The Importance of History

I live in a country where everyone is from somewhere else. Even the native Canadians originally came from somewhere else in the distant past. Perhaps it is because we are all from somewhere else that we cling so desperately to where we have come from.

It always astonishes new assistants at Daybreak when Canadians proudly proclaim "My family is German." They then question if we can speak German and become somewhat confused when it turns out to really be our great-grandparents who immigrated from Germany. I admit that I am one of those Canadians. My mother's mother's parents immigrated to Canada from Hamburg, Germany, after journeying through Ellis Island and Wisconsin. The rest of my mother's family came from Ireland. My father's family came to Canada from Scotland. For me the answer to the question where do you live is a suburb in Ontario, but I am from Ireland, Scotland and Germany.

Despite the fact that I never knew any of my family who made the courageous choice to come to Canada, they are a part of who I am. Had they not made the decision to leave what they knew and come to a place of both vast wilderness and vast opportunity, I would not be the person I am today. I owe a lot to my ancestors and the choices that they made. THey are responsible for shaping the life my parents were able to lead, as well as the life that I am able to lead.

Canadians carry within them a deep sense of where they came from and that shapes much of our national consciousness. We are all bound by a sense of belonging to a place that has adopted us. We carry where we have been forward into where we are going. We are who we have been, an immigrant population thirsty for freedom and opportunity. At the same time, we are becoming a people of many languages, faiths and traditions, conscious of our history while moving towards a new and brighter future.