“It’s never felt more Canadian to be Canadian than it does now.” – Douglas Coupland (Canadian novelist).

On July 1, 2023, we celebrated Canada’s 156th birthday, with fireworks, gatherings, and concerts held here in Edmonton to recognize the event.

I recalled bits and pieces of Canada’s Centennial in 1967. I was residing in my city of birth, Ottawa, the capital of our nation, and I mostly remember the spectacular fireworks from the parliament grounds. I also remember hearing the song “C-A-N-A-D-A Centennial Song” (French version: “Une Chanson du Centenaire”) by Bobby Gimby which was played everywhere that year. If you are unfamiliar with the song, you can find it on YouTube. You will hear a line in the song: “Now we are 20 million.” As of April 1, 2023, we are almost double that at 39,858,480 million! We nearly doubled in 56 years.

Canada is my home. Every country has its good and bad features. I like to reflect on the good.

Here are some interesting facts about our country. Source: Canada Crossroads

• Canada is the most educated country in the world.
• Canada has 20% of the world’s freshwaters.
• Canada has a large number of lakes. To be precise, there are more lakes than in any other country.
• Canada has two of the largest lakes in the world: Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake.
• Canadians drink more fruit juice per capita than any other country.
• Alberta’s oilsands have the third-largest oil reserves in the world.
• New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

We are a large and diverse country. Let’s keep up the reputation of being friendly by being kind and getting to know each other.

Ian is a columnist with the paper. He lives in the area.