We don’t need Canada Day to celebrate each other

Opinion

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This article was published 29/06/2021 (1312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No one who has been reading the startling headlines, listening to the painful stories, or imagining the trauma inflicted upon Indigenous communities these past few weeks would question why so many are calling for the cancellation of Canada Day.

The celebration of the country’s founding has been contentious for years, but never before have such calls felt this urgent following the discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children in various sites across the country, with many bracing for more.

“The recent discovery at Kamloops residential school has reminded us that Canada remains a country that has built its foundation on the erasure and genocide of Indigenous nations, including children,” reads one rally notice issued on behalf of Idle No More.

The narratives and histories interwoven about the founding of this country have for too long created a false sense of what it means to be Canadian, often far removed from painful realities and shrouded in the mythmaking that is par for the course of most nation-states. Calls to cancel this holiday strike at the heart of the character of the nation we call home.

This moment should propel us all to reassess the key dates, figures, and moments in Canada’s history that we commemorate — along with an accounting of all that remains invisible and diminished.

In fact, various communities in this country have had to push through dominant, European, Judeo-Christian storytelling to have their own experiences seen or recognized. Whether it is the introduction of Emancipation Day on the first Monday of every August to mark the abolition of slavery across the British Empire, or the new statutory holiday that will finally be recognized every September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to mark the legacy of residential schools, moving aside space in the calendar hasn’t been easy.

What if instead we celebrated everything that matters to people we work with, live among and whose experiences and stories are as much part of Canada’s daily fabric as hockey or poutine?

That’s the premise behind a campaign launched in Winnipeg by a team of clinical psychologists a few years ago that continues to garner support today, according to one of its founders.

Dr. Rehman Abdulrehman told me that ensuring that religious and cultural holidays are recognized as civic holidays would go far in inculcating authentic multiculturalism, rather than the superficial version many of us have been exposed to. Besides, not lost on anyone is how early colonizers sought to fully erase the spiritual and cultural practices of Indigenous communities as part of their colonial project. Why then do we continue to privilege certain holidays over others?

Several Winnipeggers have brought this spirit into their own spaces, including Belinda Bigold, owner of High Tea Bakery. Her holiday cookies run a sugary gamut from Eid to Rosh Hashanah to Indigenous People’s Day, spurring dialogue and camaraderie among folks who might not otherwise have the chance to share.

It’s much deeper than celebration, added Liz Choi, chief transformation and growth officer at Education Canada Group and incoming chair of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. Choi, who came to Canada as an international student, said that she has been feeling guilty learning about the history of Indigenous communities and wishing her experiences with Canada Day didn’t often signify their erasure.

“If we celebrate everything, then we also have a right to be angry and sad together,” she explained. “It goes way deeper and builds that connection and trust and makes that human experience more whole.”

Research has consistently shown that increasing contact between different communities reduces prejudice.

That was one of the key reasons Toronto lawyer Dany Assaf and his wife Lisa held huge Ramadan iftars in Nathan Phillips Square for several years in a row before the pandemic called “Fast in the 6.”

The Toronto lawyer and author of, “Say please and thank you and stand in line” told me that embracing Canada’s multi-faceted truths must include the vast and often unaccounted contributions of Canada’s diverse communities, including of its Indigenous peoples.

For those skipping out on Canada Day, there are plenty of other celebrations to bring us together.

Amira Elghawaby is an Ottawa-based human rights advocate and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star.