Canada Day 2016

Tags

1864, 1867, Canada Day, Canada., Confederation, PEI, Strawberries

This Canada Day is the 149th Anniversary of the Birth of our Dominion (Kingdom).

To celebrate here in Charlottetown is somewhat unique since it is the birthplace of the whole idea of uniting a group of Colonies into a country. The delegates all came to Charlottetown on the day the Circus was in town and no one except for William Henry Pope came to greet them at the landing by rowing out to the S.S. Victoria which brought them (36) from the mainland. The hotels were full and many had to be billeted in private homes for the duration of the Conference which would draw out the roles and responsibilities of the Provinces and of the Federal Government, since they were all Provincial delegates, it was them who decided what powers the central government would have, how the House of Commons would be composed and how many members each Province would get in the Senate, PEI has 4 Senators.

In 1867 Sir John A. Macdonald went to London to meet with Queen Victoria and returned with the Act creating the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867.

This morning we walked up Great George street to Province House which was the theatre of all those events in 1864 to see on the plaza of the Memorial Hall to the Fathers of Confederation a noon hour show by the Young Company of the Confederation Centre called The Voices of Canada/Les Voix du Canada. We sang the National Anthem and frankly it was a beautiful, fun, light and inclusive show, speaking to us all Canadians. The performers are talented group with good voices and talent to spare.

The show touched on history, Canadian heroes, the Acadians, the Natives, famous and controversial figures like Louis Riel and the underground railroad from the USA which brought Africans to Canada and freedom. It also touched on themes of diversity and immigration, which got a loud cheer from the crowd.

A lot of people are wearing our National Colours red and white today.

Later we are going to a dinner party in a garden, said to be the most beautiful house garden in the city. The funny thing is that this is a moving feast, at first only 6 people were attending at a mutual friends house, then it got moved to our home and the number was now 9 people. Now it has moved again and is a potluck with 19 people attending.

For dessert we are having strawberries from Nova Scotia, they are so sweet and heavily perfumed, not like those awful imported strawberries we get in the grocery store.

Happy to be here now living permanently in PEI the birthplace of Confederation.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!  Bonne Fête du CANADA!