Happy Canada Day!!
One hundred and thirty-nine years ago (1876) our nation was proudly formed. The Canada back then, still wasn’t the same as the Canada is today. When Canada was formed in 1876, there were only four provinces: Ontario, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and New Brunswick.
However, long before the confederation (when Canada was actually formed), the name “Canada” had been around. According to one saying, in aboriginal language, “Canada” means “a village”. Although I can’t really prove whether this is true, it does kind of make senses. Imagine a settler tried to communicate with this aboriginal person, and tried to ask him about what the place is. If the aboriginal person keep saying “Canada, Canada, Canada!” a village, a village, a village! The settlers might as well call this place Canada.
In 1971, “The Canadas” was created as two British colonies by the Constitutional Act of 1791. Lower Canada was mainly the previous French colony, the modern day Quebec. Upper Canada is the more English part, cover the southern part of the Ontario nowadays. Later in order to assimilate the French speakers in Lower Canada, the British joined Upper and Lower Canada together as the Province of Canada by Act of Union 1840.
It takes one hundred and twenty-two years from the initial forming of Canada to the joining of our newest province, Nunavut (joined in Canada in 1999). In between, provinces like Manitoba, Northwest Territory, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island joined in the 1870’s. After that, Yukon, Alberta, and Saskatchewan joined around the 1900’s. Newfoundland, joined Canada in 1949, was the last British colony that joined Canada.
The term “Fathers of Confederation” refers to delegates (representatives) who went to the conferences that lead to the initial Confederation (including Charlottetown, Quebec, and London conferences). However, as more and more provinces joined Canada after 1987, new “Fathers of Confederation” was added. John a. MacDonald, our very first Canadian prime minister, however, is the one “Father of Confederation”. He helped to build the base of the Canada that we are able to have today.
Today, we celebrate our pride for being Canadians. For most of the Rolians, this does not come easily. We go through difficult immigration process. It’s the result of our endless hard work. The good thing is that, we don’t take it for granted. We tell our ancestors that the reason that they are able to be born in the beautiful country, it’s because we worked for it. The greatness of this country does not come easily either, generations of Canadians, since the moment of the Confederation, spent countless efforts, to build and maintain this great country for all of us.
Today, let’s forget all but the fact that we are Canadians and we love our great country!