The U.S. president has piqued the wrath of Canadians. We will govern ourselves accordingly. The boycott of American products and travel will continue.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on September 7, 2026.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” It is that old saying that could apply when it comes to the modern name-calling emanating from the president of the United States and his team.

Some argue the saying is no longer valid as name-calling can be emotionally damaging, especially for young people.

From “Lake America” to body-shaming a young teenager, U.S. President Donald Trump and his associates seem to think there is nothing wrong with trashing their northern neighbour in whatever way possible.

The latest insult involved a posting by U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who took a break from bombing the Strait of Hormuz to trash two Canadian female cadets through a reshared social media post, which he captioned, “This is real.”

The picture was of a cadet and a training officer. The cadet program is for Canadian youth between the ages of 12 and 18, and it teaches them about the military’s contributions.

Canada’s military leadership has not sought an apology from Hegseth, saying that it would be working with those photographed to decide on a course of action.

Prime Minister Mark Carney did weigh in, saying the “post was beneath their office.”

“When Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having the discussions, we can have those discussions. But it’s not constructive, but that’s their democracy.”

Canadians weren’t the only ones insulted by the post. Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, who had served in the Marine Corps, said while visiting Ottawa that the post was “deeply disrespectful to the men and women of Canada who have died fighting with us.”

Next week will mark a quarter century since the horrific attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, resulting in a massive loss of life and forever changing the security landscape for the world.

Canada was there to support the U.S. during this devastating time. More than 100,000 people gathered in a memorial service on Parliament Hill organized by the government of Canada.

The residents of Gander, N.L.—a community of 9,651 people—sheltered almost 7,000 people for several days while American airspace was closed because of the attacks.

Most of the stranded passengers were Americans, and some were so appreciative of the hospitality that they returned to establish permanent friendships and even scholarship funds to recognize the relationships. Come from Away, a musical that captures the spirit of Gander, has enjoyed success on Broadway and beyond.

From that period of friendship to today, the anti-Canadian name-calling has left our relationship with the U.S. in tatters.

Last week, Trump unilaterally changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, and Google’s map service quickly followed suit even though the renaming has no international geographic standing.

But just north of that lake, thousands of people at a Blue Rodeo concert in Toronto on Aug. 29 sang loudly “out in the middle of Lake Ontario,” a lyric in the legendary Canadian band’s song, Hasn’t Hit Me Yet. The fans and the band took ownership of the name and its history.

Indigenous leaders pointed out the name existed before the beginning of Canada and cannot be abolished by presidential fiat. But Trump obviously doesn’t care what Canadians think. He doesn’t even seem to care what Americans think.

Canada is not the only recipient of Trump’s capricious renaming claims. After moving on Lake America, Trump is now suggesting that the Strait of Hormuz be renamed Trump Strait.

This past Wednesday, he posted a map showing the Strait as part of U.S. territory, even though navigation of the body of water is marred by the war started by Trump.

“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” posted Trump on his own social media site.

Trump has not moved officially on renaming the strait, and he has since suggested he wasn’t serious. Still, the president isn’t opposed to floating an idea on social media and then following it up with an executive order initialled with the flourish of his full-page signature.

The cascade of insults and braggadocio that has followed the collapse of the trade talks only serves to underscore that the Americans were never actually negotiating in good faith.

The president has piqued the wrath of Canadians. We will govern ourselves accordingly. The boycott of American products and travel will continue.

Trump’s name-calling only serves to strengthen our resolve.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Air crashes are so rare that few families have undergone the heartbreak of experiencing the loss of their dear ones to an aeronautical incident.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 13, 2020.

OTTAWA—It will likely be months before we know the true story behind the crash of Ukraine flight 752. Theories abound but given the suspension of diplomatic relations between Iran and Canada, grieving families will be dependent on third-party information as to the nature of the catastrophe. Last Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was evidence indicating the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile, adding that it might have been an unintentional act.

Families wiped out, newlyweds gone, communities devastated. The long-term effects of this disaster will be felt by many on a very personal level.

Air crashes are so rare that few families have undergone the heartbreak of experiencing the loss of their dear ones to an aeronautical incident.

I happen to have been in one of those families.

My grandmother and her sister were killed back in 1957 in a crash in Issoudun, Que., where 74 Canadians lost their lives. Sixty-two years later, it is still ranking as the seventh-worst plane crash on Canadian soil.

Three other modern-day disasters had similar tragic trajectories. Two hundred twenty-nine people died in a Swissair crash off Nova Scotia. Air India lost 329 people including an unprecedented 268 Canadians in a crash in Ireland and in 1985, an American military charter crash in Gander, Newfoundland killed 256 people.

In the case of Swissair, the accident was ultimately attributed to a mechanical misfire, faulty wires causing the plane’s insulation to ignite.

The Air India crash was the single most egregious aviation terrorist act until the World Trade Centre attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Separatist Sikhs planted a bomb on the plane. Only one man, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was ever convicted in the bombing and he was released from prison four years ago.

The judicial enquiries that resulted from the attack ultimately cost more than $130-million and pointed the finger at various police forces for botching the potential for other convictions.

In the Gander case, the crash was attributed to icy wings, but a minority report on the aeronautical investigation attributed the catastrophe to a bomb, leaving grieving families in limbo as to the burning question, “Why?”

In my grandmother’s case, there was never any real investigation by anyone. Times were different then so when her Maritime Central Airways flight went down, there were no major investigations.

The crash was attributed to bad weather, as the plane flew into a cloud during a storm while en route from London, England to Toronto.

It was rumoured that the plane ran out of gas, and that the pilot was undergoing psychiatric treatment for depression which had not been reported to his company.

The family never got closure, and even the insurance policy my grandmother purchased for the trip was not honoured, because it covered a flight time that had been exceeded when the plane left London several hours behind schedule.

More than 20 members of our family had gathered to greet my grandmother and her sister on their return from a trip to their hometown in Surrey.

We had a picnic planned to celebrate the moment. Saturday was gramma time and we had missed her so much during her two months away. Alice Guthro had come to Canada as a war bride in 1918 and this two-month trip had been her first visit home in 49 years. She was travelling with her sister and best friend.

To this day, I remember the howl of collective grief when we were all called into a room at the Toronto airport and it was announced coldly, that her flight had gone down and there were no survivors. I was only five and did not really understand why everyone was crying, so my older sister put her arm around me and said, “Gramma’s dead.”

There are dozens of families putting their arms around loved ones today and trying to make sense out of this senseless tragedy.

Answers won’t come immediately. In our case, they never came. Recognition may come. The crash never even warranted a monument of recognition until as minister, I ordered a plaque erected in the Issoudun church graveyard decades later.

At the time, my department warned me that I could be accused of conflict of interest for erecting a plaque commemorating a tragedy involving my own family. I agreed to take the risk. For years, we had gone to visit my grandmother’s gravesite in an overgrown forest where a local farmer had erected a simple wooden cross.

At the ceremony unveiling the plaque, dozens of relatives from across the country finally got the closure they deserved.

Without answers, the terrible loss suffered by so many families last week will never heal.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.