What is Canada's purpose?  One year ago today that answer might have been a little more muddled than today.  As the world around us tumbled about, challenging our traditional set of norms and understandings, our country had seemed, for a number of years at least, to be more minimalist than meaningful, more reductionist than radical.Today, however, there seems to be some stirrings among us as to our potentials and usefulness to the human condition.  Listening to Barack Obama speak in Parliament this week about how the important human values aren't American or Canadian, but universal principles sounded more like something from the 1950s or 1960s than the modern era.  What was truly wonderful about his speech was watching the emotional collective countenance of all the political parties present; it wasn't just Liberals cheering an eloquent president, but everyone in the Chamber.  It was almost as if, for a brief moment at least, we were united as to our unique place in the world and our purpose within it.  People of all political persuasions stood as one at the altar of a progressive humanity.At the core of every country's ideals is a deep yearning for identity, for who we are, what we mean, and why we exist.  That's not true for a great many Canadians, of course, who neither have the inclination or the freedom to spend much time in considering such things.  Some are too busy fighting off the rigors of life such as poverty, mental illness, and other pressures to consider the value of a nation.And yet President's Obama's address in Parliament this week nevertheless reminded us that whether we care about it or not, Canada perhaps now carries a pivotal role in world affairs that it didn't even seek or understand only a few months ago.  With the threat of rampant ideology south of the border emerging in a presidential run by Donald Trump, the threat of continual divisiveness in the European Union, Britain's own threat to destiny due to Brexit, and the imperious reach of Putin's Russia, Canada appears more and more like a peaceful isle in a troubled sea.But we are more than mere bystanders, as Obama reminded us.  We are an experimental people, in the middle of testing again the ability of the collective spirit to become more inclusive and our politics to maybe become more respectful again.  Recent elections in our indigenous communities, provinces and the federal domain were demonstrations that a large portion of this country seeks to be more open than closed, more sustainable that wasteful, and likely more global in reach than local.This is the Canada that Obama looked out upon this week.  Surrounded by numerous forms of political leanings in the House, he was clearly buoyed by a collective multipartisan spirit unlike anything he had experienced in Washington or can be seen in Europe at present.  Always with an eye on the global community, for a few moments he looked at the world through the lens of a nation that is interested in creating a more fair and inclusive human community, and he liked what he saw.This isn't about Justin Trudeau and a Liberal government alone, but a collection of political impulses that nevertheless has proved unwilling to tear their country apart in ways that are seen elsewhere.  And it is about a citizenry that is more interested in playing its part in the drama.  The House wasn't merely respectful to a visiting dignitary, but to a call of national identity that isn't so much nationalistic in flavor as it is progressive in outlook.Whatever the fate of the world in an era of ISIS and strident nationalism, of economic dominance and Internet hatred, Canada displayed again this week its propensity for being a better friend to the nations, a firmer supporter of gender equity and aboriginal justice, a noble force for the better angels of our human nature.  We appear to be willingly open to the concept that one nation can contain the diversity of many cultures, but that all of these forces join together to form a collective identity of how to live at peace with one another – surely something the world requires now more than ever.An American president looked out on a vast land this week and saw it as capable of transcending traditional boundaries of culture and community, and organizing itself so as to be a source of hope to a world that too frequently seeks to divide itself along such lines, sometimes violently.It appears as though the Canada that Obama witnessed this week is increasingly the Canada that we see ourselves.  It remains a noble vision and perhaps more than at any other time in recent memory we are prepared to struggle for it.  Happy Canada Day.Glen Pearson was a career professional firefighter and is a former Member of Parliament from southwestern Ontario.  He and his wife adopted three children from South Sudan and reside in London, Ontario.  He has been the co-director of the London Food Bank for 29 years.  He writes regularly for the London Free Press and also shares his views on a blog entitled “The Parallel Parliament“.   Follow him on twitter @GlenPearson.