Canadians

[moon_custafer]

The CBC finishes up its Greatest Canadian contest this week with a documentary on each of the ten finalists and a deciding vote by the country. I can't help notice that all the finalists are men - I mean, I certainly wouldn't vote for someone just because she had the same number of x chromosomes as myself, but there's got to be a few Canadian women worth mentioning - L. M. Montgomery, anyone?

I can't really fault any of the candidates they did pick, though - except perhaps Don Cherry - he's colourful, but is anyone really going to remember him in a couple of generations? I certainly don't think he's in the same league as Banting or Pearson. Also, I'm puzzled by Sook-Yin Lee's reference to Terry Fox as "the only great Canadian known internationally." It seems to me most of our greats left an international legacy - Pearson, the peacemaker; Bell, who made long-distance communications possible; Banting, discoverer of insulin; Béthune (not on the list) is revered in China; Montgomery would probably be the first famous Canadian to spring to the mind of a Japanese citizen. We export greatness.

Comments

[theengineer.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, they're doing this now in the Netherlands as well. While I was over there there was a brou-ha-ha going on over the fact that Anne Frank was officially ruled ineligible for it because she was, well, German. They tried petitioning the government to grant her citizenship, but it was ruled that there was no legal basis to do so.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

The Greatest Canadians list includes Alexander Graham Bell, while admitting the U.S. and Scotland also claim him as theirs.

Does Spinoza count for the Netherlands? He was born there.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I caught an interview with Sheila Copps on TV the other day where she also remarked on the finalists all being men. It was nice to see a politician showing her feminist sensibility.