Canadian Freedom of Speech, R.I.P.

Iconic Canadian hockey commentator eighty-four-year-old Don Cherry, a former Boston Bruins NHL coach, was immediately fired from his lucrative commentating job of 38 years for daring to criticize the behavior of immigrants to Canada.  His criticism on his show, “Hockey Night in Canada,” in hockey-crazy Canada, was based on his assertion that most immigrants seem to have no interest in supporting or participating in Canadian culture, specifically, in spending “a couple of bucks” on a poppy pin on Veterans Day (Canadians pin poppy flowers to their lapels to show their appreciation to veterans on that day).

While I am sympathetic to anyone who resists pressure to worship all things military, at the same time it is a sure bet that if Don Cherry had criticized native-born Canadians for being too poppy pinless, his employer would not have said a word about it, probably even agreeing with him and broadcasting his  opinion as an exemplar of Canadian patriotism.  (It probably didn’t help his cause either that he called global warming hysterics “cuckaloos”).

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