Last month at work I met with a fellow who was born in Pakistan, but lives and works in Saudi Arabia. He came to Canada for the first time on a business trip and we discussed working together, so when he needs equipment for pipeline jobs in the Middle East, I can offer him something. As the meeting was winding down he asked if we are able to handling shipping to the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). I said that we can ship from Edmonton International Airport for smaller shipments or from major ports, the Port of Vancouver and the Port of Montréal depending on which freight forwarder we use. I told him that Vancouver is about 1160 km (720 miles) from Edmonton, while Montréal is 4000 km (2,500 miles). Then he asked “Lorry drivers will actually drive these distances? How much more in insurance to drive to Montréal as opposed to Vancouver?” I told him that they would in teams and that I have driven across Canada about 10 times myself and loved it every time. I told him the company insurance is the same no matter which city we choose. He looked very surprised. Then he asked. “Is it safe…are there any dangers?” “Sure” I said. “You have to watch out for big animals crossing in front of you, especially when driving through forests at night…and 53% of Canada is still forest.”

He was shocked that I drove at night and then he just came out with it, “Are you not afraid that you will be stopped by armed bandits who want to rob you and perhaps kill you?” Then I thought how his experience with driving must be so much different than mine. “That just doesn’t happen here.” I said. “I have never heard of anything like that… we’re a country of 36 million people and had just over 300 murders last year and most of the victims knew the murderer”. “Canada is made up of different cultures, races, religions, and some people have no belief, but we can all live together because we are all Canadians.” As we said our good-bye’s he smiled and said “You are very fortunate that in such a big country you can feel safe travelling between cities or from one coast to the other, with such a variety of people as citizens. My country was born out of revolution”. As we shook hands I said to him “And my country was born out of evolution.”

After he left, I thought about what he’d said. Sometimes we take for granted the individual rights and freedoms we have. Besides the freedoms enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the right to vote, freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, movement, conscience etc., we also have the freedom to live without fear. That’s not enshrined in any document, it’s just who we are. When the US pulled out of Iraq, one thing the Americans gave the Iraqi’s was a new constitution. That constitution was modeled after our constitution. The Americans issued a US style constitution for Afghanistan, but for Iraq, it was the Canadian constitution that they used as the model. Why? Our neighbours to the south saw that we have two major linguistic groups (English and French) and two dominant religious groups (Catholic and Protestant). Yet we have lived together, side by side with each other in peace for centuries (since the 1760’s) and for all the 150 years we’ve been a country. It was these two groups that came together and created Canada through evolution. We do not fear the other. Oh sure, we’ll argue over regional issues, but we’ve never raised arms against our fellow citizens, in fact both groups have stood together to defend Canada in every war since 1812. So, the Americans saw there were things in our constitution that could possibly work for a country with multiple languages and different beliefs. They hoped it would work for the Shiites, Sunni’s and Kurds in Iraq, as it has worked for the English and French speaking populations in Canada and the new arrivals that have come to our shores seeking safety, opportunity, a better life and a chance to contribute.

I’m so grateful that my father chose to come here. You see, I am the son of an immigrant. It was in July 1945, that a young Greek First Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Nicholas Pilidis, 25, disembarked from a British Royal Navy warship in Halifax, Nova Scotia (he was transferred from his Greek warship after D-Day because he spoke 10 languages and the British were travelling to more places than the Greeks were). He was discharged and went on to Montréal, where he met my Nova Scotia born mother years later. He also found out later, that while my Canadian Army uncles were storming Juno Beach on June 6, 1944 to preserve those freedoms we enjoy, he was giving orders on-board a Greek Royal Navy warship in the English Channel along with British and Canadian ships to pound the German positions so the Canadians would have a chance at completing their objective against two dug in German SS battalions and a Panzer Division. The Canadians were the only force at Normandy to meet their objectives on that day and made it to the main road in part because of the navy’s shelling and the ships coming within 100 yards of the beach to
pound the German bunkers at point blank range. While growing up, my father always flew the Maple Leaf at home. I was shown how to fold it, how to raise it and to never let it touch the ground. It would go up the flag pole folded, and with a tug of the cord, it would unfold in the wind. I fly one (actually two) on my house (and garage) to this day. He loved our country deeply and raised me to feel the same way. I was always told that we lived in the greatest country on Earth. That’s how I made it here. He convinced me to cancel my vacation to the US and “see the rest of your country first…it’s yours from coast to coast to coast.” So I came west for supposedly three weeks, met a girl and stayed a little bit longer.