The Greatest Canadian

[Isaac Brock]

Inspired by CBC's Greatest Canadian show on Sunday night, who do you believe is the greatest Canadian? I suppose the question is more directed to Said, Marbles and the other Canadians but if you have an list, go for it.

My top 5 in no particular order:

David Suzuki - Reknown naturalist, environmentalist and educator
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume6/224-225.htm

Lester B. Pearson - Father of the Peacekeeping movement, Canada's flag and universal medicare system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Bowles_Pearson

The Unknown Soldier - A soldier, for all soldiers who have died, anonymously, but not forgotten
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=Memorials/tomb/thetomb

Louis Riel - Defender of the rights of Westerners, French, Metis and Native peoples
http://library.usask.ca/northwest/background/riel.htm

Frederick Banting - Inventor of insulin, Painter and Soldier
http://www.surgical-tutor.org.uk/default-home.htm?surgeons/banting.htm~right

Link:
http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/

 

[Said1]

Inspired by CBC's Greatest Canadian show on Sunday night, who do you believe is the greatest Canadian? I suppose the question is more directed to Said, Marbles and the other Canadians but if you have an list, go for it.

My top 5 in no particular order:

David Suzuki - Reknown naturalist, environmentalist and educator
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume6/224-225.htm

Lester B. Pearson - Father of the Peacekeeping movement, Canada's flag and universal medicare system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Bowles_Pearson

The Unknown Soldier - A soldier, for all soldiers who have died, anonymously, but not forgotten
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=Memorials/tomb/thetomb

Louis Riel - Defender of the rights of Westerners, French, Metis and Native peoples
http://library.usask.ca/northwest/background/riel.htm

Frederick Banting - Inventor of insulin, Painter and Soldier
http://www.surgical-tutor.org.uk/default-home.htm?surgeons/banting.htm~right

Link:
http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/

Mary Walsh is one of my favorite Canadians. She may not be the greatest, but she sure as hell is funny!

 

[Isaac Brock]

Mary Walsh is one of my favorite Canadians. She may not be the greatest, but she sure as hell is funny!

When she does Dakey Dunn "Male Correspondant" on 22 Minutes, it kills me. Her pick was Frederick Banting, go figure.

 

[musicman]

Do y'all mind if a Yank weighs in? Some of my favorite Canadian contributors to popular culture:

John Candy - this guy could reduce me to helpless laughter with one look. And yet there was a gentleness to his humor, along with impeccable comedic timing. He is greatly missed.

The Guess Who - this 60's and 70's rock band was light years ahead of it's time. I know I've got some fellow guitar-heads on the board. Try to decipher the chord progressions on "Undun", "These Eyes", and "No Time Left for You". These guys were insane.

Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell - The beauty of their music speaks for itself.

Jim Carrey - Some comedians raise the bar. This guy just threw it out a 20-story window.

I sure don't mean to trivialize the poll, but these folks have all brought me great pleasure.

 

[NATO AIR]

If i may participate please... (or at least be tolerated/humored)

my vote goes to Romeo Dallaire, at a time when Canada's place in the world is unclear, when its military is fading and buckling under underfunding and poor management, when some of its people (as i've posted earlier) feel it is in a rut of sorts... he's showing you all how great you can be, despite immense personal and professional tragedy.

he's been challenging your great nation to be great again, to be a remarkable world leader, to be a tremendous and vital member of the free world in an age of terror, oppression and mass murder.

and here he is again just recently

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5015688.html
Romeo Dallaire: World's doing too little to halt Sudan genocide
Romeo Dallaire
October 5, 2004
MONTREAL -- Each day the world is confronted by new reports of atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. President Bush, in his address to the U.N. General Assembly last month, referred to the situation as "genocide," and he and Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged support for sanctions against the Sudanese government and a Security Council resolution to expand the African Union force on the ground there. But I am afraid that moral condemnation, trade penalties and military efforts by African countries are simply not going to be enough to stop the killing -- not nearly enough.

I know, because I've seen it all happen before. A decade ago, I was the Canadian general in command of the U.N. forces in Rwanda when that civil war began and quickly turned into genocide. The conflict was often portrayed as nothing more than an age-old feud between African tribes, a situation that the Western world could do little to stop. All that was left to do was wait to pick up the pieces when the killing stopped and to provide support to rebuild the country.

Although the early stages of the Darfur situation received more news coverage than the Rwanda genocide did, at some level the Western governments are still approaching it with the same lack of priority. In the end, it receives the same intuitive reaction: "What's in it for us? Is it in our 'national' interest?"

Sudan, an underdeveloped, orphan nation, with no links to colonial masters of its past, is essentially being left to its own devices. The Islamic Janjaweed militias of Darfur, with the complicit approval of the government, are bent on ridding the region of its residents, primarily black Africans -- killing, raping and driving refugees into camps along the border with Chad.

The United Nations, emasculated by the self-interested maneuverings of the five permanent members of the Security Council, fails to intervene. Its only concrete step, the Security Council resolution passed in July, all but plagiarized the resolutions on Rwanda 10 years earlier. When I read phrases like "reaffirming its commitment to the sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and independence of Sudan" and "expressing its determination to do everything possible to halt a humanitarian catastrophe, including by taking further action if required," I can't help but think of the stifling directives that were imposed on the United Nations' department of peacekeeping operations in 1994 and then passed down to me in the field.

I recall all too well the West's indifference to the horrors that unfolded in Rwanda beginning in April 1994. Early warnings had gone unheeded, intervention was ruled out and even as the bodies piled up on the streets of Kigali and across the countryside, world leaders quibbled over the definition of what was really happening. The only international forces they sent during those first days and weeks of the massacres were paratroopers to evacuate the foreigners. Before long, we were burning the bodies with diesel fuel to ward off disease, and the smell that would cling to your skin like an oil.

Several African countries promised me battalions of troops and hundreds of observers to help come to grips with the relentless carnage. But they had neither the equipment nor the logistical support to sustain themselves, and no way to fly in the vehicles and ammunition needed to conduct sustained operations.

Today, to be sure, the international community is caught in the vicissitudes of complex political problems -- particularly the fragile cease-fire between the Islamic government and the largely Christian population in southern Sudan. Powerful nations like the United States and Britain have lost much of their credibility because of the quagmire of Iraq. And infighting at the United Nations has bogged down an American-proposed second resolution that probably wouldn't do much more than the one passed in July.

So in the end we get nothing more than pledges to support the international monitoring team of a few hundred observers from the African Union. (On Friday, Sudan agreed that this force could expand to 3,500 soldiers.) Nigeria and other countries are willing to send a larger intervention force, but they can't do so effectively without the kind of logistical and transportation support that Western countries could provide.

Sudan is a huge country with a harsh terrain and a population unlikely to welcome outside intervention. Still, I believe that a mixture of mobile African Union troops supported by NATO soldiers equipped with helicopters, remotely piloted vehicles, night-vision devices and long-range special forces could protect Darfur's displaced people in their camps and remaining villages, and eliminate or incarcerate the Janjaweed.

If NATO is unable to act adequately, manpower could perhaps come individually from the so-called middle nations -- countries like Germany and Canada that have more political leeway and often more credibility in the developing world than the Security Council members.

In April, on the 10th anniversary of the start of his country's genocide, President Paul Kagame told his people and the world that if any country ever suffered genocide, Rwanda would willingly come to its aid. He chastised the international community for its callous response to the killing spree of 1994, during which 800,000 people were slaughtered and 3 million lost their homes and villages. And sure enough, Rwanda sent a small contingent to Darfur. Kagame kept his word. Having called what is happening in Darfur genocide and having vowed to stop it, it is time for the West to keep its word as well.

Romeo Dallaire, a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard, is the author of "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda." He wrote this article for the New York Times.

 

[Said1]

If i may participate please... (or at least be tolerated/humored)

my vote goes to Romeo Dallaire, at a time when Canada's place in the world is unclear, when its military is fading and buckling under underfunding and poor management, when some of its people (as i've posted earlier) feel it is in a rut of sorts... he's showing you all how great you can be, despite immense personal and professional tragedy.

he's been challenging your great nation to be great again, to be a remarkable world leader, to be a tremendous and vital member of the free world in an age of terror, oppression and mass murder.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I thought of him right after I posted Mary Walsh, and was going to post something this morning, but again, you beat me to it! Thanks, I share your sentiments.

 

[MrMarbles]

I enjoyed those who weren't Canadian but still were on the list, ironically it was for fighting the US, Techumseh (spelling) and Isaac Brock.

Out oF the top ten, Sir John A., Tommy Douglas (fellow Canadians should of figured that), and Pearson.

I had personally voted for Jonh A. and Isaac Brock. The real Isaac Brock, no offense Isaac. Eeek confusing!

 

[MrMarbles]

I can't believe that my home town, Winnipeg alone got Hal Anderson on. I'll say it again, democracy just dosen't work. Or maybe it works to well sometimes.

 

[Isaac Brock]

If i may participate please... (or at least be tolerated/humored)

my vote goes to Romeo Dallaire, at a time when Canada's place in the world is unclear, when its military is fading and buckling under underfunding and poor management, when some of its people (as i've posted earlier) feel it is in a rut of sorts... he's showing you all how great you can be, despite immense personal and professional tragedy.

he's been challenging your great nation to be great again, to be a remarkable world leader, to be a tremendous and vital member of the free world in an age of terror, oppression and mass murder.

Excellent choice! I wasn't even aware that Dallaire was known outside our borders. Though I suppose you and him are both in the forces. I've heard him talk at my university and found him to be extremely humble, knowning his loss in Rwanda, but also extremely objective. It's a shame Canadians don't hear Romeo on our radar often enough.

 

[Isaac Brock]

I enjoyed those who weren't Canadian but still were on the list, ironically it was for fighting the US, Techumseh (spelling) and Isaac Brock.

Out oF the top ten, Sir John A., Tommy Douglas (fellow Canadians should of figured that), and Pearson.

I had personally voted for Jonh A. and Isaac Brock. The real Isaac Brock, no offense Isaac. Eeek confusing!

I am the REAL Isaac Brock! Nobody will take Upper or Lower Canada on my watch, though i may have to let York burn again. Watch out Detroit!

I still say Isaac Brock shouldn't be on that list because he was British, through and through. Though, good call on Tommy Douglas. Without him or Pearson we wouldn't have medicare.

 

[Isaac Brock]

Do y'all mind if a Yank weighs in? Some of my favorite Canadian contributors to popular culture:

John Candy - this guy could reduce me to helpless laughter with one look. And yet there was a gentleness to his humor, along with impeccable comedic timing. He is greatly missed.

The Guess Who - this 60's and 70's rock band was light years ahead of it's time. I know I've got some fellow guitar-heads on the board. Try to decipher the chord progressions on "Undun", "These Eyes", and "No Time Left for You". These guys were insane.

Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell - The beauty of their music speaks for itself.

Jim Carrey - Some comedians raise the bar. This guy just threw it out a 20-story window.

I sure don't mean to trivialize the poll, but these folks have all brought me great pleasure.

Yup, all of those folks made the official Top 50 list, though you missed Mike Myers eh?

 

[dmp]

easy...

 

[Isaac Brock]

easy...

Haha you know who wrote/directed that movie eh?

 

[Merlin1047]

Greatest Canadian . . boy that's a tough one.

I'm torn between Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle the Moose.

:teeth:

 

[Said1]

I'm partial to Terry Fox, but I think Trudeau will probably get it the end, or Bell.

 

[MrMarbles]

I am the REAL Isaac Brock! Nobody will take Upper or Lower Canada on my watch, though i may have to let York burn again. Watch out Detroit!

I still say Isaac Brock shouldn't be on that list because he was British, through and through. Though, good call on Tommy Douglas. Without him or Pearson we wouldn't have medicare.

He's not Canadian, but without him there would be no Canada.

Canadian Bacon rocks!

 

[Intrepid]

That's such a difficult question to answer, "Who is the Greatest Canadian". It's so subjective. I don't think that I could pick one, but I definately have a few:

P. E. Trudeau, John Raulston Saul, L. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, Louis Reil, Robert Young Pelton (even if he is living as a Yankee now), Laura Secord, Sir William Stephenson, Lester B. Pearson. I know a few of these people have been mentioned already, but they are my favourite Canadians.

There are so many others, though. It's like comparing apples to oranges. It will be interesting to se who wins, though.

 

[NATO AIR]

Excellent choice! I wasn't even aware that Dallaire was known outside our borders. Though I suppose you and him are both in the forces. I've heard him talk at my university and found him to be extremely humble, knowning his loss in Rwanda, but also extremely objective. It's a shame Canadians don't hear Romeo on our radar often enough.

i'm glad you enjoyed his lecture. i watched him reduce many japanese to tears during his speech at the yokohama city centre four months ago about ethnic warfare and the genocide in darfur. even more amazing, he recieved an authentic standing ovation from them at the end. two instances of the most publically unemotional people in the world defying convention because of an unconventional hero's humble honesty and insight.

 

[Zhukov]

Toronto QOR

 

[Zhukov]

Toronto's Queen's Own Rifles received the worst battering of any Canadian unit on D-Day. The initial bombardment on their sector of "Nan" had barely dented the enemy's fortifications. The DD tanks, supposed to "swim" in ahead of the infantry to diminish German resistance, had been forced by high waves to land after them--"within a few hundred yards of the muzzles of the beach defence guns", one tank commander recalled afterward. Only a few made it into action.

A half-hour late, the landing craft carrying the Queen's Own hit the beach more or less intact. Then the bloodbath began, the men making a mad dash from the shoreline to a seawall 183 metres away with no cover in between. A hidden German 88 opened up on the lead platoon of one company, decimating two-thirds of it before being silenced. Only a handful survived to get off the beach.

A second Queen's Own company landed directly in front of an untouched enemy strongpoint and very quickly lost half of its men, until three riflemen eliminated it with hand grenades and small arms fire. The price had been high, but the Queen's Own moved off the beach. The war diary of this, one of the oldest regiments in the Canadian Army, reflected the unit's unflagging spirit under onerous conditions.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/normandy/dday