The Conservatives' petition to nominate Don Cherry to the Order of Canada may be polarizing, but we shouldn’t forget his contributions, writes Robyn Urback.Carlos Osorio/The Associated Press
The Conservatives knew what they were doing – well, sort of – when they announced a petition to nominate former hockey commentator Don Cherry to the Order of Canada.
It’s a great cultural wedge issue: one that pits the millions of Canadians with fond memories of Coach’s Corner against the ostensibly smaller cohort of Canadians who still begrudge Mr. Cherry for his tactless comments that led to the segment’s cancellation in 2019. The Conservatives know that the Order of Canada, which was created back in 1967, has become something of a participation medal for a certain type of prominent Canadian – the kind who satisfies the palette of oyster-shucking Laurentian elites. Mr. Cherry, infamous for his rants about, for example, female reporters in locker rooms and immigrants not wearing poppies, upsets their stomachs. So by pushing them to accept Mr. Cherry into their club, the Conservatives put the elites on their back foot.
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What the party failed to anticipate, however, was the backlash their petition would garner in Quebec, where the gambit has been a top story in French-language media for the last week, and where Conservatives’ own MPs are distancing themselves from the push. Most Quebeckers didn’t watch Coach’s Corner, which was only broadcast in English, and thus their only exposure to him was when he said something offensive to them, such as when he spoke disparagingly about hockey players who wear visors, saying “most of the guys that wear them are Europeans or French guys.” That was more than 20 years ago, but evidently Quebeckers have not forgotten.
It is undeniable that Mr. Cherry was among the most culturally influential, instantly recognizable Canadians of the last half-century. He was on television for decades: a must-watch figure for millions of Canadians who postponed their bathroom breaks to hear what Mr. Cherry had to say about the first period. His Rock’em Sock’em violence reels were in-line with the cultural milieu, not an affront to it as it is now. He was a huge booster of the military, of minor hockey and of women’s hockey. He was ostentatiously patriotic, and ostentatiously dressed. And Mr. Cherry was notably philanthropic, opening a children’s hospice in Milton, Ont., an animal rescue in Oakville, Ont., and volunteering his time with various veterans’ associations. On paper, he is the quintessential great Canadian.
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But Mr. Cherry was also a loudmouth bloviator who referred to immigrants as “you people” when he censured them for not wearing poppies, which led to his cancellation. He called Quebeckers “whiners” and frequently implied that French and European players were weak and soft. And he was often abrasive and boorish, such as when he called out “left-wing kooks” during his address at the inauguration of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Mr. Cherry was, in other words, both a proud and generous cultural icon, and also a polarizing ignoramus with a runaway mouth.
The question is whether the latter disqualifies the former. Historically speaking, when it comes to the Order of Canada, it does not. Tommy Douglas (Order of Canada 1981) is considered a great Canadian, though he advocated for eugenicist policies in his Master’s thesis. Esteemed writer Mordecai Richler (Order of Canada 2000), was persona non grata among French nationalists in Quebec, and referred to by former Bloc Québécois MP Gilles Duceppe as a “consummate racist with a totally decayed mind.” Former prime minister Jean Chrétien (Order of Canada 2007) was implicated in various political scandals, and he offended Indigenous groups and others when he said, rather incredulously, that he never heard of abuse at residential schools when he was Minister of Indian Affairs. Abortion advocate Henry Morgentaler (Order of Canada 2008) remains one of the most polarizing and controversial figures shaping Canadian policy, for obvious reasons. Restaurateur and philanthropist Mohamad Fakih (Order of Canada 2021) said that Canadian supporters of Israel “do not have basic human values, let alone Canadian values.”
We had a little blip there in Canada’s recent history when we started erasing – quite literally – the names of people who played an important role in Canadian policy, life and culture because of the less admirable aspects of their tenure, or because of opinions that are out of step with contemporary sensibilities. There will no doubt be a course about all that at the university formerly known as Ryerson in the near future. But that was, and remains, a mistake. Great Canadians can be polarizing, boorish and offensive, while also being inspiring, altruistic and transformative. And they should, of course, be recognized. Mr. Cherry doesn’t fit the current profile for the Order of Canada, so it will be surprising if the Conservatives’ petition (or its contrived cultural wedge issue, if you prefer) is successful. But that should not be considered a reflection of Mr. Cherry’s legacy.