Canadians tend to be understated about patriotism.
We are not generally a country of giant flag displays on every street corner.
We often express national pride through humour.
Through hockey.
Through complaining about the weather.
Through arguing about whose winter is worse.
Through maple syrup, cottages, lakes, mountains, coastlines and the almost compulsory Canadian need to tell foreigners that yes, Canada really is that big.
There is something charming about that modesty.
But patriotism cannot survive entirely as a collection of jokes and symbols.
Eventually it has to become behaviour.
A person who loves Canada should want Canada to succeed.
That sounds obvious.
Yet national success depends on millions of decisions that rarely feel patriotic while we are making them.
Where do we shop?
Which businesses do we support?
Do we learn anything about our country’s history?
Do we vote?
Do we participate in our communities?
Do we support Canadian artists and creators?
Do we visit other parts of Canada?
Do we know anything about Canadians living several provinces away?
Do we treat political opponents as fellow citizens or enemies?
Do we leave the country stronger for the next generation?
These are patriotic questions.
Flying the flag is easy.
Building the country is harder.
Nationalism matters because large societies require cooperation among people who will never meet one another.
A Canadian in St. John’s may have almost nothing personally in common with a Canadian in Whitehorse.
They may never visit each other’s communities.
They may disagree on energy policy, taxes, language, climate policy and federal politics.
Yet both depend on the same country functioning.
Their pensions, currency, defence, federal institutions, national transportation networks and economic opportunities are connected.
Citizenship turns strangers into stakeholders.
That idea is especially important at a moment when politics encourages people to divide themselves into smaller and smaller camps.
Left versus right.
Urban versus rural.
East versus West.
French versus English.
Young versus old.
Newcomer versus established Canadian.
Province versus province.
Every country contains disagreements.
A functioning nation provides something larger than those disagreements.
That may be why recent polling during the current U.S. trade dispute is noteworthy. Despite deep political and regional divisions, Angus Reid found 69 percent of Canadians saying national interests should take priority over the interests of their own province in Canada’s response.
The instinct still exists.
Canadians understand that sometimes we need to stand together.
The challenge is maintaining that attitude after the crisis passes.
Nationalism cannot simply appear whenever an outside threat reminds us that Canada exists.
It needs to become part of ordinary civic life.
Visit another province.
Learn a little French if you speak English, or English if you speak French.
Learn whose traditional Indigenous territory your community occupies.
Read Canadian history.
Watch Canadian films.
Listen to Canadian musicians.
Buy something made by another Canadian.
Support a local business.
Travel north.
Travel east.
Travel west.
See the Prairies.
See the Atlantic.
See the Rockies.
See Quebec.
Understand why Canadians in other regions sometimes view the country differently than you do.
None of this requires pretending Canada is perfect.
Real patriotism should be demanding.
It should recognize failures because it wants the country to improve.
It should celebrate achievements because people need examples of what their country is capable of accomplishing.
Canada does not need citizens who believe it can do no wrong.
It needs citizens who believe Canada is worth the effort required to make it better.
That may be the most useful definition of Canadian nationalism today.
Not shouting louder than everyone else.
Not insisting we are better than everyone else.
Simply deciding that this country matters.
And then acting like it.
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