#canada150plus

I love Canada. And I love Canada Day. I’ve been struggling a bit today though to figure out how to celebrate. I want to be respectful of the Aborginal people who have been trampled on during the history of this country. But I also admit to feeling very conflicted and, if I’m honest, a bit of resentment for being told i am “celebrating genocide” for celebrating my country. I feel like it’s when you have anything that is problematic - you can love it while also recognising that not everything is perfect. but i need to accept that this is how some people feel and thy have the right to say so. I celebrate the good things canada has done for me, for opening our doors to new immigrants, for our peacekeeping efforts. I celebrate the steps we are taking towards reconciliation. And I recognise that the history of this country is dark especially for the indigenous people, those against whom there was absolutely a policy designed to wipe them out. I recognise that conditions for many Aborginal people in Canada today are atrocious and need to change. I want to call our current government to action and do more than just pay lip service. And again, I recognise this is going to take time, perhaps another 150 years. The residential school history is fresh. The last one closed when i was a kid. My godfather, a member of the Shuswap Nation, was sent to a residential school. A member of my family got her first teaching job in the 60s at what she told me recently was a northern BC school - and for the record, she is one of the most extraordinarily kind, welcoming, and inclusive and loving people I know and who taught me how important it is to be tolerant and open minded. She learned from her history, and I want to learn from the history of my country too, while at the same time celebrating the fact that we exist at all. We’re not British. We’re not American (never been more grateful for this fact). Do I wish that history had been kinder? Of course. A billion times kinder. But history wasn’t kind. History is rarely kind. And current times are not as good for many others as they are for me. Sometimes they’re absolute shit, racist, sexist, bigoted. I’m a lower to middle class white girl born into a supportive and intact family, and even though i grew up and still live in the “poor part of town,” I had privileges not afforded to everybody. I love Canada. I’m SUPER grateful to live here. I have health care, reproductive rights, and can marry whomever I choose. Is it perfect? No. Will it ever be perfect? No, people humans are pretty garbage. Does that mean we should stop trying to make it perfect? Hell no. Happy 150-Plus Canada. You’ve been here as a land for much longer than that and the people who lived here first also knew how much you had to give. I really do want your current incarnation to be the best it can possibly be.