Tommy Douglas vs. Justin Bieber

In seminar of week 4 of this course we were asked to address any issues or questions we had about the concepts we learned in the previous weeks of this course. Everyone in the group i sat with had something so say about Tommy Douglas. Apart for that he is a great person and an influential figure in Canadian history, we all asked each other why that at this point in our education (3^rd/4^th year) do we not know about him? It seems like he is such an important figure in the development of the Canadian health care system yet none of us even new about him. Some of us said we might have learned about him in the past and forgot about him but I was sure I’ve never heard of him before, otherwise I would have definitely remembered him.

Apart from Tommy Douglas, why do we as Canadians know so little about the development of the Canadian healthcare system, or even the current state of this system? I’m not just saying that Canadians do not about their healthcare system just because I don’t know about it, but from peers that I chatted with in classes and even from reading some of your blogs, it seems that that is the case. I mean we were discussing healthcare reform the previous week but before taking this course how much did we really know about the Canadian healthcare system? Ok, we may not completely understand all the nitty gritty of the Canadian healthcare system that might not be openly discussed amongst the public such as regulations, policies, and funding, but what about the things that are made for the public? The things that we are supposed to know about? The things the government wants us to know about. Why do we not know about them? Things such as community healthcare services provided by our local community centres or health centres. From the group that I chatted with in seminar, most of us mentioned we do not really know much about the healthcare services provided by our local community centres. Also, all of us said we have never even seen a health centre! We have all indeed seen community centres (though we do not quite know the services they provide in terms of health care) but none of us have actually seen a health centre. So, I ask, why do we Canadians know so little about our country? Why are we so oblivious to what goes on around us, even within our local communities?  

I feel like as Canadians we have a long way of educating ahead of us. Not just about Canadian history such as influential figures in the development of Canada (e.g. Tommy Douglas, although he didn’t develop Canada, though some people argue that Canadian healthcare is part of their Canadian identity) but also about public services/health services provided by the Canadian government.

"Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world." Tommy Douglas