Mother of the Snowbirds

Wish I could have met this lady. Sounds like Canadians have her to thank for our great Snowbirds squadron! Great tribute to a wonderful-sounding woman.

National symbols

When you think of Canada, what is the first symbol that pops into your mind? The flag? The maple leaf? The beaver? The Canada goose? Hockey? The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, has taken up a challenge during this week leading up to Canada Day to find out what Canadians think should be the symbols that represent our country.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Canadians don’t like to be rushed, it seems. And we don’t like anyone feeling left out or ignored. So we choose our national symbols slowly and often, after much debate.

For a long time, Canada has had an official coat of arms, motto, and royal symbols. But the country didn’t have its own flag to fly until almost a century after Confederation. It took three tries by parliamentary committees, starting in 1925.

O Canada became the official anthem in 1980, a full century after it was first sung. This was five years after the beaver was given the coveted official animal designation. It was only in 1996 that the maple tree was officially recognized as a Canadian symbol. In 2002, the Canadian horse won official status as a symbol.

Canadian horse? I didn't even know such a think existed. Maybe we really are in need of some new symbols. The Globe and Mail's survey attempts to find answers in five categories: If Canada had a national animal, what would it be?, What should be Canada's national plant?, What should be Canada's national dish?, If Canada had a national uniform, what would it be?, and Which team would best represent Canada? If you want to participate, take the five-question survey and vote for your top choices.

Do you want to live in Canada?

Being Canadian - and proud of the fact that I was born and grew up in this country - I've often wondered how many people from other countries would like to live in Canada. Today I found out. Apparently, according to a Globe and Mail article, "more than half of people around the world say they would abandon their homelands and move to Canada if they could. Given the choice, 53 per cent of adults in the world's 24 leading economies said they would immigrate to Canada, according to an international survey commissioned by the Historica-Dominion Institute in partnership with the Munk School of Global Affairs and the Aurea Foundation."

Interested? Want to learn more? Check out the intriguing graphics below, or read the article.

The most surprising thing I learned after reading the article and results of the survey was that a whopping 30 percent of Americans said they would move to Canada. I was amazed. I never thought the number would be so high.

Edit: Here are the results of the survey.

In another fascinating survey result, mentioned in a subsequent article, Swedes were the last people in the world (with the Japanese next in line) wanting to move to Canada. Experts suggest several theories for this, one being that, "Rather than express strong admiration for Canada, Swedes might be inclined to say something non-committal. 'It's not necessarily that they think negatively, they're just not going to express a strong opinion,'" said Canadian-born spacecraft engineer Nils Pokrupa, who has lived and worked in Sweden for the last six years. Curiously, in spite of this non-committal attitude, "years of hockey dominance may have influenced one of the few positive impressions Canadians have made on Sweden. They rose all the way to the middle-of-the-pack on the question of whether Canada has athletes who are among the best in the world."

Note: I guess the Globe and Mail doesn't follow proper AP style. They split percent into two words: per cent. That's a definite AP style no-no. Then again, it is a Canadian newspaper so I guess they probably follow CP style. Maybe I should invest in a CP stylebook...

Stephen Harper

I swear Canada's got the coolest Prime Minister in the world! Need proof? See the video below:

For more info, read the news story.

Terry Fox Day

Today is the Terry Fox National School Run Day. I remember my very first Terry Fox Run. I was a kindergartener at Quigley Elementary School. Each child in our kindergarten class got paired up with a grade 5 student. We met our partners once before the Terry Fox Run to get to know them. I remember I told my partner, a grade 5 girl with long brown hair pulled into pigtails, that I played violin. The next time I saw her was on the morning of Terry Fox Day. All the kids at Quigley Elementary milled about the playground and soccer field waiting for instructions from our teachers. Finally my teacher, Mrs. Ackerman, led the kindergarten class over to the grade 5 class and we got reacquainted with our partners. Then our whole school set out down the city sidewalks, walking or running in pairings of two.

I didn't even understand what we were doing. I barely knew who Terry Fox was. I wondered why we had broken out of our structured kindergarten schedule to take a walk around several city blocks. There were children and teenagers flooding from the gates of the school across the road from Quigley. That was the school my older sister went to, the Adventist school that I would have gone to if they'd had a kindergaren class that year. I searched for Becky in the crowds of students, but never saw her. I wondered who her partner was. Maybe she was too old to need a partner.

By the time we rounded the last corner heading back to our school, my feet were sore. I was tired of walking and just wanted to be back in our familiar kindergarten class with the bookshelf full of puzzles and the playhouse set up like a hospital and the loft filled with comfy cushions and tons books for us to read. But I was also proud. Proud that I had made it the whole way. Proud that I, for the most part, had kept up with my partner. Proud that I had participated in Terry Fox Day.

On Sunday, this year's official Terry Fox Day, thousands of people of all ages, from all walks of life, from all parts of the country, will walk or run because of Terry. Today school children all across Canada took time out of their school day to participate in the Terry Fox Run, just like I did 19 years ago. Today I think of that courageous 21-year-old with only one leg who captivated an entire country. Today I imagine how he felt as he dipped his prothetic leg in the Atlantic Ocean in St. John's, Newfoundland and started his run across the country. Today I wonder if he ever realized the difference his Marathon of Hope made for cancer research. Today I'm proud to be Canadian.

Terry Fox Foundation

Canada Day!

I wish you all a happy and glorious Canada Day. Exactly one year ago my family and grandparents enjoyed the festivities at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. It was awesome and I would encourage every Canadian to experience the capital-city celebration at least once. Even though I had a blast last year, I'm excited to be celebrating Canada Day in Kelowna again. My family is planning to take advantage of the perfect weather and go boating this afternoon and then head downtown to the Waterfront in the evening to watch the fireworks. All in all, it should be a great holiday, even without all the Ottawa-style excitement we took part in last year.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, I found a random CBC TV sign-off video clip.

I like the shots and the accurate depiction of life and scenery in all areas of Canada.
I also think the intro is really awesome and leads perfectly into the anthem. Enjoy!

Waking Up Canadian

Even though I've never lost my Canadian citizenship, I wish I could wake up to a room like that (maybe minus the hockey player in the room and the Mountie waiting right outside the door).

Passport Expiration

While I don't often find faults with my country, there is one thing I would change in an instant if I were the PM or an MP or the GG (or whatever official has control over this issue); I would make Canadian passports valid for 10 years. Getting a new passport every five years is much too troublesome and, I suspect, simply a ridiculous money-making ploy. If Canadian passports only had to be renewed every 10 years instead of every five, my passport would not have expired today.

I guess I can be thankful that the new land and sea travel requirements between Canada and the U.S. have been postponed so many times in the past year. First, the new law was supposed to be in effect in January 2008. Then it was pushed back to June 2008, and finally, the Canadian and U.S. governments postponed the new rule until June 2009. So, luckily, I will be able to return to Canada once this semester is over. Hopefully, renewing my five-year passport will be done long before I need to come back to school in August. In any case, at the time of this posting, the law will change in only 96 days, 21 hours and 3 minutes. So, if you need to get a passport, or, if you're Canadian and your passport will expire soon, you should probably get that looked after. I'll be debating writing to my MP to see what can be done about the passport-that-expires-after-five-years situation.

If you've never read the intriguing story about my previous passport, and would like to, click here.

Canadian Politics and The Liberals

Everything that you've ever wanted to know about Canadian Politics as well as the Liberal Party of Canada and their leader/former leader Stephane Dion can be learned by watching these two short clips.

This video follows Allo Stephane!, which seems to have disappeared from YouTube so you'll just have to imagine it.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Happy belated Canada Day everyone!! Yesterday was jam-packed from the time I got up until falling into bed just hours before getting up again to leave for the airport and home, so I didn't get a chance to wish you all a Happy Canada Day. Hopefully you'll accept both my humble apology and also my day-late Canada Day wishes.

Canada Day in Ottawa, ON was absolutely amazing!! I'm really glad that I was able to convince my dad that we needed to experience Canada Day in our capital city. This July 1 was an especially significant one because of three major national anniversaries. First, tomorrow marks the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. Second, this year is the 200th anniversary of a democratic vote being established in Nova Scotia, ensuring Canada would become a democracy. Finally, this year is also British Columbia's 150th anniversary of becoming a British colony, which meant that Canada would enjoy borders from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. All three occasions are being celebrated all year long in their respective regions of Canada. In their speeches at the Parliament Hill noon show, both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General Michaëlle Jean mentioned these three anniversaries. It was really neat seeing these two Canadian leaders so close up on the Hill yesterday!

Other than the noon show on Parliament Hill, we also visited the Royal Canadian Mint and the Canadian War Museum. Both were free because of the holiday. The only downside to the day was the extreme heat. We were walking around all day with no sunscreen on and now we look like lobsters. Later, in the evening after the merciless sun set, we watched the national fireworks from Major's Hill Park just behind the Parliament buildings. Have I mentioned yet that it was an awesome day?