Canada Day… Where Are We Going, Canada?

  Canada Day… Where Are We Going, Canada?

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

Happy Canada Day?
Sort of.

It feels weird to say it.
Because from an Indigenous perspective—and really, anyone paying attention—there’s a lot of pain under this holiday.
A few years ago, people started calling to Cancel Canada Day. And honestly? They had and still have very valid reasons.

Reconciliation.
That word gets tossed around a lot.
It was supposed to mean healing… moving forward… making things right.
But how do you heal when the wounds are still open?
When the Residential Schools aren’t just history—they’re living memory for survivors and families still waiting for justice?

Meanwhile, down in the U.S., they’re trying to ram through a bill so dangerous, it’s like the end of the world as we know it. We blogged about it already.

Here in Canada, there’s been a weird surge of patriotism—maybe because Trump threatened us. We’ve had all kinds of things thrown at us, but the idea of annexation was the last straw. It woke people up. It caused a huge boycott.

And for a moment, I felt proud.
Proud of how many stood up.
Proud of the newcomers building a new life here, even if they don’t know what this place was like before the pandemic.
Because before COVID, Vancouver and Surrey didn’t look like this.
Rents and groceries didn’t cost so much.
You didn’t see so many people dying in the streets of overdoses.

I spent the last five winters in Mexico. I couldn’t afford to stay here.
But last year? I couldn’t go back.
Couldn’t get a job.
There’s such a glut of international students and temporary foreign workers, and it’s made it really hard for someone like me to find work.

I applied to hundreds of jobs—only to get ghosted, ignored, or judged by my age, gender, and experience.
They scraped my info, dismissed me.

And I’m not the only one.

This isn’t the Canada I grew up in.
I’ve never seen so much homelessness, despair, or disconnection.
But I know others have had it even worse.
Because I wasn’t taken from my family.
I didn’t go to a Residential School.
I wasn’t denied clean water or land or dignity because of who I am.

So no, I’m not waving a flag without thinking.
But I do care. So deeply.

I think of Chief Dan George and the speech he gave during Canada’s centennial in 1967.
I was five years old.
I don’t remember hearing it at the time. I just remember the little flags we were given to wave, and those shiny nickels with the bunnies on them.
Later on, I read that speech… and it hit me hard.
It still does.
It still matters.

“Oh God! Like the thunderbird of old I shall rise again out of the sea… I shall grab the instruments of the white man's success—his education, his skills, and with these new tools I shall build my race into the proudest segment of your society.”

Where are we going, Canada?

Why are billionaires still hoarding while people freeze in tents?
Why is Mark Carney traveling the world, ramming through policies without Indigenous consultation, while announcing $2 billion for war and next to nothing for the hungry?

Did you know the CEO of Metro Vancouver makes more than the Prime Minister?
Over $700,000 a year.
Meanwhile, the environment is spiraling.
People are losing their homes, their minds, their hope.

What about mental health?
Alzheimer’s, dementia, and the elephant in the room?
Are we going to talk about it? Ever?

For the sake of our children…
We borrow this land from them.

What kind of future are we leaving behind?

Do you care?
Because I do.
Even on a day like today.

So yes, today is Canada Day.
But I’m making it my day.
I’m wearing my strawberry—my Heartberry—dress.
A nod to my Indigenous ancestry.
To love. To resilience.
To remembering where we come from—and where we need to go.

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PS: We don’t have to cancel Canada. But we do need to stop pretending it’s perfect.
Let’s make it better.
Let’s tell the truth.
Let’s do the work.