I don't think it's about shame, dirk, and I think Granatstein gets that wrong, too. It is that some remembering uses up all the oxygen, and the memories are not that really accurate.

The First World War was a blunder, and we remember it around sacrifice, victories, and doubtful tales of nation building. Take another empire blunder, the Indian Residential School System. We remember that with listening for truth and, for some of us, evidence of wrongdoing, all for the purpose of reconciliation. That's nation building!