(A response, to “Bill’s Beat” Four Town Journal July 5, Murray Mandryk’s lament printed in Yorkton This Week, July 5, and Doug Firby’s (Troy Media) “Why is Canada Day such a bummer”, published in The Four Town Journal July 5, and Schneider’s “Is that all I get?” an editorial cartoon, also printed in July 5, Four Town Journal”.)
Dear Editor:
I read a recurring theme. Canada 2017 is not Canada 1967, the Centennial year, when we really celebrated. We had a party, went to Expo, built arenas, got lots of grants, and were reminded that the future belonged to a prosperous Canada. We were confident that we shared a future that would belong to us.
A common refrain in the articles that have prompted this bit of writing was that too much was spent on Ottawa and on centralized celebrations there. It seemed that a slight cynicism about political leaders and civil servants crept into each article. Firby and Mandryk both referenced how burdened some of us were feeling because old wrongs were being named and addressed. Resentments about that burden of guilt certainly speak of who the ‘us’ are when ‘we’ speak of guilt.
Our household of two octogenarians (that’s sesquicentennial talk for over eighty) opted to stay home July 1st. We watched most of the celebrations on Parliament Hill and other TV offerings throughout much of the day. Many in our society find that it isn’t easy some days to go out to the local sports days, picnics and programs that keep up good traditions and celebrate the heritage of local communities honouring the day. We’re glad they happen and glad they’re supported by new generations of volunteers and participants.
Once, when our children were young, we, as a family, celebrated July 1st on Parliament Hill. It was an honour then. And, it was an honour this year to be there in spirit to celebrate 150 years of imperfect nationhood.
Our leaders addressed the nation and those gathered. They did so with dignity, with gentleness and good humour. They were welcoming and all spoke of Canada as a nation seeking to be welcoming and a people committed to building a better Canada, an inclusive and just Canada.
The Canadian story we remember has chapters we’d rather forget.
Any nation worthy of celebrating recalls that, and seeks redirection and reconciliation and new paths of co-operation. Protest, and call to remember, happened July 1 on Parliament Hill. That such was peacefully recognized and responded to was something we could celebrate.
We witnessed a changing Canada, different in many ways from the Canada of 1967. That could be witnessed over and over again in the faces seen, the voices heard, and in the presence welcomed of many who for generations were indeed invisible minorities in our nation and in our local communities.
How fitting that individuals from the arts, sports, science and research, entertainment, and amazing heroes with stories to tell of courage and of community building all had space and recognition in Canada’s official 150th celebration. Our latest astronauts were introduced to Canada and children participated in that introduction. An immigrant choir of children sang. The list goes on.
Each of the writers cited in the introduction to this article is a proud Canadian. They say so clearly. I am too.
We are a large country, geographically and politically. We are demographically diverse. We have developed, based on our heritage, a form of accountable and democratic government, a professional civil service, and high expectations for our professions, our trades and organizations. We value the role of community builders. We have sought to balance individual freedoms with accountability to, and for, community and social well-being. We have accomplished much and we aspire to accomplish more. Our nation’s July 1st celebrations highlighted all this.
Living in Canada, a united Canada, has required people who exercised passion but also reason and the ability to compromise and accommodate without denying basic principles of social intercourse and ethical behavior.
Each of our communities is a microcosm of Canada. That too we celebrate. But we are a nation, a people bonded together by history and hope, a people who must know and honour our neighbours from sea to sea to sea.
No July 1st celebration can be everything for all people. Joan and I listened as reporters asked various people “on the hill” about the day and the celebrations. There were many answers. “Canada’s more than 150, we were here a long time before, we still are.”
“Our family’s first year in Canada. We are safe. Thank you Canada.”
So many said, “Canada we love you!” And each time we’d echo, “And so do we, Canada, so do we.”
— Walter Farquharson. Saltcoats, SK.
