Canada is getting a lot of attention this week as she/we/it
turns 150. We are challenged to define what it means to be Canadian, to rethink
our symbols, and to simply embrace the word “eh”, eh.
Canada 150
When I was 10 years old, Canada turned 100. I thought
that was really old. In an effort to broaden the horizons of the New Brunswick
relatives, my Toronto aunts generously arranged for a number of the country
cousins to attend Expo 67 in Montreal. Remember this ditty?:
“Come
one, come all
Come one and all
To Expo ’67, Montreal”
Expo '67 Montreal
Although I only remember snippets of that trip, I’m
sure my horizons were broadened. I remember elevators, escalators, Place Ville
Marie, the American pavilion which was a geodesic dome, the bags of pamphlets
and brochures I dragged home with me and kept in my bedroom closet until after
I finished university. My aunts sublet an apartment in Montreal for the summer,
and the various New Brunswick relatives stayed there over the summer months. I
remember being so impressed by the words “sublet” and “apartment”, concepts so
foreign to my rural experience of 10 years.
American Pavilion
What does it mean to be Canadian in 2017? That
discussion has been all over the CBC this week. CBC---speaking of what it means
to be Canadian... One radio discussion I heard this morning cautiously agreed
that we should be proud of our country, but not too smug as we have some black
marks in our history that we need to atone for.
CBC
And what about those symbols? Mounties, moose,
beavers, maple syrup, hockey. Do they still represent Canada? There are more Canadian
adults playing golf than playing hockey, and twice as many kids play soccer
than play hockey. In 2017, one in five Canadians is foreign-born, and 81% of
us live in urban centres where it is unusual to meet a moose or a beaver.
Urban Moose
That little word “eh” continues to set us apart.
According to CBC, it is still widely used across the country, but is declining in use by the younger generation who replace it with “right, hey, you know, or don’t
you.” It is still alive and well in my house. But I’m old. And I have a case of
maple syrup in the basement of my urban home, eh.
Maple Syrup Stereotype
