Article by The Hon. Joe Volpe — Video: CNMNG Staff
TORONTO – A month after the Prime Minister stood in the House to Apologize for the internment of Italian Canadians during World War II, somebody – the proverbial “they”– hiding under the cover of five private corporations in Canada, commissioned and published in the Globe and Mail, on June 18, a “Thank You Canada” advertisement.
It would have been more productive had “they” invested in reputation-restoration projects. If they had asked in the community, including the Corriere Canadese, they might have learned why no one would have endorsed the ad. Corriere Canadese would not have run the ad.
First, to be frank, the whole affair reeks of the Stockholm syndrome (“victim thanking the abuser”). Someone – they – is trying to “kiss up” to the government. In so doing, “they” have turned a long-overdue Apology into a craven, disrespectful, obsequious exercise.
Second, visually, the placement of the flags suggests that one “is pushing down” on the other, offering up a power relationship not supported by the rest of the content and conjuring up the opposite of the supposed intention. Nor is the positioning sustained by any flying of the flag protocols demanding side-by-side placement or pre-eminence of the “host nation” colours.
Third, places – countries – do not commit Constitutional transgressions or violations of civic rights; people, their political leaders, do. Canada’s governments have, in the main, managed the country well. But not always.
