Canada Day

 

Canada Day.  

Today we mark the 'birth' of a nation, but all too often, we do not tell the complete story of how this nation came to be.

I rarely 'celebrate' Canada Day - but then I rarely 'celebrate' any day designated to be 'special'.  That includes Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This year we are being forced to come to grips with a more complete history of Canada and the racism that underlies this country.

Personally I have had family members who attempted to justify residential 'schools' as being somehow 'good' and 'just' and 'best'.  In my heart I knew that they were not.

But the residential 'schools' are just a symptom of all that has gone into the formation of this country.  If we are to truly be a country that embraces all, then we need to face our history.  All of it.

Truth.

Then Reconciliation.

So today I do not 'celebrate' Canada Day.  Instead I remind myself that when we know better, we need to do better.

Today will be a time for me to reflect on what the 'Canadian Mosaic' truly means.  That we, as a country, a society, a culture, need to reflect on how we see others.  What we value as a nation.  In a nation.

The past year and a half has been made more difficult because a small segment of the population has chosen to move further to the 'right' and forgotten that we need to care for each other.

And that lighting someone else's candle does not extinguish our own.

Today I mourn with the original peoples of Canada and all they have lost.  I mourn with the people who came more recently as refugees and found racism in their new home where they expected safety.  I mourn for the earth, which this week especially has shown us that she is sick of human beings and giving us a louder, more urgent, warning of what is to come if we don't stop soiling our nest, our home, our ONLY home.  I mourn for those who lost their lives (and livelihoods and health) due to a pandemic that could have been mitigated by the simple protocols of self-isolating when sick, wearing a mask, keeping distant.  Getting a vaccine once they became available.

Instead we have just come through the worst heat event in recorded history, a thunder storm yesterday sparked wild fires, many in remote, hard to reach areas.  One small town, in the news for three days setting new extreme heat records, pretty much burned to the ground as a lightning strike caused a wildfire that engulfed them in just a few minutes.

There is little to 'celebrate' today unless we also stop, pause, reflect, and since we know better, do better.

So for those people who are now able to meet with a larger bubble, I hope that you will enjoy your day.  But let us not forget the reality of where we are, in this place, in this time.