By David Ljunggren
"We are one of the most stable regimes in history. . . . We are unique in that regard," he added, noting Canada had enjoyed more than 150 years of untroubled Parliamentary democracy.
Just in case that was not enough to persuade doubters, Harper threw in some more facts about the geographically second-largest nation in the world.
"We also have no history of colonialism. So we have all of the things that many people admire about the great powers but none of the things that threaten or bother them," he said.
Even that isn't correct. Yes, these Indians nations are internal to the US and Canada now. But they really should count as examples of external colonialism. Remember, they were outside the boundaries of the US and Canada until the US and Canada overran them.
Borders enough to stop colonists?
This raises an interesting point. Apologists for American expansionism usually say the US government couldn't stop the pioneers from moving west and settling in Indian territory. But note: These pioneers didn't cross the border into Mexico or Canada and "settle" those countries.
Why not? If government laws and military force were enough to stop Americans at the country's northern and southern borders, why weren't they enough to stop Americans at the country's western border? Why didn't the pioneers keep going until they reached the North Pole or Tierra del Fuego?
Who cares if other people already occupied these lands? They weren't Americans. Did God and his Manifest Destiny tell the settlers to stay within the lines?
Answer: The settlers went west but not north or south because no one tried to stop them. Because Americans saw Indians as savage beasts in the way of progress--like so many herds of deer or buffalo. Because Americans didn't see them as civilized people inhabiting their own countries--as humans "created equal" to them.
If they had, the government could've and would've stopped the illegal migrations. The incursion into Indian nations established by legally-binding treaties.
For more on the subject, see Peru Conflict = Colonization and Colonization = Digestion.