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Events: Happy Birthday Canada!
Sat, 02 Jul 2005

July 1st is Canada Day, our national holiday (where everyone finally gets a day off work to shoot off fireworks) We managed to run around a bit in Niagara (the Canadian side) and I've some rediculous photos, but I'll blog those events separately :) Instead, I thought I'd dig through my history memories a little -- I've always been a big fan of learning some history but never had the time to read up too much beyond what was gleaned back in school. (A priority problem perhaps .. but after work its tough to curl up with a history textbook over some fast moving fiction, don't you think?)

Photo: A barn in northern Alberta shows off its Canadian colours. (Photo by Peter McCluskey/CBC.CA). Not used with permission, but swiped from here

I might as well mention I always found it odd that Canada Day was so close to the American national holiday, but it seems to have just worked out that way -- probably because its a hot month and heat makes everyone restless :) (While I'm embarassing myself online, I'll say its funny how the term 'American' commonly refers to our neighbours to the south, when really - in North America - aren't we all "American"? And what about those whacky Central and South Americans .. don't they get to be 'American' too?) Anyway, my history lobe is a little rusty but off the cuff I believe that Canada Day (formerly called Dominion Day) is an additive-term where the Dominion of Canada was created through the process of Confederation way back in 1867. Yes, we're a young country - but feisty and friendly! The USian (dodging the term 'American' as above :) holiday by contrast is Independence Day (from the mid 1700's), where the country finally (in secret from the British) voted for separation. Interestingly, this all led towards the War of 1812 which I think (again, reaching back to public school memories) was colonial Britain trying to bring things back in order. Canada is a colony of England and so was embroiled in this conflict (and apparently supplied more than half the troops attacking the poor USA), which certainly polarized the two young colonies. Evidently, the provinces that would become Canada (Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia (New Scotland) and New Brunswick -- where was British Columbia at the time?) certainly learned from the American experience and merged into the Dominion of Canada.
Why did I bring any of this up? History is amazing stuff, and we'd all be better for studying the globe a little more, but for some reason I really enjoy bringing up these events, since this is where we famously burned a certain government office and required it to become painted white (the White House). I think this is also where the Britons and the Canadians firebombed Baltimore which led to the American national anthem. I'm sure these are historical facts no one wants to remind a certain Superpower (and close friend and ally) of, but important and amusing all the same :)

Gah, a quickie 5 minute blog entry that turned into more work than I thought, and time to hit the sack! Hope its halfway coherent..

Edit: Found some links in wikipedia with more accurate info; I'll read them over tomorrow but thought you may like additional accurate details.

Edit: 'Boston' changed to 'Baltimore'; see War of 1812

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