Farewell Little Mosque on the Prairie, and Thank You.

Little Mosque on the Prairie is having its final episode tonight, on CBC. To be absolutely honest I’ve only been getting into it recently but I’ve enjoyed much of what I’ve seen. It reminds me of the Canada I used to know: good humour, tolerance and understanding.
A Canada, which when the world goes going crazy steps back and says,

What’s this aboot? No need to take things so seriously, eh. Here, have a beer and a beaver tail and we’ll talk things out. Don’t drink? Really? Well, how about a coffee and a beaver tail, you drink coffee don’t ya, buddy? We’ll find something you like.
Where everybody you didn’t know was a Buddy.
A country where when K.D. Lang said she was a lesbian and a vegetarian, we only got upset about the vegetarian part. A country that laughed at itself more than it laughed at others. A beautiful mosaic, where our identity was built on everyone keeping their culture and individual identity alive, and celebrating it: a patch quilt sewed with skilled and loving hands.
People could laugh at their own groups in a loving way, and not at others in a, if we could only get rid of them everything would be perfect because we’re perfect, except for them, fashion.
Election campaigns only happened during elections and they were built around issues not personal attacks that a child would get disciplined for making, but politicians get away with. Hate speak wasn’t considered part of free speech since its main purpose is to rob someone else of their freedom through constant intimidation. Opponents weren't seen as enemies to destroy.
Some people’s main goal in life seems to be to destroy what they oppose, and that ain’t quite right. Anyone who is bent on destruction shouldn’t be given anything sharper than a crayon to the play with, or write with. It’s all very un-Canadian.
But Little Mosque on the Prairie is an oasis, a live and let live world that doesn’t take itself too seriously and seeks to bridge the cross cultural divide, for the betterment of a country and its people, rather than widen it, for the personal gains of an individual or political party. Where religion isn’t used as a club to whack anyone you don’t like with, nor is it a dirty word that’s open to attack and ridicule.
I was taught, way back when, that Canada was made strong by the differences of its peoples as much as it is by their similarities. What made Canadians Canadian was our willingness to not just accept but celebrate those differences. All the world’s flavours and cultures were available for use to explore, if we so chose, and we didn’t have to give up who we were to do so—only broaden ourselves.
The festivals celebrating those differences are abounding in many Canadian cites which stand as examples of the peace and richness that tolerance, social consciousness and compassion brings for the many rather than the few.
Little Mosque is a piece of that Canada aired on the CBC, which has always worked to help bring a country together, from coast to coast to coast; and that many of us were brought up on. I hope it continues to allow all Canadian voices to be heard so we can gain greater understanding of each other and the world.
Farewell Little Mosque on the Prairie, and thank you for helping remind me what it means to be Canadian.