Our students have often been accused of lacking knowledge of Canadian history and heritage. But I suspect many of us would have difficulty passing the required test of knowledge expected of our new immigrants.
It may be understandable that since the name Dominion Day has been replaced with Canada Day, many of us may have forgotten our national motto — what it is, where it has come from and how it has recently been expanded.
Our motto is a translation from the Latin Vulgate Old Testament. In Psalm 72, it states: “He shall have dominion from sea to sea … .” So from that passage, Canada’s national motto in 1921 became officially “from sea to sea.” But recently, in order to represent inclusiveness toward our northern residents and the growing significance of the Arctic, our national motto is now often accepted as “from sea to sea to sea.”
It’s not surprising that few remember that fact. But even less surprising is the fact that we, and particularly our political leaders, are apparently unaware of what follows that passage from which we have derived our motto. Using a free translation of that psalm, “they shall be given the authority to rule from sea to sea for they shall deliver the needy when they call, the poor, the weak and those who have no helper.”
One may be sad that we don’t know our history. But in this land there are greater reasons for being sad.
Gerald Mitchinson
Victoria
