Hey everyone, this post is going to be a bit different than what I usually share. This post will likely be long, and it’s up to you to read it. With Canada day right around the corner, I want to bring attention to what’s been happening lately, and give you some facts so that you can hold a new or strengthened opinion. Without further ado, let’s get started.

For those of you who don’t know a whole lot about Canadian history, allow me to give you a quick briefing on what happened and what’s resurfacing. When Europeans set sail to find India, they landed here in Canada (not called Canada at the time), which they though was India, and therefore called the people native to the land “Indians”. They had their traditions and customs and their way of life already established here, but the newcomers did not like this and wanted power over this new land. Over a period of time, residential schools were established. Young children were forced by the government out of their Native home, and made to go live at this residential school, not knowing if and when they’d see their families again. They were brought to the schools in hopes that their faith and beliefs would assimilate to what the new government wanted. What lots of people fail to see is the horrible conditions that they lived in and were stripped of everything they had going for them and their culture. If you’re someone who follows traditions from your roots, imagine being punished for wanting to do that or even speaking in your native language. So what’s happening now in 2021? From what’s happened lately, this publicity started with a former residential school in British Columbia, where hundreds of unmarked graves and bodies were found of young children. They had no reason to die, only that their living conditions were awful and they were not properly treated or cared for. Some deaths were caused by unpreventable diseases, however it is thought that lots were results from abuse. Over the past month or so, hundreds more graves have been discovered at schools across the country, and there are likely thousands more. Going to school at a young age and rarely – if ever at all – seeing family, not knowing when you will return, and maybe not returning at all. Families left wondering where they are and what happened, with no peace of mind.

With these new discoveries and attention being brought to them, many people are choosing not to celebrate Canada day this year.

But the question for many people is, Can I still celebrate Canada Day? It’s entirely up to you. I’m going to list some facts and reasons as to why you may or may not choose to celebrate the country this year.

Someone may say no because this is something that changed the roots of this land, and made Canada what it is today. What happened was not right in any way to take away from the people native to this land, and cannot be justified. This country would be very different had the natives not been basically stripped of their culture several decades ago. Everyone reading this (who is not of indigenous roots) would not be here if Europeans never came to this land, but the way that they treated the people who were already here is horrific to most. It was not fair to do and cannot be undone. Some people say not to celebrating this year for these reasons, as they have been made aware of how some of the formation of this country was done.

Some people choose to celebrate this year because of a more generalization. They choose to continue to recognize what they are proud of for this country, such as war efforts that we’ve contributed to, or the freedom that we hold, or that especially in the past decade, people are free to love who they love, and not worry about what their culture is and fear their roots. People who choose to celebrate aren’t necessarily ignoring what’s been recently brought to attention, rather still noticing the good in our country.

I’m not telling you that you should or should not celebrate, but if you’re Canadian, I want you to take the time to maybe do some further research. Take time to recognize what’s been done in the past, and acknowledge those who lost their lives when they did not need to be lost. There are a lot of great resources on Google, and there are people on Tiktok that summarize certain events very well (search for the hashtag “indigenoustiktok”).

This was a heavier topic today, and I know it’s going to spark some controversy, so I just ask that you respect what reasons people present for their opinions, and focus on what you feel is right. So now I ask the question for you to think about, Celebrate Canada day or do not celebrate Canada day? Or maybe change how you celebrate Canada day and start a new tradition that maybe relates to the indigenous people of this country?