Red and white
Red and white. Flags flying on porches. Fireworks crackling across prairie skies. Canada Day evokes complex emotions these days. Some raise their flags with quiet gratitude, thankful for a country that—despite its flaws—offered them safety, dignity, and peace after fleeing war or oppression. Others stay home, choosing not to celebrate a nation still reckoning with its history: the pain of residential schools, the weight of colonialism, the injustices that still linger. And then there are voices—like the one I came across on Facebook—once proudly Canadian, now calling for Alberta to separate. It’s easy to understand the impulse. We live in fractured times. Trust in systems is crumbling. Some feel ignored or betrayed. The temptation to break away, to go it alone, can masquerade as strength. But I want to offer another word. A gospel word. Unity. Not forced agreement. Not erasure of difference. But the kind of unity Jesus prayed for in John 17: “That they may all be one.” ...