It's somewhat bizarre to see Canadian flags and maple leaf stickers sprout up everywhere over the last couple of months.
For most of my life, Canadian patriotism was defined, in part, by how subdued it was. Covering every available surface with the national flag was an American thing. The national anthem? Sure, on Remembrance Day and at hockey games, but that was about it.
Canadian patriotism was an equal mixture of quiet pride in some of our institutions (UN peacekeeping, health care, hockey excellence, the RCMP) and a sharp awareness of how we were not American.
Then over the last five or six years, patriotism really took a beating.
The things Canadians typically looked to as sources of pride were themselves tarnished, degraded, or turned out to be build on a foundation of sand.
Our faith in the superiority of our health-care system has been eroded by long waits at ERs and the shortage of family doctors. Canada's military barely takes part in peacekeeping on any substantive scale any longer. The announcements of large numbers of presumed unmarked graves at former residential schools was a harsh reminder that well into the modern era, Canada treated its Indigenous people as second-class citizens at best, and in many ways still does (consider arrest rates for Indigenous people, or the lack of clean drinking water on some reserves).
I guess we still have hockey?
Being under economic attack by the Trump government in the United States has reminded Canadians that, while we have many problems and a troubled history (name a country that doesn't), we do have some shared ideals.
The big question now is, what sort of patriotism comes out of this moment of crisis?
I hope that it isn't simply a shallow "My country, right or wrong" type of patriotism, founded on flag waving and hollow nationalism. We've seen how that goes in other countries, and it usually ends badly.
If we're going to see a renewed patriotism in Canada, it should be based on values and aspirations.
What kind of Canada do we want? How do we get there, together?
Our health-care system is battered? Let's make Canada a centre of excellence in health and health-science research.
Our relationship with Indigenous Canadians has been historically awful and exploitative? Let's redouble our efforts towards meaningful reconciliation.
As a country that values clean air and water, can we take the lead in generating clean energy?
We invented peacekeeping 鈥� do we focus on diplomacy and peacemaking? Do we send rescue workers and firefighters overseas during emergencies? Do we need a stronger military to counter a new generation of threats?
I don't think there's one answer to what a positive version of a future Canada is. There are many versions, and the nice thing about living in a democracy is we can debate and protest and vote to bring forward the ones we think are the best.
If there's one thing that comes out of this crisis, I hope it's the idea that Canada can have a positive future, one worth being (quietly) proud of.
