Overview of
Canada Day
Canada Day is celebrated to commemorate the joining of all the British
provinces into one unified federation on July 1st 1869. The
day is a national holiday and celebrated throughout Canada.
History and
Origin of Dominion Day
In order to bring all of the separate British Provinces within North
America together and to form a little bit of cohesiveness, the English
Government created the British North American Act to create a Dominion
of Canada under rule of the British government. The two people most
responsible for pushing this through were the Governor General, Lord
Monck and Sir John A. MacDonald, the Prime Minister of Canada. The Act
was signed on June 20, 1868 and became effective on July 1 of that year.
The Act combined three Canadian Provinces: (1) Province of Canada
(comprising today’s southern region of Ontario and Quebec), (2) New
Brunswick and (3) Nova Scotia. Not all of modern Canada was included in
this Act. The other provinces and territories became part of Canada as
follows:
Most Canadians celebrated this event and about ten years later, in 1879,
the Canadian Parliament, by statute, created a national holiday to
remember the events of the previous year. The holiday was then called
Dominion Day because the provinces became confederated as the Dominion
of Canada.
Through the years, the Canadian people appreciated, but rarely
celebrated the holiday. It was not until almost fifty years after its
inception, did people and municipalities organize larger ceremonies and
festivities. In fact, the first organized celebration after its first
anniversary may not have been until 1917, when the confederation was
honored during the 50th Anniversary celebration. Canada’s
southern neighbor, the United States celebrates its Independence Day
with much more fanfare than in Canada, but that may be because the
formation of their country was born through war, while Canada enjoyed a
peaceful evolution.
During the 60th anniversary of the confederation event there
were festivities and celebrations, including the dedication of the
Governor General of the Confederation Building (laying the cornerstone)
and the inauguration of the Carillon in the Peace Tower.
The holiday was made an annual observance in 1958 by the Canadian
Government. Annual celebratory events included a Trooping of the
Colours ceremony at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, bands playing and
fireworks. In 1967, Queen Elizabeth II attended the Centennial
celebration and the Canadian government went all out to make the
celebrations memorable.
The celebrations became larger each year. The usual concerts of bands
playing traditional music began to allow multicultural musical acts to
join in. The ceremonies at Parliament Hill became nationally televised
and took on a more national feel.
In 1980, the National Committee (formed by Parliament to review the
celebrations of July 1st) pushed an agenda to have the
celebrations spread across all the provinces of Canada. They even
donated “seed money” to groups willing to sponsor these local July 1st
events. This idea of spreading out the celebrations seemed to have
worked and it was expanded in 1981 to include firework displays to be
shown in fifteen cities across Canada.
The History and
Origin of Canada Day
The plan of spreading out the celebrations was bringing out feelings of
national pride. In 1982 (Oct. 27th), the Canadian Parliament
officially renamed Dominion Day and called it Canada Day (Fête
du Canada in French). The
holiday was to remain as July 1st – unless it falls out on a
Sunday, then it is celebrated on the following day. [Interesting Note:
The name “Canada” comes from the Iroquois Indians who referred to the
Stadacona settlement located around modern day Quebec City as “Kanata”
which is translated to mean “village” in English.
In Newfoundland and Labrador they also celebrate Memorial Day on July 1st
in commemoration of the heavy losses to Newfoundland troops during World
War I. Not all Canadians are happy with the holiday. Some still prefer
to call it Dominion Day, and the Quebec provincial governments under the
Parti Québécois do not
celebrate the holiday at all.
Canada Day Committees were established (in 1985) in each Province of
Canada to organize each year’s Canada Day events and celebrations.
Celebrating
Canada Day
Today, Canada Day is celebrated by most people around Canada. The
celebration includes Barbeques, Picnics, Parades, Musical Concerts and
Fireworks. Canadians also display the Canadian flag prominently on this
day. The day has also become known as “Moving Day” in Quebec since it
seems that a large number of people move to new homes during this
holiday weekend.
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