I fully admit that as a nation we aren't doing everything right. We have debt, our leaders have made some questionable choices, and most of all we stole this land. We have a history full of violence and the systematic oppression of an entire group of people and we regularly ignore it.
That isn't ok. We shouldn't approve of or accept what our ancestors did. But we can't change it. Instead we can work for a better future - and I think it is still ok to celebrate the things we are doing right, the small victories. I read a great quote today regarding our claim to the title of "Canadians."
"You don't have to be Ojibway, Cree, Haida, Inuk, or Blackfoot to love Canada. You don't have to be Native, because the truth is that everyone born here is native to this land. Everyone who had ever laid a loved one to rest within the breast of this earth has a spiritual tie to it that is as strong, as valid, as our own. Everyone who can trace a line to ancestors here, everyone whose lives have sprung from a relationship with the land, everyone whose family story is one that includes hardship, struggle, and reclaimed dignity, has a right to claim themselves as native to Canada. We are the original people of this land, and that will never change, but everyone whose first breath is from the crystal clear air of Canada is native to this country. There are many people among us who will be angered by that thought, many who will deny it, but if history, intention, and responsibility have anything at all to teach us about ourselves, it is that our thinking must change." (Wagamese, 2003, p. 217)