HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-06-28, Page 10PAGE 10—GODER ICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1979
BiliTHDAY
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IT'S YOUR DAY
IT'S OUR DAY
BELOW ARE SOME POINTS TO PONDER
FOR CANADA'S DAY....OUR BIRTHDAY!
r- OURS ALONE
HOW IT WAS
THAT JULY 1ST, 1867
It was going to be a beautiful day for the birth of a
nation: fair and warm, with a slight breeze.
The thirty-six men who had toiled, to -bring about this
new country, our Fathers of Confederation, were
scattered throughout the newly created four provin-
ces: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia.
Let's revisit some of the prime architects of Canada's
Confederation. Sir John A. Macdonald, the master
spirit and mover, or "the old fox" as some referred to
him, was tired, bone -tired after months of negotiating
the formation of the Country and Cabinet in the face of
sharp political, regional and religious differences.
There was no reception, no ceremony the night before,
Friday, June 30th; so Macdonald worked on, talking to
his Ministers, pondering the ultimate destiny of the
young, new country, the Dominion of Canada.
• Back in Toronto that same night, another nation -
maker, George Brown, the tall, red-haired Grit and
Macdonald's political opponent, laboured for hours on
a 9,000 word editorial to appear in next day's Toronto
Globe.
July 1st, a gleaming morning, Macdonald made his
way through throngs of happy citizens to the Privy
Council Chambers to await the arrival of Lord Monck,
the Governor General.
In a clear, firm voice, Lord Monck spoke the words
which officially brought the nation into being. Later he
.announced the • honours, amongst which was a
knighthood for Macdonald, Canada's first Prime
Minister.
Monck and his counsellors then went out to review the
troops on Parliament Hill. Afterwards they returned to
the Privy Council Chambers to complete a list of
essential action and discussion.
At high noon, throughout the four provinces, military
parades and reviews were in full swing, punctuated by
gun salutes. In the larger towns of Quebec, Montreal
and Halifax;, where imperial garrisons were stationed,
the parades instilled an "air of military crispness
amongst the happy crowds.
In the countryside, the farmers and their wives found
their way to local fairgrounds where picnics, games
• and refreshments were to be found:
'At nightfall, bonfires were lit from Halifax to Sarnia;
lighting up the sky as a signal from town to town,
village to village. The bigger the bonfire, the greater
the prestige and celebration.
Across the nation that day, the Fathers of Con-
federation and the people of the new Dominion of
Canada celebrated in quiet, simple ways. As the toasts
ran forth, many reflected on the significance of the
day, and thought about what the future would bring.
The Dominion of Canada; that's how it was that July
1st.
Canadians are modest. Instead of claiming to be the
biggest and the best,- we have almost a national
compulsion to be second biggest, the second largest
country in the world, for' example, after Russia but
ahead of China and merely pretty good.
But despite the innate modesty in our national
character, there are a few things that are ours and ours
alone, unique to this land and no other. „
We have for example, the world's only Magnetic Hill,
an incline in New Brunswick near Moncton, where, if
you stop your car at the right place and leave it in
neutral, it will roll backwards uphill. Crazy, but true.
We also have:
+the world's tallest free-standing strucutre,• the
1,815 foot CN Tower in Toronto.
+the world's largest piece of gem -quality jade, a
dark green boulder weighing four tons found in Noel
Creek, B.C.-by prospector Harry Street in 1969.
+the world's longest covered bridge, the Hartland
Bridge in New Brunswick, built in 1897, rebuilt in 1920,
and 1,282 feet long. It was covered like most bridges of
that time, to reduce weather damage to the wooden
timbers.
+the world's only reyersing falls, in Saint John, New
'Brunswick. When the tide goes out, the Saint" John
River plunges down the falls to the harbour; when the
tide comes in, it rushes back up the falls.
+the world's only Inukshopks are pillars of stone
encrusted with lichen found on Enuksos Point on the •
Foxe Peninsula, and on, south-west Baffin Island. An
Eskimo word meaning "like a person", the
Inukshooks, made of piles of. loose stones, served as
landmarks, cairns, marking the place where explorers
cached food or records, and sometimes traps for
animals.
+the• 'world's largest lake -within -a -lake, Lake
Manitou. Manitoulin Island,-- the largest fresh -water
island in the world -- sits at the northern end of Lake
Huron; and inside Manitoulin Island (the Indian word
means "Great Spirit"), 40.09 square miles of fresh
water.
None of this is going to empty Disneyland of touristF •
but they're ours ;• all ours; and nobody else has them.
PureCanajun, eh? ,
bad
6
6bob b
in
days
to
come
(Be
patient
folks).
l�Uir1� i c 7 c
+ t Y t .r
112 years
"0 CANADA"
"O Capada", the hymn some of us still hum because we
aren't sure of the words, was originally written for a
picnic on the Plains of Abraham on St. Jean Baptiste
Day in 1880. The occasion was a visit by Louise, the
Princess Royal.
The words -- in French -- were written as a 32 -line poem
by Sir Adolphe -Basile Routhier, and the music by an
adventurer named Calixa Lavallee.
More- than 20 -versions of the English -lyrics have been
popular at various times. The English lyrics we now
use were written in 1908 by Robert Weir, to celebrate
Quebec's tercentenary.
Weir's lyrics were not officially adopted until July 1, ••
1927 and were changed again slightly in 1972, when
after considering 615 different proposals, a
Parliamentary Commission declared them the official
anthem of Canada.
So let's all learn and sing our nation's anthem:
"O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love, in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
From far'and wide, 0 Canada, we stand on guard for thee
God keep our land glorious and free!
O'Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
0 Canada, we stand on guard, for thee!
'THE WAY WE ARE
"Canada", as' Author Arnold Edinborough once
remarked, "has never been a melting pot; it is more
like a tossed salad".
This July lst we see there's more than a little truth in
the jest. The vast majority of the twenty million plus
people who live in Candda were born here; roughly 85
percent of the population are native-born. But nearly
all of us are "hyphenated Canadian" with our an-
cestral roots elsewhere with the exception of the in-
digenous people of Canada; the North American Indian
has inhabited this continent for ever 15,000 years.
The largest single ethnic group are the Canadian
descendants of the British - roughly 44 percent of the
total population. But the largest, cohesive, cultural
group, are Canadians of French origin -- and the•oldest
-- are Canadian Indians.
And while most Canadians are of European extraction;
• German, Ukrainian, Italian, Dutch, Scandinavian and
Polish, in that Order, there are now many people of
Asian descent living in Canada.
We know all this because as a nation we are .slightly
crazy for statistics, In fact; it was the Great Intendant;
Jean Talon,- who conducted the first census in Canada
in 1666, when he was able to report that the population
of New France was 3,125. That was the first general
census conducted anywhere in the world in more than
1,000 years ince the fall of the Roman Empire.
While this country was still a colony of France, cen-
suses were conducted about every 20 years, and they
were detailed: they listed age, sex, marital status,
occupation, crops, livestock, buildings, churches, grist
mills, firearms and swords.
In • modern• times, counting noses has become a well
established commercial technique, and there are few
details that somebody, somewhere, doesn't know about
us.
People in the Prairies drink the most instant coffee,
own r .ore bicycles per capita, and use more deodorant
than the rest of us, while in the Maritimes they favour
Volkswagens more than any other area of the country,
use more perfumed soap, and have more children per
adult. Newfoundland, in fact, has the highest birthrate
in Canada, Quebec the lowest. And in Ontario, they use
more cosmetics than anywhere else in Canada.
"Henceforth we are a united people", the Halifax
British Colonist proclaimed on July 2, 1867, the day
after Confederation and united we are still.
But not in a melting pot. Canada is frequently
described as a mosaic, in which small, widely different
pieces each contribute to the pattern and flavour of the
whole.
`
Canada, it's you andme
Le Canada,c'est toi et moi
June 25—July 1,1979.
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