a question for all the Americans
 

Do you even know what Canada Day is? Why we celebrate it?

I've found that a lot of Americans don't know. While nothing surprises me anymore, I must say... it's a bit disconcerting and does answer some other questions I've had about recent world affairs.

What's Canada?

I wonder how many Europeans know what Canada Day is?

Doesn't it have something to do with when Canadians discovered you can make a wool sock into a hat?

I'm a somewhat intelligent person and have no clue. Most Americans really have no reason to ever think about Canada.

it's like a cheap rip off of 4th of july.


it's all corpate driving..so don't shoot the messenger

I am European and I don't know..sorry :( Is it your independance day or something like that?

do you know what Greenland Day is?


who the fuck cares.


Do you know that I cannot remember the last time Canada was in the news in the US.. yet the US is in the news everyday in Canada.

is that where you guys gather around a large fire and pray to the hockey gods to bring your teams back?

I know everyday is 4:20 day for me

I don't.

And this is why he askes this, the world is more then just the States and it is important that you also know what happends outside your borders :2 cents:

OUCH. There's no reason to be harsh about it, eh? :glugglug

Canadian Day is the day that Uncle Canuckian arrives in a ill fitting red suit that looks much like a mounties uniform and passes out gifts to all the good little canuckians...the only problem is that he goes broke every year because there are never any bad canuckians.

In fact Uncle Canuckian I hear is growing tired and wants some diversity in his life so is considering switching with Santa Claus for a year or two so he can know what it feels like to give coal to an ill behaved child.

I think we're supposed to know and care because we're neighbors or something. Who knows, I have no idea! Canadians forget that we have a hard enough time remembering all of our own crazy holidays, how can we be expected to know another countries?

GO LIGHTNING!

It's more closely related to the US in many many ways.

same reason we have Cinco De Mayo.

i dont think that.

the fact is that Canada is almost invisible in the world. its not my fault. don't get my wrong... we all appreciate the hockey players and Brian Adams (well.. fuck you for Brian Adams!)... but Canada pretty much flys under everyones radar.

You have a good point...but you also have to realize that the US is so fucking huge we have more daily news here happening in most states than most countries in Europe do.

Don't think I'm being arrogant or egotistical I'm just stating a fact.

There is so much going on in house here that it's almost impossible to figure out what's going on in the rest of the world.

what is it? the anniversary of when you joined all the provinces into one as Canada I think.

Why do you celebrate it? any excuse to drink would also be my guess

As I said... these things do partially go towards explaining some of the recent world events... at least, to me.

since nobody seemed to care enough to look...



Canada Day
Background

On June 20, 1868, a proclamation signed by the Governor General, Lord Monck, called upon all Her Majesty's loving subjects throughout Canada to join in the celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada on July 1st.

The July 1 holiday was established by statute in 1879, under the name Dominion Day.

There is no record of organized ceremonies after this first anniversary, except for the 50th anniversary of Confederation in 1917, at which time the new Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, under construction, was dedicated as a memorial to the Fathers of Confederation and to the valour of Canadians fighting in the First World War in Europe.

The next celebration was held in 1927 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation. It was highlighted by the laying of the cornerstone by the Governor General of the Confederation Building on Wellington Street and the inauguration of the Carillon in the Peace Tower.

Since 1958, the government has arranged for an annual observance of Canada's national day with the Secretary of State of Canada in charge of the coordination. The format provided for a Trooping the Colours ceremony on the lawn of Parliament Hill in the afternoon, a sunset ceremony in the evening followed by a mass band concert and fireworks display.

Another highlight was Canada's Centennial in 1967 when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended the celebrations with Parliament Hill again being the backdrop for a large scale official ceremony.

The format changed in 1968 with the addition of multicultural and professional concerts held on Parliament Hill including a nationally televised show. Up until 1975, the focus of the celebrations, under the name "Festival Canada", was held in the National Capital Region during the whole month of July and involved numerous cultural, artistic and sport activities, as well as municipalities and voluntary organizations. The celebration was cancelled in 1976 but was reactivated in 1977.

A new formula was developed in 1980 whereby the National Committee (the federal government organization charged with planning Canada's Birthday celebrations) stressed and sponsored the development of local celebrations all across Canada. "Seed money" was distributed to promote popular and amateur activities organized by volunteer groups in hundreds of local communities. The same approach was also followed for the 1981 celebrations with the addition of fireworks displays in 15 major cities across the nation.

On October 27, 1982, July 1st which was known as "Dominion Day" became "Canada Day".

Since 1985, Canada Day Committees are established in each province and territory to plan, organize and coordinate the Canada Day celebrations locally. Grants are provided by the Department to those committees.

Do they show non US news there anyways? I always wondered about that, it seems that a lot of US people don't know whats happening in the rest of the world, not to insult you or something like that

yeah, right

Other countries have stuff going on in house as well. :winkwink:

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

it kills me that people think they are so well informed on US events and politics and that all Americans are stupid.

I have lived most of the last 7 years in Europe and its a fact that Europeans know just as little about the US (apart from celebrities, music, movies etc) as Americans do about Europe.

Huge news, yes. Small things, absolutely not. Most of our states are larger and have more people than many countries. Only so much news can be fit into a 30 minute news program. Half the time STATE issues aren't even covered.

Please quote me and point me to where I ever said that "all Americans are stupid"

what I find amusing is how many of my European friends think that what they see as life in the USA as portrayed in movies and on TV shows is somehow accurate

Of course they do but we have states that could be entire countries by themselves...Texas and California for starters.

In Europe you can be in an entirely different culture in a matter of hours after leaving your home.

In America the only way that's impossible is by flight or if you live in a northern/southern border town...and even then the cultures are somewhat limited.

In Texas it can take you 12 hours to get the fuck out of that state depending upon starting point and direction you head...LOL and all you do is find the same cultures with a slightly different spin on them.

If this were just another collection of countries much like Europe we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

Sorry but if that is the case it's still wrong, there is so much happening in the world right now, and I strongly believe that if you know about what's happening in other countries you start to understand a bit more about the differences. I see a lot of people on here giving opinions about non us mather that just amase me. I thinks it's wrong if a country doesn't show what is happening around them. That it is to big is no excuse in my eyes. Again I am not trying to insult anyone here, it's more your media

The rest of the world shows a massive amount of news about the US. The US cannot possibly show all this news and then news about a reindeer racer in Lapland and details about commercial fisheries management in Iceland. People on average in the world are exposed much more to US current events and news that the US could possibly be exposed to current events and news in the other 200 plus countries on the planet.

Exactly...shit man there is bigger local news going on at times than what some countries experience as "national news."

. . . . but to be fair, people in the sticks (like AZ and TX) seem to think life in CA is like what they see in movies and on TV also

so choosing some arbitrary non-event taking place in a country where most people cannot name their own prime minister proves something?

well thats the same as over here, we only show big US happenings as well. Forgive me I am learning :winkwink:

Yes well, it helps when you go out on the war path and invade other countries.

However, during quieter times, it's not so much the case. We hear about snipers and stuff that are just too big to keep quiet, but I can't remember the last time I've ever heard of a news story out of Texas.

When the world is just turning doing it's own thing, we aren't hardly as concerned with the US's events as you might think.

Do you Canadian's get the spice channel up there?

But people in California think exactly the same as Texas.

When I moved to California I was asked if we had rock and roll music in Texas...LOL...I was also asked about my oil derrick if I ever went to the ranch shown in Dallas...the list goes on.

My employer one time said she was just on a layover in Dallas one time and she could just "feel the racial opression." LO FUCKING L

I found in my 5 years in LA that there are just as many rednecks in SoCal as there are in Texas.

it could be we don't care that a record number of herring were caught in 2003

Sorry I was kinda off subject with what I said. I was not talking about Canada day :)

Not to be a prick, but what's the latest HUGE news that has happened in NL that I should know about? And also, if you turned on the news right now, what US news would be showing?

dumbass... it's not about "what i might think" I watch and read the news in several languages in several countries everyday as i have been for most of the last decade.

I know what is on Skynews, Euronews, BBC and local networks in Europe every day.

it has nothing to do with war fucktard.

Uhhh...I was not talking about that kinda stuff, I guess I am a bit off subject with what I said. It was more about BIG news from other countries :) Even I don't care about record numbers in haring :winkwink:

Thats the day Polar bear hunt start across Canada in cities like Toronto , Montreal and Vancouver.... Every decent and educated americans know that.. :warning

I'm from a "hicktown" in Iowa and I see more rednecks here in San Diego. They have redneck bars here! We never had those, people would usually dress casual or decent for bars.

Pretty funny...

No offense to any Americans... I'm not going to say "all" like people always seem to think I do, but... "we don't care" is one of the most heard responses I hear from Americans when talking about any other countries.

I feel that this may be where a lot of the hostility comes from... if you can call it hostility anyway. But it can be unnerving when the US shows up with bombs and tanks and planes to take out a dictator to "liberate the people" and then go ask them questions and constantly hear "we don't care" about your news.

But I do agree, I don't care about how much fish is caught either :winkwink:

Come on, we both know there is no rock and roll in TX. As far as racial oppression goes, I noticed that there was a huge difference between the attitudes of southern blacks and those uppity city ******s of the north :winkwink:

I also had a truck driver in TX back me up in a bar when he let the cowboys that were trying to gang up on me know that Fontana had more cowboys than any one town in TX.