Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
OTTAWA — Kids splashed in boggy mud puddles and brandished sodden paper Maple Leaf flags Saturday as a waterlogged rainbow coalition of rain slickers, ponchos and umbrellas assembled under grey skies on Parliament Hill to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Spirits were high despite a persistent downpour all morning as a long line of revellers snaked down Wellington Street, the southern edge of the parliamentary precinct, in order to brave a steely security gauntlet in order to get onto the grounds.
“I’ve wanted to come to Parliament Hill since high school,” said Jenna Doerksen, 29, whose family travelled from Winnipeg to mark what her father Don Collinridge described as her favourite holiday.
Doerksen, clad in a red T-shirt and sporting a tiara festooned with flags, described herself as “dressed down” compared with the rest of her family — the airline, she said, lost her luggage, forcing her to cobble together an outfit from borrowed bits and pieces.
Her father spent five hours the night before crafting a hat out of red and white balloons, while wife Lynda, 56, built a crown of flags, including two from the centennial celebrations in 1967, when she was in Grade 1.
To them, like countless others, Canada is home, a place of safety and security.
“We were very happy to see the security here today, searching us.,” said Lynda, 56. “We feel safe.”
The Canada Day agenda in the national capital includes a visit from Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and a speech from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will reveal the names of Canada’s newest astronauts.
Trudeau sat down for an audience with the prince at Rideau Hall, where the pair commiserated briefly about the conditions outside.
“We’re Canadians,” Trudeau was heard to say over the din of camera shutters. “We can handle a little weather.”
Even U.S. President Donald Trump got in on the action, tweeting his congratulations on the occasion of Canada’s birthday and acknowledging the prime minister by name, whom he described as his “newfound friend.”
In his speech, Trudeau is expected to acknowledge the tensions with Indigenous Peoples in Canada, many of whom have expressed their disdain for today’s sesquicentennial as a celebration of the country’s colonial past.
“As we mark Canada 150, we also recognize that for many, today is not an occasion for celebration; Indigenous Peoples in this country have faced oppression for centuries,” he said in the prime minister’s traditional Canada Day statement, issued early Saturday.
“As a society, we must acknowledge and apologize for past wrongs, and chart a path forward for the next 150 years — one in which we continue to build our nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown and government-to-government relationship with the First Nations, Inuit and Metis Nation.”
A teepee set up by indigenous activists not far from the stage, a source of some tension earlier in the week, has turned into an exhibit of sorts as visitors stop by to express their support or chat with the so-called “reoccupiers” of unceded Algonquin territory.
Regina resident Rhoderic Sia, 40, a red, flag-bedecked colander on his head, acknowledged the cause of the activists as they huddled around the teepee.
“Everybody has their own opinion,” said Sia, who hails originally from the Philippines.
“I respect it, but we still have to respect what Canada is now. Coming from another country, being here is all about your freedom. You can have everything if you work hard.”
Canada 150 celebrations are taking place across the country throughout the day — and even off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.
A boatload of 75 early risers headed out on the North Atlantic to be among the first to welcome Canada Day as dawn broke over the country’s most eastern point. They cheered and danced to music onboard the Iceberg Quest vessel as they celebrated the occasion.
“There’s no sun, but there is plenty of mist and rain and cold, which kind of makes it a pretty extraordinary experience,” said Craig Simons, who moved to St. John’s a year ago from Houston with his wife Jennifer.
“It has been a wonderful experience for us and the kids. It’s nice to see how much Canadians love their country.”
The early-morning tour was especially moving for Gerry Cantwell, who’s descended from five generations of lighthouse keepers at Cape Spear. He called it a day of reflection and gratitude for the men and women who’ve helped protect Canadian rights and freedoms.
“We’re very fortunate to live in a country with the freedoms that we have and, on July 1, to remember the people who gave us our freedom.”
