Happy CANADA DAY ! #142

July 1, 2009 at 11:00 am · Filed under Canadians, Cast & Crew!, Educational, Freedom of Speech, Guest Author, Healthy Living

Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day, is Canada’s national day, a federal statutory holiday, celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act of 1867, which united Canada as a single country of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally.

Canada Day Parades take place throughout the country.

Activities

Most communities across the country will host organized celebrations for Canada Day, usually outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts, as well as citizenship ceremonies for new citizens.

There is no standard mode of celebration for Canada Day; professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford Jennifer Welsh said of this: “Canada Day, like the country, is endlessly decentralized. There doesn’t seem to be a central recipe for how to celebrate it – chalk it up to the nature of the federation.

The Snowbirds Aerial Acrobatic Team performs at Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa

However, the focus of the celebrations is the national capital, Ottawa, Ontario, where large concerts, presided over by the Governor General, are held on Parliament Hill, as well as other parks around the city and in Hull, Quebec.

The sovereign may also be in attendance at Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa; Queen Elizabeth II was present in 1990, 1992, and 1997. The Queen also helped celebrate Canada’s 100th anniversary on July 1, 1967.

International celebrations

Canadian expatriates will organize Canada Day activities in their local area on or near the date of the holiday. For instance, since June 30, 2006, annual Canada Day celebrations have been held at Trafalgar Square – the location of Canada House – in London, England. Organized by the Canadian community in the United Kingdom and the Canadian High Commission, the event features Canadian performers and a demonstration of street hockey, amongst other activities.

Also, since 2000, the Victoria Cross bar in Sydney, Australia, is the location for official Canada Day celebrations,[citation needed] events also take place in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong, called ‘Canada D’eh!

Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, have, since the 1950s, celebrated Dominion Day or Canada Day and the United States’ Independence Day with the International Freedom Festival. A massive fireworks display over the Detroit River, the strait separating the two cities, is held annually with hundreds of thousands of spectators attending. A similar event occurs at the Friendship Festival, a joint celebration between Fort Erie, Ontario, and neighbouring Buffalo, New York, of Canada Day and Independence Day.

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PS: we do have a Canadian contributor on this blog; AMBER TURNAU. Avid outdoor enthusiast, Amber frequently relates her adventures in the “Great White North.” – GO AMBER…

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Editor’s note: For the amerikan reader (CANADA is that BIG land mass North of Dakota) and Nooo… they do NOT live in igloos 🙂

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