadian, I reject that entirely.

There is more to Canada than just the bad. We do have a great many things to be proud of and I don’t want to see us lose sight of the great achievements that make up our unique history.

Judging by the results of the Ipsos poll, you may be thinking, “What history is that?”

Well, when I think of Canadian history, I think of Lester Pearson and the golden age of Canadian peacekeeping during which more than 125,000 Canadians took part in UN peace missions around the globe.

There’s also Tommy Douglas and the birth of Canadian universal healthcare, something that (thankfully) sets us apart from our neighbours to the south.

I think of Viola Desmond challenging racial segregation in Nova Scotia in the 1940s.

There’s Trudeau Sr., who crafted our constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enshrining equality for all in Canadian law, going much further than other countries at that time.

In the 1980s, Dr. Henry Morgentaler endured death threats, assaults, and even a bombing in his (successful) fight to end the ban on abortions in our country. 

Sir Frederick Banting invented insulin in Canada, a drug that has allowed hundreds of millions of people with diabetes around the world to live long, healthy lives.

Let’s also not ignore the huge contributions of Canadians in arts, music and film, either. Lucy Maud Montgomery, Margaret Atwood, even Robert Munsch, are just a few of the many authors that shaped Canadian literature. Take a look at how many great movies and TV series have been filmed here, and you’ll see how prolific our film industry is.

Maybe our history isn’t as exciting as it is in other countries, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to celebrate and look back on with pride. Our history led to the birth of what we often refer to as Canadian values. Trudeau Sr. once referred to those values by saying:

 “What the world should be seeking, and what in Canada we must continue to cherish, are not concepts of uniformity but human values: compassion, love, and understanding.”

So, it’s time for Canadians to brush up on our nation’s history, lest we lose sight of who and what gave us those values in the first place.