re: History lesson for Dusty Corners (Letters, Oct. 18)
I work in a field with lots of social interaction. My experience is that the few people getting upset over some issue or other are proof that they are the outliers and do not represent the majority view. A few odd opinions hating our British past do not represent the majority, nor do they represent a decent or respectable perspective on our history. My ancestors fled from poverty and persecution to live here under British rule: a stern and tough rule, but for the most part quite fair and safe. There was no other empire in world history that afforded so much protection and rights to its subjects. Yes, we are talking about a bygone age, and yes not everything done 200 years ago would be palatable today. But today’s Canada and Commonwealth is a direct evolution out of the rights granted by King John of England at Runnymede in 1215 A.D. and then expanded in 1688 with the Bill of Rights. These rights come from no other source: not from Muhammad, Rome, Athens, the Bible, China, India, France or Native Canadians. These rights are British and a product of British genius, British internecine strife, and British civilization.
Anyone hating our British inheritance is hating the essence of our nationhood. Being critical and thoughtful about it is always a good thing, but rejecting it outright from some sort of romantic delusion of how history doesn’t work, is folly.
Chris Miller
Hamilton Mountain