Thousands gather at Portage & Main to create maple leaf

Echos of “happy birthday” sounded off the stately buildings at Portage Avenue and Main Street early Saturday morning, but what was more impressive was the choir — made up of over 3,600 people gathered at the intersection in the shape of the maple leaf to mark Canada's 150th.

Participants wore red (except for the few who wore white and formed a “150” under the leaf's stem), and held small Canada flags — or threaded them through their hats, backpacks, pony tails and headbands.

Arms reached up above the crowd in attempts to capture a shot of the sea, but the only picture that could accurately reflect the size of was taken from the top of the skyscraper at 201 Portage Avenue.

This was the first time the photo was taken at Portage & Main. Due to the size of the crowd and the shape of the intersection, participants formed in a maple leaf instead of the flag shape of years' past.

Canada’s 150 birthday

Event aims to share what it means to be Muslim and Canadian

ALTHOUGH she’s still in high school, Maryam Islam already knows what it is like to face discrimination because she wears a head scarf as part of her Muslim beliefs.

“Whenever it’s a group activity or a class discussion, people may question before putting me in a group,” the Grade 10 student at Fort Richmond Collegiate says.

“Whenever I get into a group I try to be nice and kind and to show I’m not an alien.”

A country born amid controversy

Given his penchant to portray Canadian history as a glorious fusion of brazen courage, underdog determination, generosity of spirit and the march of progress, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau definitely would have been in his element had he been in Toronto 150 years ago.

The new province of Ontario had the most to gain from Confederation. By virtue of its large population, Ontario’s politicians were to dominate the new federal or central government and the province’s economic potential was seemingly unlimited. (It is not by accident that the western boundary of Ontario set in the early 1880s extends as far as Kenora, 1,900 kilometres from Toronto.)

Thus, on July 1, 1867, there was great optimism among Toronto’s 50,000 citizens. The ringing of the bells at St. James Cathedral at midnight on June 30 had signified that the Dominion of Canada was now a reality.

The publisher of the Toronto Globe, George Brown, a key player who, along with John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier, had made Confederation a reality, had stayed up most of the night composing a 9,000-word article about the meaning of Confederation that took up the entire front page of the Globe on July 1. “We hail the birthday of a new nationality,” he wrote. “A United British America, with its four millions of people, takes its place this day among the nations of the world.”

The shape of patriotism today

Prepare to become extremely excited, kids, because Saturday is Canada Day, the day on which Canadians throughout the True North gather together in patriotic clumps and celebrate their love for this great land by getting sunburned and stuffing their faces with foods shaped to resemble our national emblem.

You probably think I am joking about that last bit, but if you’ve wandered through a grocery store in the run-up to our country’s 150th birthday party, you’ll know that I am deadly serious.

In a sincere and patriotic effort to cash in on Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations, supermarkets and specialty-food stores are flogging delicious delights shaped like the iconic Canadian maple leaf.

As a crusading journalist, I became aware of this trend the other day when the editor of this newspaper handed me a glossy Safeway/Sobeys flyer, the front of which featured a huge, mouthwatering photograph of a freshly grilled maple-leaf-shaped hamburger patty being slid onto a bun.

Cartoonist satirizes nation

There might be no more distinctly Canadian way to mark the country’s 150th anniversary than to gently poke fun at the entire nation in a book of editorial cartoons.

That’s the strategy of cartoonist Michael de Adder, whose new book You Might Be From Canada If... (MacIntyre Purcell Publishing, $20) has rocketed up the non-fiction bestseller charts during the buildup towards Canada Day.

The book includes about 120 cartoons and has several digs at Canadian cultural touchstones — our annual battles with winter weather, classic Canadian television shows such as The Beachcombers and The Friendly Giant, TV commercials and alcohol-laced Canuck phrases such as two-four and 40-pounder. De Adder also includes many reverential drawings of important moments in Canadian history, such as the Oka crisis, or several honouring Canada’s soldiers’ sacrifices during the world wars.

“At first there were obvious things that make it into the book like Mr. Dressup and Terry Fox. You never got over Wayne Gretzky getting traded and things like that,” de Adder says in a telephone interview. “As you ran out of the obvious stuff, you had to delve into and write about things that weren’t so obvious and that’s when it got a little more difficult.”

Revelry for some, disgust for others

ON July 1, 1867, the Montreal Lacrosse Club took on a team from the Kahnawake Mohawk tribe.

It was a ceremonial celebration of the birth of a nation.

Except for one detail: the Mohawks weren’t considered Canadians.

“I doubt very much that the Mohawk people were celebrating Confederation Day in 1867,” says Karine Duhamel, curator of indigenous content at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Travelling abroad ignited passion for Canada

Today, I have a confession to make. I am hopelessly in love — and have been for quite some time. It was not love at first sight. In fact, for some time I worked hard to stay away. Continually playing the field, looking for a better match. The more I wandered the more I realized there truly is no place like home.

Of course I’m talking about Canada, which celebrates 150 years as a nation tomorrow. 

My love affair with Canada blossomed with my first travels a long time ago, when as a young man I hitchhiked around Europe. I had seen the mountains of Germany, the oceans of Spain, revelled in the history of England and tasted the foods of Italy. Yet the more I explored, the more I realized Canada had everything those far off destinations offered — and something more. It may be hard to describe, but like eternal love, you just know it is there.

While I have yet to explore Nunavut and Newfoundland, I am fortunate to have paid a number of visits to each of the other provinces. Ours is an amazingly beautiful country with an aboriginal history that goes back centuries more than the 150 years since the Confederation we celebrate.

Just keep right on marching, Canada

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

And since everybody loves a parade — there’ll certainly be a few this weekend — I’ll take you back to my hometown of Killarney and a look at a parade from long ago.

Wow, what a different time that was. And what a big deal it was to be in a parade. Sometimes there were so many people in the parade, there were only a few left to watch it.

Reminds me of a trip south Marly and I took back in 1975, when we came to this small town in some Midwestern state where there were so many people in the parade, there WAS no one left to watch it. Hilarious. It felt like we were in a Monty Python movie. Good thing we pulled in to town so the “paraders” had someone to wave to.

Loving Canada means being honest about it

On Canada Day this year, Confederation turns 150. It’s a big, round number, and those who remember the heady patriotism of 1967 could be forgiven for wondering why this year’s celebrations aren’t being met with the same fervour.

It may be because of a growing recognition that, for Canadians, loving one’s history should also mean coming to terms with it.

Recent years have seen a number of weighty anniversaries. In 2012, Canada marked the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, the only time we have been invaded by the United States. And since 2015, there have been reflections on and remembrances of other nation-forging moments from the First World War, as the centenaries of those events pass. In 2016, we marked the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote (in Western Canada, anyway; it wasn’t nationwide until 1919).

But it’s worth noting, Canada’s celebrations of itself can also be fraught with doubt and self-reflection, and perhaps that’s a genuine Canadian strength.

Limited-edition libations to celebrate

The Canada 150 celebrations have been a huge boon for marketing minds across the country. You can’t throw a cork these days without hitting some product or landmark that’s been tweaked to reflect the big birthday.

A quick trip to your local Liquor Mart, private wine store or beer vendor will reveal the drinks industry has certainly not been immune. From new, special edition products to re-branded staples — Labatt 50, for example, is currently available in “Labatt 150” packaging — there are plenty of options if you want to raise a festive toast from coast to coast.

uncorked@mts.net

Twitter: @bensigurdson

Fiercely proud Métis in tiny St. Ambroise fly the Maple Leaf as Canadians, never losing sight of the brutality and betrayal the flag represents

ST. AMBROISE — There is no sign of the little red convent now, no scar on the grassy scrap of prairie. No rubble, no debris; only a bushy tree where the front door used to be. The fire devoured the convent completely.

Only a handful of landmarks here, in the breezy heart of St. Ambroise, bore witness to the convent’s 1958 demise. Most were built later, including the weathered and nameless white church that still holds mass here every Sunday.

Should have seen the old church, George Lavallee says. It had a big dome over the altar and murals gazed from the walls.

“It was beautiful in there,” he says. “Oh my God.”

True patriot love: Manitobans feeling more Canadian than ever, poll finds

Manitobans are feeling more patriotic as the country marks its sesquicentennial this weekend, and many say the election of a divisive president in the U.S. has brought out their Canadian pride.

The findings are part of a special Canada 150th birthday Winnipeg Free Press-Probe Research omnibus poll of Manitobans taken earlier this month to gauge views on patriotism.

Seventy-three per cent of those polled said Donald Trump makes them prouder than ever to be Canadian.

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Our guide to how to mark Canada's 150th birthday

As Canada celebrates its 150 anniversary Saturday, Manitobans won’t have any trouble finding a place to join the festivities. Here’s a handy guide to help you decide where to spend your Canada Day:

Family-FriendlyAt Assiniboine Park, the family fun begins at 1 p.m., with inflatable rides, magicians, clowns, balloons, face painting and organized games running until 8 p.m. On the Lyric Theatre stage, there will be live performances all day long. For an extra cool bonus, the Assiniboine Park Zoo is open for regular admission all weekend, and the first 150 people attending each day July 1 to 3 will get a free polar bear token. Parking is available at Canadian Mennonite University, St. Paul’s and Shaftesbury high schools, the Seasons of Tuxedo and the Asper Jewish Community Campus. Guests can use Winnipeg Transit for free as well.

At the Manitoba Museum, children (3-11) wearing at least one piece of red and white clothing get in for free, and can check out the new exhibit, “Legacies of Confederation: a New Look at Manitoba History.” Children can also enjoy the planetarium’s new show about this summer’s solar eclipse, a new exhibit on the world’s giant dinosaurs and the rest of the museum galleries, including the legendary Nonsuch ship. 

Families can also enjoy the biggest Canada Day celebration ever at The Forks, with live performances from more than 50 local acts on five stages around The Forks grounds. Tons of free family programming will run, beginning at 10 a.m. with a powwow and indigenous storytelling at the Oodena Celebration Circle. For cyclists, The Forks is offering free bike valet service. For more information and a full schedule, visit theforks.com.