A Canada Day party for all

There’s a party tomorrow and you’re invited to attend. The time: every second, minute and hour of July 1st. The occasion: Canada’s 155th birthday. The place: any village, town, city, park, field, forest or shoreline in the country — in fact anywhere at all in this staggeringly varied and gorgeous land we’re lucky enough to call home.

If you’re undecided, go out and walk through your neighbourhood. Hop on a bike, climb aboard public transit or take a drive and gaze further around you.

In most locales you won’t have to look far to understand why the American media company U.S. News & World Report judged Canada the best country on Earth in 2021. And that was out of 195 countries. So keep exploring. You’ll see Canada as it exists today — one of the richest, freest, healthiest, best educated, most equitable, racially diverse and, yes, peaceful nations on the planet.

It is a vast land, the world’s second largest country in terms of sheer physical size. It takes hours to traverse by jet. Even if you drove all day you could never grasp its enormity or view more than a few scattered glimpse of what it offers. The oceans that wash its shores, the lakes and rivers flowing through it, the prairies that stretch farther than any eye can see and the snow-capped mountains that rise to the heavens embody a beauty and grandeur that defy words.

These are gifts to appreciate, ponder and preserve. None can be taken for granted in the world around us, or even when we consider the challenges facing us here and now.

It has been a hard couple of years.

The flag-waving, skies-bursting-with-fireworks Canada Days of the past were put on hold in those times.

First, COVID-19 cancelled many of 2020’s celebrations outright. Then in 2021, the still-recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at or near former Indigenous residential schools turned July 1 into an occasion where sorrow, reflection and deep soulsearching were most appropriate. Instead of kicking up our heels we lowered our flags.

The knowledge of those graves and the still unresolved injustices of the residential school system will deter some people from celebrating this year; and that is their right. We’re in a time of reckoning for the sins and even the crimes of the past. We can’t go back to a blinkered view of some mythical, bygone yesterday or a thoughtless embrace of a here and now that include much that is troubling and in need of redress. But even if we avoid those mental traps, there remains another compelling reason to keep coming together on Canada Day and appreciating the good things we share in this country.

The sense of harmony, community and purpose that such actions engender can better prepare us for the demands of tomorrow. Inflation, climate change, putting the pandemic behind us, confronting the fractious, conflict-filled world before us: These are intractable problems for which no single political party or ideology possesses all the solutions. But together, harnessing the talents of so many different people, co-operating with those we can learn from and who could also learn from us, we can move forward. United. As a people. That’s how we can face up to the contradictions of our history. That’s how we can correct the errors of the present. And how we could transform unrealized aspirations into future realities.

So feel free to join the Canada Day party.

You might meet people whose families have been here thousands of years and hear their stories.

You might encounter others who arrived by plane last week and learn theirs — including why they joined millions of other immigrants to settle here. But always remember: The party guest-list includes every one of the 38-plus million folks living here today. All are welcome.

Then, how you celebrate is up to you. You might bring a Maple Leaf flag along. Wearing red and white attire is optional but always fitting. And double check the words of the national anthem. They’ve changed over time. But then so has this country. And it’s worth singing for this July 1. Happy Canada Day.