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Canada Day 158
Jul. 1st, 2025 09:38 amAs ever...
Canada Day, From Now On
Jun. 30th, 2021 09:34 amReflecting on these thoughts anew...
(Once again, I wish "contemplative" did not have a smile attached. Especially now.)
(Once again, I wish "contemplative" did not have a smile attached. Especially now.)
Canada Day 153
Jul. 1st, 2020 08:26 amSo here we are at the latest anniversary of the signing of the Confederation agreements that many of us see, with encouragement from our federal government, as the anniversary of modern Canada's founding.
Some of us, like Luanga Nuwame, see it as cause for celebration.
Others, such as Kerry Benjoe, have just cause to see it as a day for mourning if not rage. Whether they do or not is a choice that's not mine to make.
Still more are apathetic to the whole business of it, seeing it as just another day in their lives.
However you see this day, I hope that it's kind to you.
(Sidebar: I wish we had an avatar for "contemplative" that did not involve smiling. It seems improper in moments like this one.)
Some of us, like Luanga Nuwame, see it as cause for celebration.
Others, such as Kerry Benjoe, have just cause to see it as a day for mourning if not rage. Whether they do or not is a choice that's not mine to make.
Still more are apathetic to the whole business of it, seeing it as just another day in their lives.
However you see this day, I hope that it's kind to you.
(Sidebar: I wish we had an avatar for "contemplative" that did not involve smiling. It seems improper in moments like this one.)
Trump's trying to pressure us into marching in lockstep, but I suspect Trudeau and most of the premiers are going to hold their ground re: the re-opening of the US-Canada border. The one exception among the premiers? I expect it will be Alberta's Jason Kenney.
Also, the feds are talking about prepping for a "virtual" Canada Day series of events this year...
Canada Day 152
Jul. 1st, 2019 11:04 amCanada Day.
Some of you are celebrating this anniversary. Some of you simply commemorate it. Still others among you lament its existence...some with far more just cause than others, I'm sorry to recall.
In any case, I wish that this particular instance, today, is kind to you.
Unless you're a dedicated Nazi, Klansman or Putinist looking to make trouble. If you're in those three categories, I suggest you repent of that. Otherwise...?
Some of you are celebrating this anniversary. Some of you simply commemorate it. Still others among you lament its existence...some with far more just cause than others, I'm sorry to recall.
In any case, I wish that this particular instance, today, is kind to you.
Unless you're a dedicated Nazi, Klansman or Putinist looking to make trouble. If you're in those three categories, I suggest you repent of that. Otherwise...?
Confederation Plus 150
Jul. 1st, 2017 09:11 amI'm feeling in more of a contemplative mood rather than a celebratory one today. No interest in going to Parliament Hill to endure the weather, the crowds and the security theatre at all, for one thing. For another, there's the ongoing concerns of the indigenous peoples about the consequences of how Confederation got built, upon whose bones and so on.
We are still not yet the nation we could become, and it behooves us all to remember that fact.
Leaving it at that for now. I don't know if I'll have anything more worth saying right now...
We are still not yet the nation we could become, and it behooves us all to remember that fact.
Leaving it at that for now. I don't know if I'll have anything more worth saying right now...
So...Parliament Hill on Canada Day
Jul. 3rd, 2012 09:22 amSo what's this I'm hearing about how tightly the crowds were allegedly "managed" there that day?
Something about gates being locked during the festivities on the PMO's orders that had not been locked for decades during previous Canada Day parties?
I've been reading some interesting and disturbing reports via Facebook the last day or so. I hope they're not true, because if they are, then I may be very happy that I chose to go out of town this year instead of visiting downtown.
Something about gates being locked during the festivities on the PMO's orders that had not been locked for decades during previous Canada Day parties?
I've been reading some interesting and disturbing reports via Facebook the last day or so. I hope they're not true, because if they are, then I may be very happy that I chose to go out of town this year instead of visiting downtown.
A short word about yesterday's travels
Jul. 2nd, 2012 12:43 pmIn case you wondered:
Yesterday took me out to Shawville - about an hour's drive west of Gatineau on the Québec side of the Ottawa River - for a "Canada Day for Introverts" party. Transportation by fellow invitees was provided and gladly accepted, and the ride out to Shawville was fun. Also, the landscape reminded me of the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, but with some actual hills added in for good measure and bilingual and more than occasional "français seulement, SVP" signage for flavouring.
Shawville's one of those anglophone - possibly gaelophonic(1) as well? - enclaves that still - from what little I personally saw and heard - don't take well to intrusions from the "tongue troopers" from the Québec provincial government, complete with a still-active, though shrunken, branch of the Orange Order on Centre Street. Businesses from as far off as Pembroke, Ontario will send vehicles and drivers to participate in the town's Canada Day parade, and the mayor is usually right there in person with a workload small enough - but vital enough - for him to make time to chat with visitors on the spur of the moment. I've lived in and visited a few towns like that across the country, and there's definitely a positive value to this. You cannot possibly underestimate how good a thing that can be for a town to have.
I like the design of the street name signs. It's as modern as it is heritage-minded, and I hope to post a sample of one of them later in the week over on Flickr.
The food was good, the weather was fine if slightly overheated. The latter, of course, is beyond any one person's ability to control.
My thanks again to my hosts, my transportation-providers, friends and friendly acquaintances one and all.
(1) - Is that the right word for Gaelic-speaking people?
Yesterday took me out to Shawville - about an hour's drive west of Gatineau on the Québec side of the Ottawa River - for a "Canada Day for Introverts" party. Transportation by fellow invitees was provided and gladly accepted, and the ride out to Shawville was fun. Also, the landscape reminded me of the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, but with some actual hills added in for good measure and bilingual and more than occasional "français seulement, SVP" signage for flavouring.
Shawville's one of those anglophone - possibly gaelophonic(1) as well? - enclaves that still - from what little I personally saw and heard - don't take well to intrusions from the "tongue troopers" from the Québec provincial government, complete with a still-active, though shrunken, branch of the Orange Order on Centre Street. Businesses from as far off as Pembroke, Ontario will send vehicles and drivers to participate in the town's Canada Day parade, and the mayor is usually right there in person with a workload small enough - but vital enough - for him to make time to chat with visitors on the spur of the moment. I've lived in and visited a few towns like that across the country, and there's definitely a positive value to this. You cannot possibly underestimate how good a thing that can be for a town to have.
I like the design of the street name signs. It's as modern as it is heritage-minded, and I hope to post a sample of one of them later in the week over on Flickr.
The food was good, the weather was fine if slightly overheated. The latter, of course, is beyond any one person's ability to control.
My thanks again to my hosts, my transportation-providers, friends and friendly acquaintances one and all.
(1) - Is that the right word for Gaelic-speaking people?
Canada Day 145
Jul. 1st, 2012 09:02 am
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How I Spent Canada Day 144
Jul. 1st, 2011 09:19 pmTaken from an e-mail to a friend:
Today was something different. Instead of going to the Hill like most of the rest today, I decided to go to Quincy and Ogilvie in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood to pick up where I left off on my walking tour of the riverfront bike pathways.
I did manage to get from there to the Aviation Museum. On foot. With a side trip to the yacht club and flying club uphill from there at Rockcliffe Airport. Took me about an hour or more on foot. Took pictures, too, some of which I hope to post at Flickr someday.
My stomach's been making me pay a bit for it in the last few hours since then, though. A sense of bloat, with a mild side of pain that comes and goes. Maybe I shouldn't have punctuated the walking trip with a sudden dose of chocolate milk wolfed down in a minute, hm?
Still, it was a good trip. I saw parts of town I'd never seen before. Got a better sense of the scale of the city. Of the wilderness refuges right in the middle of it, preserved in spite of everything.
Worth it.
Today was something different. Instead of going to the Hill like most of the rest today, I decided to go to Quincy and Ogilvie in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood to pick up where I left off on my walking tour of the riverfront bike pathways.
I did manage to get from there to the Aviation Museum. On foot. With a side trip to the yacht club and flying club uphill from there at Rockcliffe Airport. Took me about an hour or more on foot. Took pictures, too, some of which I hope to post at Flickr someday.
My stomach's been making me pay a bit for it in the last few hours since then, though. A sense of bloat, with a mild side of pain that comes and goes. Maybe I shouldn't have punctuated the walking trip with a sudden dose of chocolate milk wolfed down in a minute, hm?
Still, it was a good trip. I saw parts of town I'd never seen before. Got a better sense of the scale of the city. Of the wilderness refuges right in the middle of it, preserved in spite of everything.
Worth it.
