MONIQUE SLIEDRECHT: Marking Canada Day from my new-found home in Caithness
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Northern Drift by Monique Sliedrecht
Today is a national holiday in Canada. It is a day which marks the confederation which led to the creation of an independent country and is typically celebrated with parades, displays of the flag, the singing of the national anthem, O Canada, and fireworks.
In fact, it all seems a lot more enthusiastic than anything I have experienced in Britain – that is, until the Platinum Jubilee!
I have spent the last 20 years appreciating life in Scotland but many trips to see my family have kept the Canadian flag flying and, on this day, O Canada is echoing in my mind.
When I think about my home country, I am amazed at how recently it all developed, not least because I am living in a place which goes back a thousand years to the Vikings and far beyond that. Canada is something of a newcomer in the world, but it has its own remarkable history.
On July 1, 1867 (155 years ago) a dominion was formed through the British North America Act as approved by the British Parliament. It consisted of territories then called Upper and Lower Canada and of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (New Scotland!).
The act divided Canada into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and it included provisions for other colonies and territories to join in the future, which made possible the growth of Canada into its present form.
Often, when I speak to people in Caithness, some connection to Canada comes up in the conversation. A relative, brother, friend, daughter has emigrated or they have spent some time working or travelling in the new country themselves.
A large number of Scots were part of the formation of the freshly settled and exciting country, many having arrived through pain and suffering, during the Highland Clearances, but the Scots continue to influence the culture of this varied land up to the present today, along with countless other immigrants.
My parents left the Netherlands and travelled over to Ontario, Canada in the 1970s and made it their new "home and native land". Toronto, formerly called York, is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world. The diversity is breathtaking.
However, this is the point at which we need to roll the clock back hundreds – and even a thousand years and more (as we can do so easily in Scotland). Long before European settlers arrived, indigenous peoples, including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, played the greatest role of all in Canadian history.
This is a history written on hearts and lives and deep in ancestral lands and ancient culture – and at a moment of flag-waving and anthem-singing, there is the underlying pain and controversy too.
Perhaps one of the best developments in recent times is the widespread acknowledgement of the whole history of Canada – and, on Canada Day, this is surely a lesson for all nations, when the world needs to find a way forward, celebrating unity amidst great diversity, and peaceful coexistence and cooperation, against all the odds, for the future of our planet.
- Monique Sliedrecht is an artist, blogger and podcaster based at Freswick – www.moniquesliedrecht.com
