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Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Lorne Gunter on the War Against Self Defence
When Canada became independent at Confederation in 1867, Canadians retained the rights they had at the time as British subjects. These included three "absolute rights": the right to personal liberty, the right to private property and the right to self-defence, up to and including the right to kill an attacker or burglar.
William Blackstone, Britain's famous constitutional expert, argued the right to self-defence included the right to kill even an agent of the king found on one's property after dark, uninvited. He also traced the right to armed self-defence back to the time of King Canute (995-1035) when subjects could be fined for failing to keep weapons for their own protection.
On a side note. For more than forty years now Canadian officialdom has been waging another war, against this country's British heritage and traditions. This was done in the name of "modernizing" Canada. It had the very useful side effect - useful to the statist class at any rate - of creating two generations of historical amnesiacs.
Where once Canadian school children were taught that they were British subjects, with inalienable rights (guess where Americans got that idea from?), they are today instead taught about the glories of socialized health care. Our freedoms are rooted in an understanding of our history. Canadian history began long before 1867. Much of it runs through England's green and pleasant land.
Posted by Richard Anderson on January 25, 2011 | Permalink
Comments
Thank you for another great post and reminder of what used to be taught in our schools. I remember when our Canadian passports included the British subject part. Now we have at least two generations totally ignorant of our history and heritage due to no fault of their own thanks to Pearson and especially Trudeau.
Posted by: Alain | 2011-01-25 6:58:31 PM
This was done in the name of "modernizing" Canada. It had the very useful side effect - useful to the statist class at any rate - of creating two generations of historical amnesiacs.
Posted by PUBLIUS on January 25, 2011
You've got that right. Ask any teenager what it means to be Canadian and you get that blank look. The kids in my immediate family know nothing about our British or French heritage. Ask them about Al Gore though and you would think we were talking about the new savior. Completely brainwashed but up to date on how we are single handidly killing our planet.
I blame the simpletons that pass as teachers. Frustrating but the new reality. Hopefully when they get older they will get a mind they can call their own.
I doubt if we will ever get back to injecting any pride in our heritage. It's no longer politically correct since British and French immigrants are a shrinking minority and whites in general will be a minority in less than 40 years. Thankfully I'll be gone by then. With any luck.
Posted by: peterj | 2011-01-25 10:28:45 PM
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