Brand Canada

Virtue was a unifying social principle for the Romans; the Canadian equivalent is a sense of common decency.

In searching for what Canada's distinguishing characteristic on the world stage ought to be, I propose decency. Not very sexy, decency. Not an institutional model like our banking system or federalism. Decency is more a stance, an attitude, a quality of character, like openness.

We all know what we mean when we say of a person that he or she is decent. We mean that at their core, they have good values, they can be counted on to do the right thing in difficult or unpredictable circumstances. Interestingly, decency carries with it four connected but separate connotations. First, "seemly, not immodest or obscene or indelicate.” Second, "respectable.” Third (and less ambitiously), "passable, good enough, tolerable.” But it is the fourth that resonates and moves us beyond the merely tolerable or respectable: "kind, generous, obliging.” There is something ennobling and aspirational about this kind of decency, something that summons up our better selves.

It is this fourth characteristic that I would hope Canada has, can, and will project to the world. Of course, if we ourselves don't make this a reality within Canada, particularly in our dealings with each other as citizens, then we have no gift to take to the rest of the world. Decency should be for Canadians what virtue was to the ancient Romans: an organizing principle for the whole of society; an underlying set of values by which we judge the actions of ourselves and others and which we purposefully and explicitly transmit to our children.

When Canada is at its best, I find decency everywhere. When two different judges running two different inquiries into the actions of the RCMP in the Air India bombing and the death of Robert Dziekanski come to the same conclusion, which is that the RCMP has behaved badly, intolerably in fact, the overwhelming unanimity of agreement from politicians, media, and the public alike tells me that Canadians' sense of fundamental decency and rightness has been offended. What has been remarkable is the lack of dissenting voices from any quarter in the country. Instead, there is a pervading sense of national shame, which is the homage we pay to decency.

Decency in this sense is fundamentally allied to notions of justice and fair play. Recent polls tell us that many people around the world would move to Canada, given the chance. It would be interesting to survey them to find out why. Do they see Canada primarily in material terms as the land of milk and honey, the land of economic opportunity? Or do they see us more profoundly as a place they can call home and feel at home because of a shared set of values we might sum up as decency? We should hope for the latter as much as the former if we wish to advance our shared sense of citizenship and identity.

Can decency become an operational tenet of Canada's foreign policy? Yes, but at a cost, because it may put us at odds with our traditional allies or with our national economic interests. Judging other nations' actions by the standard of decency, however, does not necessarily imply naïveté or hopeless idealism. It is simply wishing for other people what we would wish for ourselves. It is recognizing that our common humanity and common decency trump a more cynical view of our national interest.