Happy Canada Day !!

We're all lumberjacks and that's OK

It's Canada Day!! On July 1, 1867 the British North America Act united Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province on Canada into one entity under the British Empire. How do we celebrate the birth of our nation: street hockey, competitive maple syrup guzzling (for those looking to avoid a diabetic coma, can I suggest swigging some wines from the Dan Aykroyd collection), laying about at someone's cottage, and lots of fireworks.


Official celebrations in Ottawa will include the Prime Minister and other noted officials and a parade of every living Canadian cultural icon. Last year, of course, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stopped off in the capital for the festivities and everyone was seemingly mad for monarchy. However, in most instances, there is scant evidence of Canada's historic ties to the Empire in our celebrations. Rather, we celebrate the tapestry of cultures and peoples that come together through the course of Canadian history. Because, if grade 10 Canadian history taught me anything, it's that there is no one distinct Canadian identity (despite what Stephen Harper's Conservative government says)! This Canadian will be spending the day listening to the Crash Test Dummies (Mmmmmm), watching SCTV re-runs, and consuming a giant tub (trough) of poutine (Canada's national dish: fries, gravy, cheese curds ... bacon optional).


Our friend H (@Culture/Gatherer) has recently quit our shores for her paternal home of Blighty :) We miss her already. But, her perspective abroad will no doubt benefit our endeavours on this blog.


@SloaneScholar1


It is Canada Day, and the Idle Historian is already exhausted before the celebrations have even begun. But a few thoughts: one would light-heartedly point out that the Brits generally tend to consider our patriotism and our expressions of national identity as a wee bit, well, "cute." "Oh look at the colonials with their canoes and Mounted Police and their own country..." Of course this is preferrable to the charge of being "jingoistic" that was leveled at us during the 2010 Winter Olympics by at least one columnist in The Guardian. This was due to the touted "Own the Podium" program and the enthusiastic masses who took to the streets daily and nightly in Vancouver, clad in red and white and singing "O Canada" rather more than was strictly necessary. Taking a contrarian view of the whole episode, I merely thought it rather amusing that we had apparently gone from cute lumberjack bumpkins to world-class jingoists in one fell swoop.


I think, actually, that most nations have their moments of surging, loud, boisterous patriotism. This includes the UK - in evidence recently during the Diamond Jubilee and, I suspect, during the upcoming Summer Games. As long as it remains a positive, innocuous, and celebratory experience, these sorts of feelings make us human - wherever we may live. So today - Happy Canada Day! Vive le Canada.


@idlehistorian