I like to think that Ottawa is the place to be on July 1. Of course, Canada Day is celebrated all over the country, but plenty of Canadians and foreign tourists usually come over for the festivities or just to see what the national capital looks like.
Many lifelong Ottawa residents don’t give a damn about Canada Day and spend the long weekend at the cottage. I like lively cities and festive crowds, so I usually spend July 1 on Parliament Hill and around. We don’t have the cottage option, anyway.
My first Canada Day must have been in 2004 or 2005, and I have great memories of it. I couldn’t believe how crowded and fun the city was—Ottawa is usually pretty quiet, some would even say “boring.” I loved how inclusive the festivities were. I appreciated the fact that the many Canadian flags painted, waved, tattooed or worn weren’t a display of nationalism, xenophobia and far-right extremism—national flags are too often twisted into a symbol of hate in Europe—but represented “all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion” as the Speaker of the Senate at the inauguration of the new flag in 1965.
Many other fun Canada Day experiences followed.
Some years, we ended up soaked, some years, it was unbearably hot and humid. I spent Canada Day 2011 on Parliament Hill with my mum and my brother, and a few other July 1 celebrations with friends. Once, Feng and I walked to downtown and back. I was pregnant in 2012 and I remember feeling like I needed to pee every five minutes. We skipped a few years because we were in France with baby Mark, but we took him to his first Canada Day in 2016.
The year after was a bit of a disaster. “Canada 150” had been hyped up but heightened security meant lineups going from nowhere to nowhere and everybody was complaining. It was an absolute fiasco.
Looking back, I think our last fun Canada Day was in 2016.
Shit. Am I turning into a cranky old lady?
I mean, the recipe for a fun Canada Day in Ottawa is pretty straightforward. Make your way to Parliament Hill for a day of free, public events and live music. Stop by Major’s Hill Park for buskers and free goodies—usually a cup of Tim Hortons coffee (just in case you’re new to Canada and you’ve never had the pleasure to burn your tongue with hot brownish water), small Canadian flags or pins, promotional balloons, tote bags and more. Drink, eat, soak up the atmosphere and wander around. Stay for the fireworks if you still have energy. Ta-da!
Canada Day 2020 was cancelled because of COVID. I was still stuck in France the following year and Ontario was in lockdown, anyway.
So I was looking forward to Canada Day 2022—finally something free, fun and pleasantly predictable!
Except Canada Day didn’t look very fun or festive this year. Downtown Ottawa braces for Canada Day protests as police vow to keep order in the capital, How are Ottawa police preparing for Canada Day?, Security concerns loom as “Freedom Convoy” protesters discuss Canada Day rally…
Yep. The “Freedom Convoy” was coming back to protest against…
Wait. I have no idea what they are trying to achieve. I’ll spare you my attempt to analyze the motivations and political beliefs behind this disparate movement because I’m still not sure whether I see it as a legitimate protest or far-right crazies with a shitty agenda.
On one hand, I do think it’s important to speak up and keep the government in check. I’m not sure how far we were or we are supposed to go with restrictions and vaccine mandates. And yes, in hindsight, some of the COVID restrictions were probably political, useless, or both—the endless Ontario school closures or fines for using playground structures come to mind. On the other hand, I do believe in vaccination and I can’t possibly agree with the “Freedom Convoy” rhetoric, which is a mix of conspiracy theory, right-wing extremism, and paranoia.
I ended up walking to downtown. Feng and Mark took the O-Train and met me on Albert Street.
Two blocks further, we bumped into the “Freedom Convoy” marching down Wellington street. Fine, whatever.
But once they were done, I realized this was pretty much the “highlight” of Canada Day in Ottawa. Access to Parliament Hill was very limited and festivities had been moved to Lebreton Flats, outside the downtown core. Nothing going on at Major’s Hill Park either.
It was just lame.
And it was apparently the day for all the crazies to speak in front of an audience. We bumped into Hare Krishna people chanting, anti-abortion people and their awful signs, Falun Gong people (I don’t care how you feel about China and the Chinese Communist Party but trust me, Falun Gong is a fucking crazy cult) and people handing out copies of the Bill of Rights and calling for the arrest of Trudeau.
The atmosphere was just toxic.
Fuck it. We went home.
The best part of the day was the informal bring-your-own fireworks fun in suburbia at night.
I think I’m done with Canada Day in Ottawa.
Anti-intellectualism and anti-authoritarianism, I find, are unacceptable for others til they are useful. Whether intentional or not.
Either way, holidays are super important still, arguably, if functionalists like Durkheim are you be taken seriously (as they are). Seems like you enjoyed it. I think it’s a good question to ask as to whether the folks did who were protesting for their causes?
What I was told quite recently that I enjoy is that idea that holidays in the Caribbean (and quite frankly all over at some point) used to be about one thing or another. Like Pride being protest at one point. Whether or not it’s entirely true, people do act like they protest in response without doing so overtly all the time.
That was the Stonewall riots that are remembered by the Pride.
Yes, Martin is right, the NYC Stonewall riots are being remembered by the Pride. Very interesting events I learned about once in North America… I had never heard about it in France.
I’m not sure where these protests are going an I have to point out that protesting (i.e. specifically marching in the street) is much more unusual in Canada than it is in other parts of the world. I dislike the entire “Freedom” people rhetoric but I don’t like the fact that protests, whether we agree or not, are being demonized.
> represented “all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion” as the Speaker of the Senate at the inauguration of the new flag in 1965.
Il manque quand même pas mal de choses, ici. Bon, cela dit, le changement de drapeau a fait chouiner les gros conservateurs à l’époque, ce qui est une petite victoire. Reste à virer la monarchie et rendre leur terres aux Premières Nations.
Somehow, I feel the two points you mentioned are not even on the current agenda. But eh, “thoughts and prayers” as usual, “we will review the question and create a commission” 😆
C’est moi ou tout est déprimant ces temps-ci? Même la Fête du Canada nous donne du fil à retorde… c’est une période difficile d’après pandémie en tout cas.
J’ai exactement le même sentiment! Et je suis peut-être râleuse de naissance (en bonne Française…), mais plutôt optimiste en général.