Patriotism is easy when everything is functioning.
The electricity works. Grocery stores are full. Roads are open. Emergency services arrive quickly. Communications networks connect instantly. Water comes out of the tap.
Under those conditions, national life becomes nearly invisible.
You notice the systems that hold a country together only when they begin to fail.
Canada has experienced enough wildfires, floods, ice storms, hurricanes and other emergencies to understand that resilience cannot be left entirely to professionals. Governments and emergency services carry the primary responsibility for large-scale response, but communities recover faster when ordinary citizens possess some ability to help themselves and one another.
The 2026 wildfire season once again required federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments to coordinate preparedness for potentially severe conditions. Public Safety Canada issued a national preparedness update in May describing planning across governments and emergency-management organizations ahead of the summer season.
Wildfire is only one example.
British Columbia has experienced devastating fires and floods.
Atlantic Canada has been hit by powerful hurricanes.
Prairie communities deal with drought, wildfire and extreme winter conditions.
Ontario and Quebec have experienced major ice storms, floods and prolonged power outages.
Northern communities face unique logistical challenges because critical supplies may travel enormous distances.
Climate conditions may change the frequency or severity of some hazards, but Canadians have always lived in a country capable of producing serious weather.
Resilience should therefore become part of how we think about citizenship.
That begins with personal preparedness.
Every household should possess enough basic supplies to manage a reasonable interruption in electricity, water or transportation. People should know where important documents are. Families should know how they will communicate if cellular networks fail. Canadians living in areas exposed to wildfire or flooding should understand local evacuation procedures.
None of this is particularly dramatic.
That is why it works.
Prepared people reduce pressure on emergency services.
Community resilience goes further.
Know your neighbours.
Check on an elderly person during a heat wave or power outage.
Volunteer with community organizations.
Learn first aid.
Support local food banks.
Join a community association.
Coach a sports team.
Volunteer at a local event.
Become involved with search and rescue, emergency-response organizations or other community services if you have the interest and ability.
These activities may not look like nationalism.
They are nationalism in one of its most practical forms.
A country ultimately consists of people who accept some responsibility for strangers.
Tax systems operate on that principle.
Public health care operates on that principle.
Emergency services operate on that principle.
The military operates on that principle.
Volunteer organizations operate on that principle.
You contribute to institutions that may primarily benefit people you will never meet because you recognize them as members of the same society.
Canada has a strong tradition of volunteerism. Statistics Canada has estimated that in 2018 more than 24 million Canadians aged 15 and older participated in formal or informal volunteering, contributing roughly five billion hours. The specific pattern of volunteering continues to evolve, but the scale illustrates how much invisible work ordinary citizens contribute to Canadian communities.
That invisible infrastructure matters enormously.
Consider a small Canadian town.
The hockey association may depend on volunteers.
The local festival depends on volunteers.
Community fundraising depends on volunteers.
Youth programs, food banks, cultural organizations and service clubs frequently depend upon people donating hours nobody will ever include in gross domestic product.
When those connections weaken, communities become less resilient.
National strength therefore cannot be measured only by military spending, natural resources or the size of the economy.
It also depends upon social trust.
Do Canadians believe their neighbours will help during an emergency?
Do they believe institutions will function?
Do they feel enough responsibility toward their communities to participate rather than merely complain?
Those questions are difficult to quantify, but they matter tremendously when something goes wrong.
A healthy nationalism can help strengthen that sense of responsibility because it expands the circle of people we consider “ours.”
A wildfire destroying a community thousands of kilometres away becomes a Canadian disaster.
A flood affecting another province becomes our problem too.
Military members sent to assist communities are helping fellow citizens rather than strangers.
Firefighters crossing provincial borders are protecting part of their own country.
That instinct is one of the best things nationalism can produce.
Canada will face serious challenges in the coming decades. Some will be economic. Some will be environmental. Some may involve security or international instability. Others cannot yet be predicted.
We cannot eliminate uncertainty.
We can become harder to knock down.
A resilient Canada possesses strong institutions, dependable infrastructure, secure supplies, competent emergency services and capable armed forces.
But it also possesses something less visible.
Citizens who know what to do when somebody needs help.
Patriotism is not only about what Canada can do for us when things go wrong.
It is also about whether Canada can count on us.
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