Canada Day is a time to celebrate the heritage

Compiled by Deidré Heim: Canada Day is celebrated on July 1st of every year.

In the 1500’s explorers from Europe came to North America to claim lands. They realized that this land was rich in resources. Soon settlement began, with people seeking a new life in the new world. The two European countries that figured the most in North America were Britain and France. They met Aboriginal Nations that had been living for thousands of years in what is now Canada. These First Nations and Britain and France often had difficult relations. They often went to war with each other but sometimes they were friends.

At the time of the war with France most of Britain’s colonies in North America were in what we now call the United States. However, these thirteen colonies were angry at the way Britain had been treating them, so in 1775 they began a war with Britain for their independence. The Americans won the war and the British were forced to recognize the United States as its own country. Because of the war Britain lost much of its land, and had a bad relationship with the United States. The land left over was called British North America. This would become Canada almost 100 years later.

In the 1860s the British colonies were facing many different kinds of problems. One solution for all of these was for the colonies to come together to form one country.

Since America had fought Britain to gain its independence the relationship between British North America and the United States had never been stable. The relationship became even worse when Britain supported the South in the American Civil War. The North won the war and was angry at Britain for helping the South. Many Americans wanted to take over all of what is now Canada.

Meanwhile, Britain didn’t want to have to pay for the cost of defending its colonies. It decided to encourage the colonies to join together, because the United States would be less likely to attack Canada if it were a self-governing country rather than separate colonies of Britain. The fear of the United States helped to strengthen the call for Confederation.

For all of these reasons the Province of Canada began to plan for a Confederation. Leaders from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island had already thought about joining together in a Maritime union and were planning a conference. The politicians from the Province of Canada asked if they could come to the meeting to propose a larger union of all the British North American colonies. The Maritime colonies agreed to let them attend, and all the leaders met at Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. This was the first of the three conferences that led to the Confederation in 1867.

On July 1, 1867, the British government (under Queen Victoria) approved a plan which allowed Canada to become an independent country with its own government. This new nation, which remained loyal to Britain, was called the Dominion of Canada. At that time, the new Dominion of Canada had only four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). Now there are 10 provinces and 3 territories.

The holiday became a statute in 1879 but was initially called Dominion Day. It wasn’t until 1982 that Dominion Day was officially changed to Canada Day.

Canada Day is an opportunity to gather in our communities, from coast to coast to coast, and to proudly celebrate all we have in common. It is an opportunity to celebrate our achievements, which were born in the audacious vision and shared values of our ancestors, and which are voiced in nearly all of the languages of the world through the contribution of new Canadians.

Canada Day is a time to celebrate the heritage passed down to us through the works of our authors, poets, artists and performers. It is a time to rejoice in the discoveries of our scientific researchers, in the success of our entrepreneurs, and to commemorate our history – a history in which each new chapter reveals itself to be more touching, more fascinating than the last.

As we look ahead, we have every reason to face the future with confidence and enthusiasm.

Happy Canada Day!

Susan McClelland Journalist

Helena Kaufman The Afro News Vancouver  small to carry the weight of her experience and the story that results from it. Unlike many of the child victims of war, the horrors Kamara saw, the assaults on her spirit and the brutality she experienced from age 12, are now being read and discussed by young people the world over. Her book, The Bite of the Mango, was begun before she even spoke English and not long after her arrival in Canada, still in her teens. With the support and story telling skill of journalist Susan McClelland, the engaging book offers well crafted characters and plot. The twist of course, is that Mariatu Kamara is very real – as are all the details of her story. On a recent stop on a North America wide tour to promote the book, she and Susan brought the reality to her generation. The duo, now more than writer and source, and more like family than friends, spoke to three schools in the Lower Mainland. Kamara contrasts life before the war, “Things were nice before, we lived in the village. We respected and helped each other. She muses on the difference between the earthy calm of her early years and the culture she now lives in. “All we value is life. The ability to live each day. Here people take little things very seriously and it causes them anxiety. At home we learned to respect everyone and take them for who they are.”

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Prof. George Ayittey

SPECIAL INTERVIEW (Part 2)  Development/Africa

Emerging African development thinking (2)

Kofi Akosah-Sarpong continues his discussions with Prof. George Ayittey on his argument that US President Barack Obama’s Accra speech that Africa’s future is in Africans hands is an “intellectual vindication” for the “Internalist School” of African development

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Does evil exist in Africa?

To be convinced that evil exists in Africa, just look at the rapid spread of churches and mosques across the continent. In a culture where evil spirits and demons dominate, where people attribute their misfortunes to them and struggle to seek protection against them and the churches and mosques becoming a refuge, evil does exists. In Ghana, the suggestion has been made by Akanayo Konkronko, director of Black Herbal Clinic, a traditional medicine clinic that among other activities battle evil spirits, for the establishment of National Spiritual Courts to try traditional spiritual cases.

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Africa’s evil scene

The eccentric atmosphere following the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s President, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity (short of genocide) in Darfur open the obscurities of evil in Africa for the past 50 years.

In some sort of grim moment, al-Bashir and the ICC are quarrelling over the darkness in Darfur, where the United Nations estimates that over 300,000 people (and still counting) have died in the past six-year of the conflict. So, what have al-Bashir being doing in the past years to have prevented such evil? And al-Bashir, with a cold-shoulder, denies the ICC charges and dismisses any ruling by the ICC as insignificant and rejects the chilling pains, horrors, darkness, and deaths hovering over Darfur.

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Written by Robert Wilson

Half a century ago marketing consultant, James Vicary, pulled a hoax on the American people as a way to promote his advertising agency. He reported that he flashed the words “Drink Coca-Cola” and “Eat popcorn” on the screen for a millisecond during a movie in a theater, and caused large numbers of people to visit the concession stand. He called the effect Subliminal Advertising. Subliminal means that the effect functions below the threshold of consciousness. Years later, when others failed to duplicate his results, he admitted that he made the whole thing up. Never-the-less, the myth continues.

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Written by Frank T. Scruggs

Often African American youths and especially, African-Canadian youths need to be reminded of the rich heritage that the African-Canadian people share. Despite many perceived differences most people want to live in communities that are safe, healthy, secure and prosperous; most people want a society free of many of the social problems that plague our Black communities. Black Canadians are one of the founding peoples of Canada and have been a part of Canada since 1604. The first official record of a Black person in Canada was a Black Portuguese explorer, named Mathieu Da Costa, whom served as a guide and interpreter for Samuel De Champlain a French explorer who reputedly discovered the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes. Young people therefore need to be reminded to share and to reconnect with the African spirit of greatness and once again learn to take responsibility for self and control of one’s own destiny. This helps forego the need and desire to join gangs to be a part of something bigger.

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Written by Helena Kaufman

Good writing connects with the reader. It can be viewed any number of times and lasts a long time. It represents you, your product
or service when you are not there to do it personally.

The content you send out should therefore, reflect you well – whether you are writing for reasons of business or pleasure. In our last installment we looked at revising the content portion of your document.

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Written by Frank T. Scruggs

In this 2009, the opportunity exists to create a better and more peaceful global community by strengthening the foundation with human rights. Much of the world has embraced hope and change for the better as a new U.S. president, President Barack Obama emerges on the world scene. In many cases, a hope rises that human rights issues will be central to the Obama Administration as well as other leaders and concerned citizens of the community of nations. Political science professor Richard J. Payne, Illinois State University at Normal has identified four types of human rights claims which are as follows:

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Keeping The Ball Rolling

I know an advertising agency owner who never fully takes a vacation. He takes his family to fairly exotic locations, but never so alien that they are outside the reach of modern communication. In other words, he is never further than a cell phone call or email away. He checks in with the office several times a day – much to the chagrin of his family who want him to be fully engaged in the holiday at hand. So, he ends up sneaking off under the guise of visiting the restroom, or going to the bar for a cocktail, in order to connect with his staff, a client or a prospect. His wife and kids aren’t fooled; they just sigh and accept the inevitable. I used to think he was a control freak – someone who couldn’t let go and let someone else take over – until I came to understand the concept of Momentum.

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