On Tuesday, cities, towns and in our case a village came together to celebrate the birth of a nation, as millions of Canadians across the country celebrated Canada Day in some way.
But how much do Canadians actually know about their own country, and what exactly is Canadian culture?
Canada is a nation that stretches from the Pacific Ocean in the West, to the Atlantic Ocean in the East, from the 49 parallel on its southern boarder and northwards to the Arctic Ocean, at 9.98 million square kilometres, it is the second largest country in the world, behind Russia, by total area, and the common boarder it shares with the United States is the largest land boarder shared by the same two countries.
Its capital is Ottawa, its population is approximately 35 million, ‘O Canada’ was officially adopted as Canada’s national anthem in 1980 and Canada is officially a bilingual country with English and French being its two official languages.
Canada became an independent nation on July 1, 1867, with the signing of the British North America Act and it gained full independence after the Statute of Westminster in 1931.
Canada is considered a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth the Second as the head of state.
What exactly is Canadian culture?
It has been said that Canada is a social mosaic, a melting pot of many different cultures, a nation steeped in multiculturalism.
There are however, some universal symbols of Canadian culture.
Let’s start with the obvious.
Hockey is Canada and Canada is hockey.
While that might be an oversimplification of things, it rings true.
During the 2010 Olympic Men’s Gold Medal game in ice, 26.5 million Canadians watch at least a part of that game, in Sochi, 15 million Canadians watched the entire gold medal game in men’s ice hockey, the sport unites the majority of Canadians, and whips them into a patriotic frenzy.
Secondly, there’s the notion that Canada is the little brother to the United States’ big brother, it is something that is a constant battle for Canadians to try and separate themselves from our American neighbours.
Canadian culture is continually protected by institutions, such as the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
For me, being Canadian is multi-faceted.
It is about being resilient, accommodating and welcoming, prideful and unique.
Burns Lake is a great representation of this.
The resiliency of the community after the mill explosion and the subsequent rebuild, how accommodating and welcoming this community is to its newcomers and the pride it feels for its community, which is something that is extremely prevalent amongst our First Nations communities, was something that was on full display at the Aboriginal Day festivities.
To end, Canadian culture is what each individual makes it out to be.
That is the glorious part about living in such a diverse nation, it allows you to be you.
So whether you identify being Canadian with being a hockey fan, with being overly polite or with eating large amounts of poutine, go out and celebrate what makes this country great.
Happy Canada Day to you, Burns Lake.