for Tolerance

When will it stop?

It would be a mistake to suggest that Canadians are the most tolerant people in the world. Being tolerant, especially in a diverse and multicultural society like ours, has always been a challenge. And it always will be. And that’s OK. Because it’s hard to be tolerant. It’s hard to be confronted with a different point of view. It’s hard to allow that point of view to co-exist with ours. No one said living in a democracy was easy.

But if we really want to peacefully co-exist with each other, if we are serious about fostering a truly diverse and welcoming community for all Canadians regardless of who they are, where they come from and how they decide to live their lives, if we still want to build a just and equitable society in this country, then we must recognize that more tolerance will always be required. We will always have to redouble our efforts to be more tolerant, more compassionate, more understanding. It’s part of the price we pay for the rights and freedoms we enjoy.

Granted, it hasn’t been perfect here in Canada, not by a long shot. An honest look at our collective history quickly reveals that we have often fallen painfully short of the mark. There are dark moments in our past that haunt us still. There are debts that may never be adequately repaid. Still, by and large, we have done a decent job, better than many other places in the world. Canadians have shown over the years that they are willing to make the effort to try and find more tolerance. To dig just a little bit deeper. To let each other live in peace, even though we might completely disagree with their ideas and beliefs.

That is, until recently.

Over the last few years, tolerance has been completely absent from our national discourse. It has been strangled and stifled by other powerful forces and emotions in our society that remain hard at work even now. Among our leaders these days, there is no longer serious talk in Canada of tolerance and unity, in the true sense of those words. There is no longer serious talk of a just and equitable society. There is no longer any recognition by our leaders anymore that ours even is a society where different points of view and different ideas are celebrated and cherished.

Instead, tolerance has been replaced by something else. Something base. Something sinister. Something ugly. Something that is almost impossible to believe could come from anyone in our country. But, there it is. And it’s awful. Indeed, what we have seen from many of our leaders has been unimaginably horrifying.

Rather than promoting tolerance and understanding during these uncertain times, our leaders have inexplicably gone the other way. Instead of trying to find a way out of this mess, they have led us deeper into the labyrinth. Instead of casting a light of confidence and reason on the way forward, they have pointed out a darker path of division and fear. They have abandoned the high road of integrity and courage for the low road of blame and accusation.

In other words, they have decided that it’s right for us to hate each other.

Instead of speaking of our Canadian family, our leaders now speak of “us” versus “those people”, as though “they” are less than human. Our current problems are “their” fault; we are right to vilify them. “They” are nothing more than ‘science deniers’, misogynists and racists. The question is no longer whether any of this makes sense, but only whether we should “tolerate” them any longer.

We have been segregated and divided. Laws and regulations have been passed for the express purpose of removing freedoms and privileges; we are told we won’t ever be safe until “they” comply.

Without even a shred of opposition from those able to do so effectively, our leaders do and say all these things, and more. And, perhaps what is most horrifying of all is that so many of us keep letting them. So many of us have eagerly followed our leaders down that dark and dangerous path, arriving a place that we shouldn’t even recognize, let alone support. Trapped in our own cycles of fear, desperation and longing for a way out of the troubling times in which we all find ourselves, many of us have fallen victim to these terrible and powerful forces and emotions at work in our society.

We must turn back. We have to find a way back from the precipice. These forces and emotions currently driving our society have no place in our country. They are poison. They are killing us. They are destroying literally everything we have worked so hard to build over the years. If we don’t act soon, the damage may well be irreparable.

Luckily, there is still time; it’s not yet too late. The way back may be difficult, but there’s still just enough light on the path for us to see which way to go.

The way back is to rediscover our tolerance. To remember that we are all human. That we are all worthy of respect. That we are all endowed with fundamental rights and freedoms, and that we all are entitled to decide how we live our lives and what happens to our bodies. That some of us - even many of us - may disagree with the choices others make. And that that’s OK.

If we don’t learn to tolerate each other and to respect each other’s choices once again, we will never be able to move forward as a society from this terrible waking nightmare we have been suffering through for so long. If we don’t find a way to turn away from this horrible path we’re on, we will very soon end up in a place - in a country - that will bear no resemblance to the Canada we used to know and love. None at all.

Is this really what we want?