Heroes for a Nation, Then and Now - To me, and hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn Europe, men like CW Jefferys made Canada the special place it was. He was a man who spent his life using his talent, and developing his skills, in the pictorial arts, to bring people together, and make them aware of the richness of their shared Canadian heritage.

He was a real hero to me and Canadians of the 20th century, not his polar opposites, the newly minted hero types of the 21st century, who gory in the military arts, like the divisive and bloodthirsty Canadian General Rick Hillier, who bragged openly that he loved his job of being "able to kill people," specifically the Muslims of Afghanistan, whom he called "detestable murderers and scumbags."

To immigrants like me, who came from lesser countries, he talked too much like a biker, a mafia thug like Joe Pesci, or a Third World Military Strongman, to appeal to those of us who prefer people alive instead of dead.

Modern generals - it was not always so - love to pile up the bodies as their life's work, and brag about it. To them it's immaterial whether it's men, or women and children. For them it's all about aping US Vietnam General Westmoreland and his success at piling up the "body count." He ultimately killed at least a million Vietnamese women, children, and men. And for what? A fine hero for America...

But General Hillier understood; to him killing is its own justification for a soldier. As he famously bragged, loudly and publicly.

"We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is
to be able to kill people." Canadian General Rick Hillier

But these are exactly the type of heroes Canadian immigrants sought to escape from Europe - and its notorious generals in uniform who also loved killing for its own sake: Hitler, Mussolini, Franco.

And why, in our day, Ugandans left to escape General Idi Amin; Chileans, General Pinochet... We could go on. But we don't need to. We now have our very own...

Eh... What! - Imagine the shock of refugees at arriving on Canadian shores and hearing General Hillier talk...

Little has changed since Westmorland, who called the non-white, non-Christians, "Gooks;" today's generals call them "ragheads" or the more socially acceptable "collateral damage." Still, it's what white Judao-Christians do to non-white Muslim people in their own countries. They are worthy successors to Charlemagne of France in the 8th century, when he converted the heathens with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other. But today, embattled and enraged Muslims are not taking it lying down.

Refugees hoped to come to the Canada of hope, once represented by CW. And CW certainly looks displeased to see what has become of Canada of late, and the kind of heroes that have taken the place of the Great Canadian Artists he worked with to ennoble the Canada he envisioned for other Canadians.

Canada rose to national and international glory during the 20th century thanks to Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier who forecast correctly that it "would be Canada's century."

Thanks to him, Canada's best Prime Minister, and the tireless efforts of artists and historians like CW Jefferys and the Fab Five it was.

And seen to be so, around the world; even American tourists famously sported the Canadian flag on their backpacks when travelling internationally to avoid being targets because of America's murderous and racist foreign policy, and Canada's irreproachable fairness to people of all races and creeds.

It won Canada its only Nobel Peace Prize, for Prime Minister Lester Pearson for his work as a diplomat in promoting conflict resolution through peaceful means in the Middle East, and accommodation not violent confrontation with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

It was also the end of the glorious period of Canadian history.

In the 21st century Canada has begun a precipitous slide to hell in a hand basket, thanks to political and military leaders, and tribal fanatics, who slavishly pursued corporate, and patently racist agendas, that make it an embarrassment, indeed downright dangerous, to be a Canadian when travelling in the non-white, Muslim world.

If you can believe this Lester's current successor as head of the Liberal Party of Canada announced in June 2010, that he promises to keep the Canadian Forces fighting and killing Muslims in Afghanistan, against the wishes of the overwhelming numbers of people in Canada, but he will re brand them as a "training" not a "fighting" contingent.

Which is what Conservative Prime Minister Harper has been calling the Canadian Forces there for the past three years... Lying among Canada's top politicians, and doing the bidding of corporate cronies and tribal fanatics, against the constant and clearly expressed wishes of the vast majority of Canadians, has become the only growth industry in Canada.

And it's getting steadily worse.

Lester is turning over in his grave.

Muslims beware. Your dying at the hands of Canadian troops is just beginning.

American travellers wisely, have stopped using the Canadian flag as a cover.

All because Canadian politicians of the Progressive Right, the Centre, and the Moderate Left - once occupied by the Canadian Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties - have decided to start - and continue - shooting Muslims, instead of talking to them, and are madly clumping together with their journalist calumnists to expand the political spectrum for Canadians by staking out new ground as the Fascist Right.