Happy Birthday Canada

Canada Immigration Forum (discussion group)

Subject: Happy Birthday Canada

The day is half over on Canada´s west coast and nobody on this forum has made any reference to the fact that today is Canada Day. I hope you don´t mind if I am a little disappointed.

Canada celebrates its 142nd birthday today. We are a baby in the eyes of many countries around the world but we have much to celebrate.

here are some interesting quotes

"What I really love about Canada is how much more ethnically and culturally diverse it´s become. When I was a young boy, growing up in Don Mills in the early sixties, it was a rare thing indeed to find someone who was black, or East Indian or, Korean, or, frankly, any race other than Caucasian. There´s a vibrancy now that pulses through Canada. You can hear and feel it in its music, view it in its art, thrill to it in its literature. Or better still, you can see it in the splendour of its people, boasting so many shades of colour, speaking so many different languages. And yet there´s still so much work to be done, as a nation. I pray that a generation from now, Canada will be all the more stunning and inspiring, a shining example of how people of all races, religions and backgrounds, can live together, can thrive together, in peace."
– Dan Hill, award-winning singer-songwriter and author of the memoir My Father´s Son (HarperCollins)

"Canada is ´the land of lakes and trees,´ as my ex-pat father used to describe it. A poutine-chompin´, multicultural beaver yelling at the hockey game in-between Molson "I am Canadian" commercials. It´s the flag stitched onto some kid´s knapsack as she takes that glorious ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. It is our dream of being peacekeepers stuck in a post 9/11 tarsand sinkhole. A majestic land of four seasons in full flower, especially the winter. Did I mention the winter?"
– Jesse Cook, Juno award-winning flamenco guitarist (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Canada is a country strong not in spite of its diversity but because of it. While we as a people embody huge differences in cultures, perspectives and backgrounds, from coast to coast to coast we are united by the shared Canadian values of openness, respect and a willingness to be there for our neighbours. Let´s celebrate this loudly and proudly this Canada Day!”
-Justin Trudeau, MP for Papineau (Blair Gable photo)

Oh Canada, glorious and free.

[01-07-2009,16:25]
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Sharon