Canada’s newly-built places are often homes to new Canadians. These areas carry too little memory of Canadian history and Canadian accomplishment. Public memorials, statues and other reminders of the Canadian past are crowded into older central cities. As things stand, the Surreys and the Woodbridges could be any suburbs anywhere. They too need their connections to the shared national story — a story their residents have volunteered to join. As with the landscaping projects, there could be a contest to build 100 historical monuments in the country’s 100 fastest growing urban zones: their own memorials to Canada’s wars, to the expansion of democracy and human rights, and to both proud and tragic moments in Canadian history.
It’s a good point, even if it is from a Frum.