Oh Canada Day yawn does anyone care?

It's Canada Day July 1st.
Events, Photos, "Are you Proud to be Canadian?" Reader Feedback.
By Duane Burnett.


During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver, BC was a sea to sea of red maple leafs.

I thought I would see where all that Canadian Pride is now, so asked readers to tell me how they celebrate Canada Day on July 1st, and what they were proud or not proud about Canada.



The response was like getting maple sap from a maple tree. Slow drip coming, and just a smattering of comments in the bucket. Kind of what I expected though.

Perhaps Canada's national day is just an annoying bother to a long weekend holiday from work and for most of us its the same old as any other day. No big deal!

I think Canadians have gone back to their quiet conservative nationalism with a bit more confidence and are happy to leave the enthusiastic patriotism to their American cousins or other countries that go insane on their big days.

I am a very proud Canadian, but remind myself regularly that their are no borders here. They exist in our minds. This is particularly true when it comes to the economy, pollution, poverty, disease and environmental destruction. We are one big family in a vast universe.



Here's are the few thoughts I received about Canada Day from the Sunshine Coast:

Hey Sunshine Coast, what do you do special for Canada Day July 1st? What makes you PROUD of being Canadian? Or are you ashamed of Canada? I am going to write an article about how you celebrate and what you think of Canada in the world and want to hear from you! Thanks Duane

Yvette Fleming
Sunshine Coasters care about the people in their Community. They are proud to be Canadians and they love their country. There are many volunteer hours spent towards making it a better place. They promote themselves as being welcoming and inclusive and they certainly are. Sechelt just celebrated a multi-culturalism day. What more can I say! It's truly heart-warming to live here.

Manuen Edwards
I am at the parade every year also love it !

Joey Gray
My Canadian grandmother gave birth in the States on July 1st in the 1920's to a boy who still can't claim Canadian citizenship because... she was female.

Lorraine A. Custer
I was born in Alberta! I love Canada as it is beautiful, clean, healthy & the people are real! I miss it desperately! :-) XO

Grayson Davis
Im proud of jim carey and mike myers
jim carey and mike myers and tommy chong and dave foley are canadian :)

Lorraine A. Custer
Yeah! I've always said Canadians do it best! Look at all our great Canadian Singers as well! Can't wait to come home because the USA is falling apart at the seams because of all the corruptions here & no one know this better than me! :-) XO

Jason Flower
sry but IM not proud to be a canadian when events from last weekend and the abuse of power seize the day...sry just cant.




See what I mean? Not exactly an overwhelming response to Canada Day. I must admit, even the Canada Day photos galleries in my massive flickr archives are only looked at by a few hundred people over the years.

Many Canada Day events I have attended on the Sunshine Coast are dead. Barely anyone shows up. Luckily everyone loves a parade, so sunny weather and the parade in Sechelt on a long weekend attracts a good crowd.

I don't think this means anyone is not absolutely thrilled and honoured to be in this great northern country. I think perhaps it is that people are too busy with their lives and more involved in technology like facebook and video games, then community life.

I hear over and over again from the community itself that volunteers are burnt out and exhausted, that people are not attending events, and some events are close to folding completely.

Several years ago I approached my former newspaper publisher and said that our editorial had to change to reflect that the majority of people are staying home, or we would loose our audience and business as most of the community does not attend community events.

So where are they? At home! What are you doing there? You tell me!


I probably won't be attending Canada Day Celebrations on the Sunshine Coast, BC myself this year either. I had hoped to have a parade float together as I adore parades, but just couldn't seem to get any help behind me even though I put it out there and on top of it I struggling with my health a lot more.

I have imagination and vision but lack the carpentry skills to nail a piece of wood together. LOL I am an award winning float builder from the age of 12 though.

My first float ever for the Ladner Pioneer May Day Parade.

This year I had hoped to have something together for several community and theatre groups, especially something in honour of my late dog Tundra, who passed away January 27thm 2010. Tundra was over 15 years old and attended hundreds of events with me as I did my best to support the Sunshine Coast community in everything they do.

Tundra was like my child, so I took a leap of faith and started a public memorial fund to raise money for dog and wheelchair accessible people friendly drinking water fountains in parks up and down the Sunshine Coast. Set up an account at the Sunshine Coast Credit Union for donations, but to this day I am terrified to even go get an account balance.

This video and his fan page will have to be the extent of my efforts for now, sorry Tundra, you are loved and missed greatly. Probably why I am taking a raincheck on Canada Day this year.

There are several circumstances that will be too much emotional for me. I was thinking I would just walk the route and take photos of all you fantabulous Sunshine Coaster's lined up along the parade route to shake it up from previous years where the parade passes by me. Thousands of photos later! Enjoy the links below.

VIDEO "Everything Reminds Me of my Dog" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hjM-VknFc

facebook fan page

Tundra's Accessible Dog & People Friendly Drinking Fountain Fund




And I my as well admit my guilty secret while I am at it.

I love July 4th, Independence Day celebrations in the United States. I think I love the amazing pomp and pageantry and good tunes! Love to watch them on TV like I do New Years Celebrations from New York and around the world.

Maybe a nice walk in nature for Canada Day will be my treat to our great country this year in honour of bringing healing to our dying planet.

EVENTS

I would like to thank Bonar for putting together his weekly "B" List email with Canada Day event information on it. I haven't seen any event pages on facebook created, so without Bonar I would have no clue what was going on! Thanks Bonar!

See tons of Canada Day photos from the archives. Sorry about the watermarks, its been a learning process for me.

PHOTOS

Canada Day 2004 Gibsons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157603870986241/

Canada Day 2006 Gibsons & Sechelt, Sunshine Coast
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157602458412398/

Canada Day 2007 Gibsons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157602222274265/

Canada Day Parade 2007 Sechelt, BC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157602215585274/

Canada Day Gibsons, Pulling Together First Nation Canoe Journey 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157605933773157/

Canada Day Sechelt 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157605930234608/

Canada Day 2009 Sechelt, BC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/72157621109847863/

It's Always A Good Day on the Sunshine Coast!

Hope you liked! Come and Join me on facebook or twitter! Duane

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