CanadaDope 2017: Celebrating the Sesquicentennial - "... and loving it!"

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hello my fellow Canadian Dopers (and occasional lookers-in from other countries). Happy New Year, Bonne Année, and welcome to Canada’s Sesquicentennial Year!

July 1st is the 150th anniversary of Confederation. It’s a good time to look back and forward.

1867: four small provinces, huddled along the Great Lakes, the St Lawrence and the Atlantic, with a population just under 3.5 million. Firmly attached to the British Empire, worried about the possible threat of annexation from the huge military power just south, and major religious and religious tensions between English and French.

2017: Ten provinces, three territories, from sea to sea to sea, the second largest country in the world. Population estimated to be around 36 million. Now a sovereign country in our own right, no longer tied to Britain, and with such good relations with our neighbour to the south that we don’t bother to guard the border. Still tensions between anglos and francos, but now as a part of the Canadian identity, rather than a holdover of the fight between two colonial peoples. That century-long debate has turned us into a welcoming, accommodating country, truly a nation of immigrants who become Canadians.

We’ve belatedly recognised that there was a third group of founding peoples, the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, and are steadily working to overcome a colonial history to truly welcome them into Canada.

We’ve come through crises that could have torn the country apart: the North-West Rebellion and the hanging of Riel in 1885; the Manitoba Schools Question in the 1890s; conscription in WWI and WWII; the Quiet Revolutions and two secession referendums. Yet we’ve survived and prospered, a model to the world of a country that can accommodate different language groups, religious groups and ideologies.

Indeed, international constitutional scholars have started to refer to Canada as a constitutional super-power, supplanting the United States as a modern model for protecting constitutional rights while integrating immigrants. Recently an article asked if Canada was the last optimistic Western country.

Overall, something to celebrate all through 2017!

See you at the Centennial Flame on July 1st!

2

Zatso? Canada lets everybody in the world in, except Americans who were busted for pot on spring break in the 70s. And unlike the enlightened Europe model, it is a VERY secured border. Even requiring a passport.

3

Bonne Année mes amis.

To health, happiness and prosperity in 2017.

I have a few irons in the fire at the moment, and high hopes for this year.

4

A very Happy New Year to all you fellow Canadians! :smiley:

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Wishing health and prosperity to sell for 2017!

(Also, highly recommend you watch Ron James “True North”, it’s very funny. Def bring a smile to your face!)

CBC 9pm Sunday!

6

Why was there such a divide over this? The few articles I read gave numbers like 80% for in English Canada vs 80% against in Quebec. The actual numbers of conscripts seeing combat were minimal during both wars, it seems.

7

It’s harder than it should be to get in to Canada. Surprisingly tough.

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Happy New Year to all!

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I’m watching hockey, drinking beer, and am going to make some bacon poutine now. I’m not kidding.

ETA: Oh, and I just finished snow blowing the driveway.

10

Expo 67 – what a wonderful experience that was. In those years there was a lot of discussion of what the “Canadian identity” was, e.g. Canadian mosaic v. American melting pot. A generation later, we’re reaping the benefits.

All you have to do is apply for rehabilitation and pass a records check. If you’ve been keeping your nose clean, I expect that rehabilitation would be granted.

Passport? I enter and drive about the USA on an Ontario enhanced driver’s licence (and if I wanted to, I could enter and drive throughout most of the western hemisphere – but why would I want to – road trips are why the USA was created). Several US states have signed on for this. The ID requirements for international air travel are higher (passport or equivalent), but this is not just a Canadian thing. As far as your buddies being turned back at the Canadian border for not having a passport, they are not being turned back because we require them to have a passport (all we require is proof of citizenship and proof of identification), but rather that we don’t like having to deal with them squatting in Canada while they are trying to get back into the USA (where proof of citizenship and proof of identification is all that is required for them to get back home, but might take a few days to verify).

The USA is moving to REAL ID for domestic air travel. Enhanced drivers’ licences such as mine qualify, and most regular state driver’s licences will qualify, although a handful of regular state licences (Minnesota, I’m looking at you) will not. Come 2020 (or whenever exemptions to the legislation run out), I’ll suppose I’d be lynched for walking onto a plane in Minnesota that the native Minnesotans are no longer allowed on because my driver’s licence will be accepted whereas their’s will not be accepted for boarding in their own state for a domestic USA flight.

Anyway, what are we in Canada, about 20% immigrants or so? In my grandparent’s and parents days, immigration was mostly from the UK (without exaggeration, I attended a British boys school in Canada), whereas now immigration is from pretty much all over the world. Those three new good friends mentioned upthead? Muslims from Bangladesh. My life has been enriched, and I believe my culture has been enriched, by my society embracing people from throughout the world, as we learn form each other and learn to work together to create a better society. Vive la différence et vive la future!

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I share a long drive with my neighbours, who’s 16 year old son has in the last few months trashed three of their trucks, their ski boat, and more importantly given anticipated snow accumulation, their riding snow-blower and my snow shovel. Leaffan, if you no longer see me posting in a few weeks, please pop down to those nice people in Trenton and ask them to make a food drop beside me.

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I ordered a free park pass, and I did bicycle into Canada in 2016

Brian

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Highway 61?

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Our family went to Expo 67. It was great, and I was intrigued by the national pavilions–enough to travel to many of the countries represented in later years, and to learn the languages of two of them. We rode on Montreal’s new subway, and explored the city–my Dad knew Montreal pretty well, having been there dozens of times. It was a great world’s fair, and I have many happy memories of it.

I wish we had those out here. Sadly, there seem to be no plans for Albertans to have them any time soon.

15

Well said, sir! A Happy New Year to one and all, and a remarkable year to celebrate!

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I’m sorry to say that Canada lost a giant yesterday - Stuart Hamilton, originally from Regina, was one of Canada’s most renowned operatic coaches. A marvelous pianist, someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of the operatic repertoire, an astonishing ear for the qualities of the human voice, an extremely colourful and jolly personality. Among his best known accomplishments, he is the founder of Opera in Concert, he was the quizmaster on CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, he was Dudley Moore’s replacement for “Beyond the Fringe” for the North American run. His more famous students included Maureen Forrester, Ben Heppner, Richard Margison, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Lois Marshall, Rebecca Caine, and many, many others. He will be sorely missed.

A longer obituary can be found hereon the CBC site.

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Happy New Year!

Our parks pass arrived just before Christmas and my in-laws gift to us was a two night stay in either a yurt, Otentnik, or the new Goutte d’ô in Fundy this summer (we are going with the yurt I think). I’m hoping for good weather weekends for hiking Fundy and kayaking at Kouchibouguac.

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Here’s the article I was thinking of: “Canadian Exceptuonalism”.

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Interesting article. Thanks for the link.

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I’m not sure that I agree with the author’s “subject v. citizen” distinction myself.

I usually draw a similar distinction, though: Americans are revolutionaries, Canadians are evolutionaries, in our respective political systems and thought processes.

That’s what the phrase: “A Canadian is an American who rejects the Revolution” seems to mean to me.