I love most things about Canada. I moved here and became nationalized by choice because of the cultural and ethnic diversity, and because of the vastness of the country.
Two things bother me about Canada:
PART I
CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Don’t despair, QOK. To make you feel better check out Carrier’s poem on our $5 bill:
“The Winters of my childhood were long, long seasons.We lived in three places—the School, the Church and the Skating Rink—but our real life was on the Skating Rink.”
I watch hockey during the play-offs, but I play and coach football/soccer year round:)
I feel surrounded by religious people and I find it hard to relate to such childish paradigm of life. If feels surreal. I am a member of a European atheist forum and a US atheist forum and could not find a Canadian one for the longest time. Nothing came up on my search engines for a long time. Finally found this site and I feel hopeful.
I am also glad to have found out that intelligent people who I respect such as David Suzuki, Margaret Atwood, and others are freethinkers.
Is there any movement to remove the word God from our anthem and Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
I think CFI Canada was looking into it, but I am not sure what happened. I don’t really care much. I live in Toronto and the few religious people I sometimes come across seem pretty harmless.
Welcome, Q-O-K. I can understand your wanting to find other people to relate to, but meanwhile, this forum is a pretty good substitute.
I did a quick google search to see where Carlisle was, but got swamped by commercial sites, so I gave up. Where in Canada is Carlisle? And where did you emigrate from? OK, OK, I’ll say it correctly. From whence did you emigrate?
I can understand your concern. I was just out of college when some religious fanatics got “under god” stuck in the middle of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. It really galled me when I’d be at some public gathering where the pledge was said in unison and that stupid two words were there.
Not another Canunck! Just kidding QOK, welcome and You’re in good company here. Hope to read your posts in the future. BTW, like hockey, my son-in-law plays and roped me into a game or two. Love the ice and driving zambonies.
And Occam, on the Pledge, you probably know that it was written by a Christian socialist who would have blasted the K of C for including under god in 1954 at least that’s what his daughter said. He didn’t even like the original change from “my flag” to the flag.
I think CFI Canada was looking into it, but I am not sure what happened. I don’t really care much. I live in Toronto and the few religious people I sometimes come across seem pretty harmless.
Do stick around, though. This is a great forum.
I have many colleagues and friends in Toronto and Toronto is a more enlightened place. I live in Carlisle where highly educated people who are otherwise intelligent speak about God with the conviction of an unintelligent child who believes in fictitious characters.
The years of brainwashing and indoctrination in a very controlled environment is quite apparent and it is difficult to relate to people like that when their religion forms a significant part of their lives.
My children have learned on their own through experience not to discuss religion, Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy with the children in their school. They have not found one single child in their school who was aware that all of the above are fiction.
I like what I have read so far, so I intend to stick around for some time.
I can understand your wanting to find other people to relate to, but meanwhile, this forum is a pretty good substitute.
I did a quick google search to see where Carlisle was, but got swamped by commercial sites, so I gave up. Where in Canada is Carlisle?
And where did you emigrate from? OK, OK, I’ll say it correctly. From whence did you emigrate?
I was born and partly raised in Spain. I traveled through Europe from age 15 and came to Canada a few weeks before my 22nd birth date. I love the Golden Horseshoe because of its diversity of cultures, ethnicity, tolerance, and peaceful productive harmony.
I can understand your concern. I was just out of college when some religious fanatics got “under god” stuck in the middle of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. It really galled me when I’d be at some public gathering where the pledge was said in unison and that stupid two words were there.
Occam
At least it is not in your constitution. The religious people here are not as aggressive as some religious groups are in the US, but you can fight for secularism on constitutional grounds in the US. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms basically states that Canada is a theocracy of sorts and that makes the fight for secularism a very difficult one legally in my opinion.
Public schools are now teaching religion and providing space for prayers. Students are invited to attend them over the P.A. system.
Not another Canunck! Just kidding QOK, welcome and You’re in good company here. Hope to read your posts in the future. BTW, like hockey, my son-in-law plays and roped me into a game or two. Love the ice and driving zambonies.
And Occam, on the Pledge, you probably know that it was written by a Christian socialist who would have blasted the K of C for including under god in 1954 at least that’s what his daughter said. He didn’t even like the original change from “my flag” to the flag.
Cap’t Jack
You might find this curious, but the most played amateur sport in Canada is football/soccer. I read somewhere also that Canada has the highest number in the world of participants in the game of football/soccer. I don’t know if that is true or not, but I know that the number of participants last year was over 1.2 million.
Hockey has lost a great deal of ground for four reasons. The first one is the changing demographics. Canadians birth rate is amongst the lowest in the world and we rely on immigration to increase population. The vast majority of people that immigrate into Canada pay soccer and some play cricket, so both sports have rapidly increased in popularity in the last decade.
Secondly, climate warming has made it virtually impossible to maintain outdoor backyard hockey rinks in the most populated areas of Canada.
Thirdly, arenas are expensive to build and maintain, and there has been an increase in equipment prices and equipment requirements based on safety concerns and both factors make hockey very prohibiting for lower income families.
Fourthly, many young boys do not enjoy having to spend a great deal of time putting on the large amount of equipment and the skates. My boys objected to that and to the stench of the pads after being used a few times. That was the deal braker for them and they left hockey for football/soccer.
Also the Canadian national sport is Lacrosse. We invented hockey and this is what we are known for, but it is neither our official national sport nor the most played.
Well, isn’t that weird. I said I am in Toronto even though I am actually in Burlington. In other words, about a 20-minute car ride from where you are. Funny thing, but I have never heard of Carlisle. And I lived in Spain as well, in Madrid. ¿De que parte de España eres?
Well, isn’t that weird. I said I am in Toronto even though I am actually in Burlington. In other words, about a 20-minute car ride from where you are. Funny thing, but I have never heard of Carlisle. And I lived in Spain as well, in Madrid. ¿De que parte de España eres?
There is no distance between Carlisle and Burlington:) They are adjacent and divided by Milborough townline where Carlisle road changes name to Kilbride road. The east side of Milborough townline is Burlington and the west side is Carlisle.
Nací y viví en Sevilla hasta los 15 años, viví en Vigo un año, y he viajado por casi toda España y casi toda Europa. ¿Eres español?
And yes, our towns almost border each other, but since I am by the lake and closer to Oakville, I figured it would take me about 20 minutes to get to your town.
