"Us as Canadian Citizens"
"I am a Canadian, and I know that it is more than just beavers, hockey, being polite, and maple
leaves. I know that for the most part we are respecting, accepting, multicultural, bilingual, peace
loving, informed, and patriotic.
For four days this May, 220 young Canadians from all parts of the country gathered here in
Ottawa, and we learned what it is to be Canadian and to be a responsible citizen of this country.
The Rotary Club of Ottawa has for 52 years planned and hosted this event, the Rotary Adventure
in Citizenship, in order to give high school students in Canada the opportunity to develop their
potential as leaders in our communities and in Canadian society. Rotary is an organization of
executives and professionals, whose objective is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a
basis of worthy enterprise, and has over 30,000 clubs around the world. Each student who
attended the Rotary Adventure in Citizenship, was selected and sponsored by the Rotary Club of
their home town.
It was an amazing experience to meet so many people from each province and territory and to feel
how we are all united as Canadians, and also to see how important regional issues can be. While
we were touring the Canadian Museum of Civilization, dancing traditional Quebecois folk dance,
or sitting in the House of Commons, it was possible to just go up to someone, ask their name,
where they were from, and to connect somehow. Maybe because we both like Great Big Sea or
because we are both concerned about truth in the media. Which was one of things we considered
as we learned about the obligations of a citizen.
We also discussed ethics in citizenship, what a parliamentarian can accomplish, and
Canadian/American relations post September 11th. We learned that we are each other’s largest
trading partners, and that Canada must consider what it can give up and what it wants in return,
when shaping its relationship with the United States. The most vocal of us wished for more
involvement in peace keeping operations in Afghanistan, but others acknowledged the fact that
the attack on New York City was too close to home, and that it is necessary to react militarily
somehow, and that we, as Canadians, should be part of the army in Afghanistan. What we all
agreed on is that we would like to contribute to the war on terrorism, and that September llth was
a wake up call to stop taking things for granted, and also that we are very lucky.
The opportunity to be part of the Adventure in Citizenship, gave us all the chance to explore and
debate who we are as members of society in Canada. It showed us how important dialogues and
unity are to the workings of the country and how we must inform ourselves about important
issues so that we can positively effect the society.
I am so grateful that this program is available to youth across Canada, and that I was able to
interact with so many of them."