At 81, I still believe I can listen and learn.

Perhaps Canada should too.

Over the past few years, our country has become louder, angrier, and more divided. Political frustration has hardened into grievance. Complicated national conversations are increasingly reduced to slogans, outrage, and endless social media conflict.

Some of that frustration is understandable.

Alberta, in particular, may have legitimate reasons to feel unheard at times. Energy policy, equalization, federal overreach, and economic uncertainty have created real resentment across parts of the West. Pretending those concerns do not exist only deepens alienation.

But disagreement with Ottawa should never become an excuse to abandon perspective, history, or responsibility.

What troubles me most is not disagreement itself. Democracies require disagreement. What concerns me is how easily some political voices have begun importing the language and culture of American-style MAGA grievance politics into Canada — a politics built increasingly on division, permanent anger, and the idea that compromise itself is weakness.

Canada is different.

Or at least it should be.

A serious conversation about Canada’s future must also include a serious understanding of Canada’s past. That means remembering that Indigenous history is not a side issue, symbolic gesture, or one-month observance. It is foundational to this country.

Long before Alberta existed as a province, long before Confederation, Indigenous nations lived on and governed these lands. The treaties that helped shape modern Canada were not temporary inconveniences. They were nation-to-nation agreements that remain part of the foundation beneath our federation today.

That history matters.

Especially when some casually speak about separation as though Canada were simply a business arrangement that can be dissolved whenever political frustration rises.

Premier Danielle Smith has every right to advocate forcefully for Alberta’s interests. That is part of her job. But leadership also carries responsibility. Feeding separatist sentiment or legitimizing movements rooted in imported grievance politics risks weakening the country at a time when the world itself feels increasingly unstable and fractured.

We are living through dangerous times internationally. Democracies are under pressure. Political polarization is growing almost everywhere. Trust in institutions is collapsing. In moments like this, countries do not survive through outrage alone. They survive through resilience, balance, shared memory, and the willingness to hold together despite disagreement.

That is why Indigenous history matters.

It reminds us that Canada’s story did not begin with modern political movements, election cycles, or social media outrage. It is older, deeper, and more complicated than that.

At 81, I know I do not have all the answers. But I still believe listening matters. Learning matters. Understanding one another matters.

And perhaps now more than ever, a strong, united Canada can still be a beacon in a fractured world.

Duncan Fraser for Winding-Roads.ca May 11, 2026