This link showed up on my Facebook page today .. posted by a happy popping friend ( she knows what I mean!) -- while this is not new to me, it is a fantastic look through the eyes of someone else what it means to be Canadian. - Simply a true canadian company (100% now) a Tim Horton's commerical that has sparked a few happy thoughts since I saw it once again today.
My Canada ---
My Canada was not always as it is today. Not so long ago in my childhood it was the small town, skating on the lake in a town where almost everyone did look like me, the image the Canadian life of many before me. Generations of my family had been here by then, but the British and French immigrants from my families far past - still influenced much of what I saw around me -- fish and chip shops (no Thai to be seen) and tourtiere baking in the oven ( Yummy) .. but that was the 1970's and the world was going on around me. It was evolving and new a new generation of imigarnts were coming - and not always on the streets were the words welcoming to them. Women where gaining more and more rights ( a battle hard faught by my mother and the mothers of my friends) There was clashing, there was racisim in Canada , but we as a society were beginning to emerge.
When we moved to the city when I was six years old - I was surrounded by more people just like me.. only now there were others too. And my experiences began to form how I see the world now. I watched as more friends arrived from different places , I learned all about Greek School on Saturdays, and Jewish Hebrew lessons, I learned that there was such a thing as Naan bread and it was yummy! And rice steamed is the best way to eat it right out of the steamer! I learned that "different" was a cool thing! But it was not all roses and happy smiles, these lessons required an open mind, a global view of the way in which we accept each other and truely open ourselves up to the stories they bring with them, and weave them in among our own.
In the 1980's while visiting my father out west, another influx of immigaration was making news and the landscape of western Canada was begining to change - the Canadian Cowboys, and high powered business types were learning how to get along in a different world to the ones they had been exposed to. This Canada From the Four Nations to the busy streets of this - the worlds most multicultural city ( as named by the United Nations).- this evololution this is my Canada.
My Canada -- is a place I am pround to call home
A place where even though it is a struggle -- you are welcome to try and make a life for yourself here
My Cananda allows those that I love to love who ever they want because their heart chooses for them
My Canada will host world Pride .. With Pride!
My Canada will allow us to stumble and make mistakes and say stupid things -- but we will accept our critisims and learn to see your point of view -- even when we don't agree
My Canada celebrates Health and Wellness - making sure we all have access to healthcare - even if we don't think it is the best - it is better then many others have access to
My Canada believes children deserve an education - all children
My Canada belives that I can make a difference in the lives of others -- so they demand my participation in supporting the world through blood donations , cash donations and human scarafice.
My Canada may sparkle in the olympics -- but it shines in the heart of the people who call it home!
Live Love Laugh .. Be pround not only of our athletes but of those who have shaped and formed this country from the experiences they have brought with them.
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