Tag: Canada’s 150th

Canada’s 150 Birthday is on July 1st which is this Saturday.  In this Sesquicentennial year for Canada, I find myself thinking back to the time in 1968 when I first arrived here.  That was forty-nine years ago.  I will be having a semicentennial year in 2018.  Fifty years have flown – some years more swiftly and more pleasantly than others.  Over the years, I have seen and experienced many changes in this great country and there have been changes taking place deep within me as well.  I’m excited to be here to join in the celebrations for Canada’s 150th Birthday.  Bring on the cake, champagne, and, of course, the fireworks.  Let’s celebrate!

I knew very little about Canada before I came here.  One thing I knew for sure was that it was very cold.  Nothing has changed in this respect. My brother was attending university here so I also knew that Canada had fine universities.  I had met a few Canadians in ministry at the church we attended when I was growing up and they were very kind and good people.  Meeting these fine Canadians gave me the feeling that most Canadians would be decent human beings.  I was pleased to find this to be true on my arrival here.  There are always exceptions to the general rule in any group of people or culture but, by and large, they are the exception.  Generally speaking, Canadians are very kind and very tolerant of strangers. Long before I had evolved to ideas of inclusiveness of various groups in the general population, my Canadian friends had embraced them.  My self-righteous self is vanishing more and more as I age and evolve and that pleases me no end.

As any immigrant to a new country, there was a lot to learn about this country and how to find my own place here.  In many ways, a new immigrant has to reinvent themselves.  For many years, I went “home” to the country I was born in to visit family and friends.  In those early years of finding my way around and the place that I would fit into in this society, my mentality was that of the perpetual immigrant – an “outsider.”  Canada had not yet embraced the multiculturalism that is part and parcel of its society now.  Yet today, the evolution that was taking place within my own self to be “Canadian” was taking place within Canadian society to be more multicultural and inclusive.

The Canada I live in today is far different from the Canada I came to 49 years ago.  People of all races, cultures, backgrounds, and persuasions live together in peaceful, harmonious ways.  We eat each other’s food, attend each other’s parties and places of worship, and are happy to learn from each other.  I was very proud that Canada welcomed 25,000 Syrian refugees in 2016.   Many of these people were privately sponsored by churches and groups of individuals.  Canada remains a very welcoming country.

Lest all of what I have said prior sounds like a fairy-tale, I ought to add that there are shootings and stabbings that occur here, domestic violence, rape, burglaries, and, yes – covert systemic prejudice.  Groups like LBGTQ, Black Lives Matter, First Nations, and other civil rights organizations continue to have to press ahead for respect. recognition, and a good future within this great nation for its members.  Despite all the adversities mentioned above, some of which are due to social conditions, and some to plain human weakness and depravity, Canada is the place I call home now.  This didn’t happen overnight but was a process. “This land is your land, this land is my land. From Bonavista to the Vancouver Island. From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters. This land was made for you and me.”

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall (Charles and Camilla) are visiting Canada for this 150th Birthday Celebration.  Many big events are planned in Ottawa, the nation’s capital.  We here in Toronto have our own line-up of events to celebrate this sesquicentennial year.  As a Canadian citizen whose proud to call Canada home, I’m looking forward to the events taking place around my area.  On Canada Day, I’m going to High Park for the big celebration there and in the night taking in the fireworks on my balcony.  This will be a spectacular light show coming at me from all directions.  It should be fun!  While Canada is not perfect, the values and ideals it upholds are admirable.

Happy 150th Canada!