Happy July 4th! Happy Canada Day! - This past weekend I got to experience my first Canada Day on July 1st, which for those American folks reading this who don't know, is the day Canada officially became a country.

It's been an interesting experience watching the media and observing the preparations for Canada. There is definitely a sense of national pride here in Canada but it feels so different than in the States. I can't quite put into words how, but maybe some examples of differences will help illuminate what I'm struggling to find words for.

One difference I noticed was that in the media Canada Day is was described as "Canada's Birthday," or the day Canada became a country. There was not the same kind of emphasis on "hard fought independence" as in the States. This kind of makes sense given how the States originally came into being versus Canada. Even just reading through both national anthems, you can clearly see differences in that the U.S. anthem speaks of "bombs bursting in air" and Canada's talks of "we stand on guard for thee." (If you haven't even heard Canada's anthem, I'm sure you can Google it).

Second, in the days leading up to Canada day, there was not the kind of advertising blitz I'm used to seeing in the States where every furniture and car dealer sees even the vaguest of holidays as a commercial coattail. In fact, I read that any store bigger than a certain square footage and not in a designated tourist area is required to close on Canada day and other state holidays or face severe fines, sometimes up to $50,000 CND!!

Somethings did feel familiar... lots of flags, fireworks, BBQ's... but there wasn't quite the underlying we're-#1-and-don't-you-forget-it feel that seems to pervade American patriotism, especially these days. Given that the UN recently named Toronto the most multicultural city in the world, the sense of nationalism here feels more complex and frankly, more mature. This past weekend felt to me as if there was room to appreciate Canada without doing it in a way that necessarily meant that other countries and groups therefore had to necessarily be "lower" or "less than."

And so today, on July 4th, I will hang out my newly purchased American flag on my deck and perhaps on my walk to work, I'll hum a "patriot" tune or two to remember the day in a quiet ex-patriot kind of way.