Important to clarify that it was "Canadian banks" that did not cut their dividends.  In other countries, not only did the banks eliminate their dividends, but the equity values cratered by almost 90% (for those that did NOT go bankrupt).

To say that Canadian banks will ALWAYS pay a dividend is complete hogwash.  If Canada ends up having a housing crisis, or energy crisis or other financial black swan event, Canadian banks could very well be in a situation where they are forced to cut dividends (just like what happened in the US, Europe and Japan).

If someone is losing sleep over the potential of a black swan event, then there's nothing wrong with allocating a portion of one's portfolio to cash/high interest savings.

A wise person once observed that the only things that are certain in life are death and taxes.