In thinking about Canada Day, I know it brings mixed feelings to many, and I certainly understand and recognize why, but I think having a day for all of us to celebrate our whole country is a good thing.
I admit we have had a painful past, but I am proud of the work we are doing as a nation and as communities to reflect and deal honestly with the darkest parts of our history. We need to keep working together, but we can’t lose track of the fact we are trying together. Not all countries are working together as we can so plainly see.
I am watching my birth nation tear itself apart (the USA), and it saddens my heart, but it re-enforces all the reasons why I live here, and reminds me how lucky I am to be Canadian.
We live in a huge, diverse and unique place. Abundant, beautiful lands, wondrous wildlife and oceans, with many pristine areas and habitats. Our citizens are from all walks of life, each having a special perspective, valued, different from one another, yet all living here together.
In a world at odds in so many other places, I see our efforts to accept and understand each other as remarkable and worthy of celebration.
This is an amazing country and I am very happy I immigrated here so many decades ago.
I hope each of you found ways to celebrate Canada Day, whether at music festivals, wildlife open houses, on the water, or with family and friends.
I thank those who came before me and allow me to live, work and play on these beautiful lands, to me it is an honour.
I also found some light-hearted, fun facts about Canada that I thought you might ponder and find surprising and maybe even amusing, the “did you know” type of things;
I found out cross-country television transmission by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) began on Canada Day in 1958, while colour television was first introduced in Canada nine years later, also on Canada Day, in 1967.
I didn’t realize Canada has the actual longest coastline in the world at 151,600 miles. Scratch that, Canada is on the metric system, so our coastline is actually 243,976 kms.
All letters to Santa come to Canada, as the official address for Santa Clause is the North Pole which is located in Canada. All letters from around the world go to that address where Canadian volunteers reply in more than 30 languages.
And last but certainly not least was the interesting fact (according to researchers in such things), Canada is the most educated country in the world, with more than 50 per cent of the population having a post-secondary education.
So with our collective smarts,
I have great hope that the future for Canada is bright, and we will find a path to shine our lights in this sometimes dark and weary world.