Images in unused pages of passports less important than fires

By Lethbridge Herald on June 17, 2023.

Editor: 

I’ve just received an important, taxpayer-funded, official communication from my Member of Parliament for Lethbridge. Rachel Thomas, our Conservative MP, distributed her newsletter to our community, and in it she wrote a passionate rant about one of the most important issues facing our country. 

No, the topic was not the unprecedented wildfires currently devastating large areas of Canada, since Conservative MPs just finished voting en masse not to take any steps to prevent catastrophic wildfires, on a Bloc Quebecois motion where all other parties supported urgent action. The topic was the monotone background images in the unused back pages of Canadian passports. 

In the latest version of the passport, there are less pictures relating to Canadian history. A scene of Vimy Ridge and of Terry Fox no longer emboss pages, while Ms. Thomas criticizes using images of a squirrel and a man raking leaves. She characterizes this as an attempt to erase history and argues that official documents must be a place where we tell the story of our nation. 

It was puzzling then, to examine the images Ms. Thomas used in her newsletter. There was a picture of her handing out cotton candy. Surely this should have been replaced by a picture of Vimy Ridge? The other main image featured a pickup truck carrying a large flag, an image familiar to Canadians as a symbol of the convoy vehicles that attacked Ottawa and Coutts, in an attempt by some to overthrow the government. Choosing an image of insurrectionists for the federal newsletter says a great deal, I think, about where Ms. Thomas wants to take the history of Canada.

Tom Moffatt

Lethbridge