Belize, Mennonites and smug Canadians

Getting ready for a possible trip to Belize and Guatemala in the spring of 2014. Part of this is reading background stuff which for me includes the Insight Guides from the Discovery Channel. Reading the Belize guide I found that Mennonites are an important part of society and are the main contributors to agriculture in Belize. Turns out the Mennonites in Belize have strong ties to Canada.

The Mennonites started in Germany and moved first to Prussia and then Canada as a result of persecution by government institutions. Seemed like Canada was a safe haven until the government began to threaten the Mennonites with conscription into the first war. Mennonites, being pacifists, would have nothing to do with war and many of them moved from Canada (notably
from south eastern Manitoba) to Mexico. Again, persecution in Mexico caused them to move again, this time to Belize.

The interesting thing about this is what it says about Canadian society, culture and the belief that Canada is a welcoming, multicultural paradise for people from around the world. Had to stop and think about that for a minute. It doesn't take long to draw a list of examples that show Canada is not necessarily that welcoming society that forms part of the Canadian mythology.

• Chinese railway labourers and the Chinese head tax, 
• Japanese internment during the second war, 
• refusal to accept Jewish refugees during the second war, 
• internment of Ukrainians who forced to develop some of the western National Parks, 
• shiploads of Sikhs denied entry to British Columbia, 
• the long list of grievances from Native Canadians
• support of the Pinochet coup in Chile in 1973 and the subsequent murder of thousands of Chileans (essentially Canada was backing the American CIA war against 'leftists') and
• then this story about Mennonites. 

Maybe Canadians are not the peaceful welcoming people they think they are. Americans suffer a lot of abuse for their adventures around the world. Most recently Iraq and Afghanistan but also Vietnam, Central America, South America and on and on. Canada walks around looking smug about the multicultural/multilingual society and escapes much of the criticism levelled at Americans. Should take a harder look at history.