Thanksgiving comes once a year just to give thanks and enjoy a fun turkey dinner with family. These days, we tend to import American concerns and ideas that politicize Thanksgiving and distort it as a celebration of colonization.

Instead of being a time to be grateful for all we have, it has turned into a time for atonement, shame, and guilt.

Perhaps this year, those who have enjoyed destroying the traditions of our great country can take a collective breath and realize how grateful we all are to live in Canada.

It has recently been difficult to celebrate Canada. Even the 150th anniversary of our founding could not escape the shroud of shame cast by many Twitter mobs on our land.

We have dealt with silent words alongside the need to atone for past sins. Atonement has its place: Canada is a flawed country, and our history, like the history of any other country in the world, has chapters that require reconciliation and repair. However, past excesses and occasional current failures to meet our national aspirations do not mean we live in a horrible society, systematically racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, and oppressive.

In fact, by any historical standard, the opposite is true. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in the United States, Canada, like many other countries, set itself on fire in a desperate desire to root out racism and find it in all our institutions and communities.

Most Canadians completely avoided the issue for fear of being labeled defenders of racism. But let's look at the facts. In 2015, we made tremendous efforts to bring Syrian refugees out of that war-torn country. We are a model of international integration, where hundreds of nationalities and multiple religions live together in peace and happiness daily.

This remarkable success is attributed to Canadian multicultural values and an open immigration system, which welcomed 405,000 immigrants from all over the world in 2021. It often seems that there is not enough to be thankful for.

We had a first-class example of that after the death of Queen Elizabeth. Those who can only see the world through a single lens could not wait to pile on and insult her as a representative of colonization and a defender of it, although she was never anything of the sort.

They found no respectful silence nor gratitude for a person who gave her entire life to others. In this era of self, these keyboard warriors seem smaller than usual when they find no positivity during 70 years of consistently gracious public service by our head of state.

Canadians should also be grateful that those who participate in our government system show commitment to the principles on which a free and democratic society is based. However, when Pierre Poilievre was elected leader of the Conservative Party, the tired and usual condemnations of racism and sorrow came out of Twitter and the Toronto Star. On the other side of the political spectrum,

there are those who claim that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a despised fascist and a member of a global elite gang seeking to keep us masses under their thumb. Both Poilievre and Trudeau deserve criticism depending on the individual's political leanings, but let's be realistic: they are committed citizens offering what they believe is their best vision for the country.

Not infallible? Yes. Fascists? No. We should also be thankful for our natural resources. Thanks to our huge oil and gas reserves, we are wealthy, and our government will not have to support unaffordable home heating prices as recently announced by the UK. We are lucky with abundant resources the world needs, yet we mock and reject them, preferring Europe to get its oil and gas from Russia or Arab countries with questionable human rights records.

Our resources are also fundamental to Canada's economic reconciliation with its Indigenous peoples. Nothing provides the ability to make an immediate and actionable economic impact on First Nations communities like our oil, gas, and mining sector. We are an exceptionally wealthy nation. Millions worldwide still live in dreadful poverty today, but that does not apply to Canada.

Unfortunately, some still do not enjoy an acceptable standard of living, but help and a sincere desire to see them improve their lives is a cornerstone of compassionate Canadian society. This sharply contrasts with reality in many other parts of the world. Does any of this mean Canada or our people are perfect? No, they are not. In fact, activists who tear down statues and distort our history spend their days ensuring we are aware of this fact.

But it might be helpful to ask a simple question of those accusing Canada of being a horribly racist and oppressive state: compared to what?

Anyone with even a fleeting notion of a world before 2020 must realize Canada is by far one of the richest, most open, free, and tolerant societies in the history of civilization. The harsh truth, as anyone willing to pick up a book will notice, is that the history of the world is basically a story of humans being horrible to each other because of their differences.

An informal historical review will also reveal slight improvement in human interaction until very recently. Slavery, racism, misogyny, and religious discrimination were normal and daily events throughout history and remain common in many countries—but not in Canada. Perhaps the strongest proof of how great Canada is, and the point those ungrateful to live here should look at carefully, is the flow of immigrants. While Canada will receive more than 400,000 immigrants this year, there is absolutely no similar flow the other way. The world votes with its feet, and the desired destination is Canada.

This Thanksgiving, we can reflect and discuss our nation's shortcomings, but any discussion must recognize that despite the flaws, our history and traditions have created the wonderful position we currently enjoy. No one, anywhere, has had better than what we have now. Canada is a good place to live, and for that, I am forever grateful.

Editor: Yousra Bamatraaf