Canada Is Not As Nice As It Thinks It Is

"Canada: the country that puts sorry in its personality, diversity on its currency, and Indigenous children in mass graves in its history. These things coexist. That is the point."

Canadians have long enjoyed a particular luxury: being the reasonable one. While American politics burns and British politics collapses under its own contradictions, Canada gets to stand just north of the chaos and shrug. Universal healthcare. The Charter of Rights. The polite international reputation. The good country. This self-image requires a great deal of forgetting.

The Residential Schools Were Not History. They Were Recent.

The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996. Not 1896. 1996. A system designed to eliminate Indigenous children's culture and language -- one that subjected many to physical and sexual abuse -- operated well within living memory. The discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites beginning in 2021 was a national shock. But it should not have been a surprise. Survivors had been saying so for decades.

The Immigration Myth

Canada presents itself globally as a beacon of multicultural welcome. But the experience of immigrants -- particularly racialized immigrants -- tells a more complicated story. A 2025 Statistics Canada survey found that Black Canadians with university degrees earn significantly less than white Canadians with equivalent credentials. Newcomers report discrimination in housing, employment, and daily interactions at rates that do not match the national brochure.

Recent immigrants to Canada earn 19% less than Canadian-born workers with the same qualifications in their first five years of employment. (Statistics Canada, 2025)

Being Good Requires More Than Feeling Good

None of this means Canada is a uniquely terrible place. It is not. But goodness that does not interrogate itself becomes complacency. And complacency, historically, is how good countries gradually stop being good. The most patriotic thing a Canadian can do right now is read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action -- and ask how many have actually been implemented. The answer will be uncomfortable. That is the point.