Canada Day

Today is Canada Day.  It was July 1, 1867 when the four existing provinces of Canada were united into a single entity although still an effective colony of Great Britain.  Unlike the United States, Canada gained independence slowly and gradually.  The Queen is still our official head of state.  Her local stand in is the Governor General of Canada.  We have a beautiful national anthem that was originally written in French so the words in English are not entirely fixed.  The version I hear now at hockey games is not quite the same as the one I learned as a kid.  The new one is better I think.   I usually don’t pay much attention to Canada Day but today for some reason I feel a bit of nostalgia for “my home and native land”.