Indigenous Canadian here. I advocate for my community and my family on all the things that Canada has done to us in the past. I remind people of all of that and some of it is terrible history.
I'll still remind people today ..... but at the same time I do know that this is a great country and many people are trying to come to terms with the past. I've been to many countries in the world .... over 30 countries ... so I know that we live in a great country.
My dad attended residential school and he was miserable and terrorized there .... but before he died and all through his life, he always enjoyed Canada Day because it was a day to make it fun for us kids. We can remember the politics but we can still celebrate the significance of what this country is and continues to be.
Great perspective. Unfortunately we can't change the past. We can only do what we can to help the people, the environment, alive today and that will live tomorrow. We have to uncover and keep the knowledge of the past to inform what and how we do.
Thank you for your perspective. This day is still celebratory to me but it definitely invites more reflection and awareness than ever before. I hope fellow Canadians are also pausing today to reflect on our past, both good and bad, and the values we want to hold as we move forward.
From an indigenous Canadian .... our two countries share a lot of history together ... we are like quarrelsome siblings that always know we love each other ... Happy Canada Day and Happy Independence Day!
Mostly spend time with family and friends. Usually there are big gatherings in most cities or towns and fireworks. Do you have anything similar (big national holiday)?
Sounds great! We don't celebrate our national day to that extent (which I'm fine with personally), we don't get the day off or fireworks.
We have fireworks and get togethers for Bonfire night on November 5th, but it's not a day off. We have bank holidays spread throughout the year but they're tied loosely to the church
Happy Canada Day! I was born and raised in this country, but I don't feel 'Canadian' for some reason. I know this is a great country and we have it pretty good here, but I just can't help it.
I was born in Europe but grew up in the US with US + Canadian citizenship. I've lived here for six and a half years now, and I fully believe that national identity can be a transitive thing
In 1812 Madison was mad, he was the president you know. Well he thought he'd tell the british where they ought to go. He thought he'd invade canada, he thought that he was tough.
Instead we went to Washington and burned down all his stuff!
And the white house burned, burned, burned.
And we're the ones that did it,
It burned, burned, burned.
While the president ran and cried,
It burned, burned, burned.
And things were very historical,
And the Americans ran and cried like a bunch of little babies Wah-wah-wah...
In the war of 1812.
Only in people who would resent others for wanting equity and equality (in their country!!!), so you're saying much more about yourself there than you are about me, while helping absolutely no one (apart from perhaps the people who published that article, because you do prove them right, so not entirely useless I suppose), so as is always the case with bigots, your stance seems to be projection all the way down.
Thank you for the link too, I had heard about the terrible treatment the Chinese were subject to in the US, but had not known (but not really surprised) that Canada was up to the same crap.
And yeah, I wonder that too. I think the best we can do now is listen to those who survived it despite the continued attempts to erase their cultures, and learn from them.
I would tend to agree with everything in the article. Be careful about calling anyone who downvotes you a bigot though...sowing division is ultimately not helpful. Canada was and is built on a very ugly foundation and some people will have a lot of trouble accepting that, but the people need to unite as a collective to make it a better place, not polarise ourselves (i.e. like the US).
That article really just convinces me more that the cancel canada day movement is naive and misguided.
Don't take and sully our national day. Instead choose to enrich and improve it by making it more. There is room for both national pride on our Country and acknowledgement of past crimes.