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First columnist Rex Murphy and now The Globe and Mail's editorial board have started campaigning for hockey commentator Don Cherry to be granted the Order of Canada. The reasoning goes something like this: Since someone as controversial as Henry Morgentaler has been elevated to the order, why not do the same for another controversial yet deserving figure? True, they say, Mr. Cherry has said terrible things about French Canadians and Europeans – “pure bile,” the Globe has called some of these comments – but hey, nobody's perfect!
The constitution of the Order of Canada is vague on the criteria that should guide its advisory council: “Appointments of persons as Members and honorary Members shall be made for distinguished service in or to a particular community, group or field of activity.” And it's obvious that Mr. Cherry's career is deserving in many aspects. He became a National Hockey League coach, in itself quite a feat. He is one of Canada's most knowledgeable and certainly most entertaining sports commentators. He is also involved in many charitable activities.
Reactions in Quebec about some of his controversial comments have sometimes been excessive, not taking into account the context: namely, that Mr. Cherry has built his television career on controversy. However, he has gone overboard more than once. Before the CBC finally warned him about it, he systematically attacked French-Canadian and European players, accusing them of lacking courage. He denounced the Francophone Games as diverting federal money from amateur hockey. (Not a word about the Commonwealth Games, however.) He insulted Jean-Luc Brassard, a skiing champion and Canada's standard-bearer at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Should the advisory council put aside this prejudiced attitude? Absolutely not. Canada is built on respect and tolerance between different cultural, linguistic and religious communities, and Mr. Cherry's attacks against French Canadians trample on these most fundamental values. Notwithstanding his other accomplishments, the Order of Canada should not condone such behaviour.
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David Ahenakew, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations who was stripped of his Order of Canada membership after making anti-Semitic comments, “permanently blotted his public record,” The Globe wrote in an editorial this April. Although Mr. Cherry's comments are certainly not as grave as those, they do express ignorance and contempt toward one of Canada's founding nations. His record is also “permanently blotted” by his statements, and that makes him unworthy of the country's highest honour. Should he be named to the order, it will be understood that intolerable comments toward some Canadian minorities are not only tolerated – they are rewarded.
André Pratte is editorial pages editor at La Presse. He is the editor of Reconquering Canada, a collection of essays by Quebec federalists to be published this fall.
