Loyalties 1

I am not a patriotic Canadian.  I neither sing, nor stand for the national anthem and Canada Day, for me, is just another day in Canada.  I do not wave the maple leaf,  I don't wear it and red and white is not one of my favourite colour combinations.

Don't get me wrong, Gentle Reader.  There is much I like about living here, other than our hideous climate, and not much to dislike, other than our hideous climate.  I simply do not love Canada.  I was born here, I was raised here, and I agree after having travelled a little that this is a pretty good country.  I just don`t feel the love

I heard on the radio this morning that home owners are more likely to feel connected to their country than renters.  I suppose that explains in part my sense of detachment.  I have never owned a home, anywhere.  I have never had enough money, nor earned enough income in order to buy a home.  Home ownersip in this country not only is considered an entitlement.  It is viewed as a right.  All you have to do is earn enough money.  I have never earned enough money.

Whatever magic formula is available to make a Canadian financially successful, I never learned it.  I understood that if you worked hard enough then you could accomplish anything in this country.  I worked.  I worked hard.  I could not get ahead.  I was not able to survive post-secondary education because I couldn`t afford it.  Publically funded education above secondary school in this country is still considered too Marxist to be taken seriously.  Neither was I able to find decently remunerated employment.  No one would even consider me for decently paying union positions and without university credentials I had to settle for what I could get.  I was too exhausted and poor to consider even taking part time courses. 

Canada has failed me.  This country opens its arms to immigrants and refugees and especially to well-heeled foreigners carrying huge bags of money.  But to offer the same generous treatment to Canadian citizens who fall through the cracks?  I don't think so.  I have nothing against immigrants, by the way, and I welcome all newcomers to this country and bear them absolutely no grudge for our government's unevenly distributed generosity.  But when I was homeless I was a refugee in my own country, the country where I was born and raised, where I worked hard caring for the vulnerable with miserable compensation and no access to training or to earning a living wage.

By the same token, I've also worked hard, caring for the less fortunate, wiping the backsides of the disabled, feeding and supporting housebound seniors, comforting and caring for the dying and their loved ones, giving support, encouragement and advocacy to the mentally ill and homeless, among many other things.

My reward? A small government subsidized apartment and a job that now pays less than two bucks above minimum wage.  Lovely way to enter my retirement years in less than five years.  I am not complaining.  I live well within my means and I enjoy my life.

But this country has really let me down.  I played by the rules and came out with almost nothing and even though I am happy that, with subsidized housing, I am still able to live in Vancouver, really, Gentle Reader, I owe Canada nothing.