Monday June 30, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
Editorial by Mary P Brooke | Copyright Island Social Trends
Also see: Leadership remarks on Canada Day 2025: Carney, Guilbeault, Eby, Davies (July 1, 2025)
There’s something special in the air. It’s a vibe that has transcended much and many of the divisions and differences that we feel and see between people in this vast country.
It’a s sense of pride about our country that really should have been displayed long ago. Ironically it took a threat from a foreign leader to shake us up. Really, it’s more like wake us up.
Canadian society as a whole has been asleep at the wheel. We have taken for granted the peace of most communities, the beauty of natural landscapes, the tranquility of natural spaces, and the overall graciousness of people among one another. We have turned a blind eye to the problems with our political system. We have endured a declining economy, year over year.
Yeah, we can say we are polite (as if that’s a fault) and that we say ‘sorry’ too much (as if that is a weakness). We behave politely as a matter of respect for one another even if we disagree. We say sorry because we instinctively respect each other’s space.
Canada is a grand country. Not just the sweeping coastal, open or rugged landscapes but also our vision of what life on this planet can ideally be. We may well take the natural beauty and availability or fresh air and water for granted. So much so that over the years we have polluted it or let it be sold away.
It seems like a new idea to vacation at home in this country. But what better place to enjoy than Canada. A person could travel twice a year every year for 10 years and still not see or experience it all. We call out to visitors to vacation here for economic reasons. We should keep our travel dollars at home more often, for all the right reasons.
Be the 51st state of the United States? Heck no, say most Canadians. Why does that stick in our craw?
We don’t have a gun-based culture here like the United States seems to have become. We are meek in business (to a fault) but perhaps that’s the better side of greed at any cost. We welcome people from around the world and make them feel at home in our country — they can be here to become a Canadian while retaining their cultural activities and beliefs, unlike in the United States where the differences are challenged.
A grand idea, this country of Canada is. We kind of replicated the history of northwestern Europe – French and English — different but somehow combined imbued with the largess of the land. And in Canada we are working on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples — still a long way to go but we’re underway. We are a country that tries new things while maintaining the things we cherish.
Why does US President Donald Trump say that he cherishes Canada? Because we are amazing. He’d like to own that, see it absorbed into the machinery that is the American way. We must hold onto the natural resources for our own gain and no longer be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Why does it seem gutsy or greedy to manufacture, package and sell? We must do it now, four economy to thrive.
The economic transition of ‘one strong Canada’ that Carney speaks about is only the beginning of a direction to a new reality for Canadians. We’ve yet to really see the new Canada on our horizon. As more expenditure gets directed to national defence and big national projects will Canadians be asked to make do with less? If things get ugly with the attempt by the USA for dominance over our country, will we fight or endure in ways not seen for a few generations?
This Canada Day in 2025 does feel special. We are recognizing and examining our specialness. But it also feels like we are at the edge of a very new journey that has no road map and as yet has an unfixed destination.
Let’s not be shy about our appreciation and love for Canada. We are the best place on Earth — look around the world for a moment and reflect on the special things we have and are in Canada. Then it won’t be hard to get on board for this next journey, whatever it turns out to be.
EDITORIAL by Mary P Brooke | COPYRIGHT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke is the editor and publisher of Island Social Trends. She has traveled across Canada to places large and small. She has lived in three regions (Ontario, prairies, and BC). She raised her wonderful family of four (now-grown) children in Victoria, BC.
Ms Brooke has founded, edited and published a series of four news publications on south Vancouver Island: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), and Island Social Trends (2020 to present).
Mary P Brooke received a King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025 for her long-time commitment and service to community through journalism and since 2024 for her new-direction leadership in urban food resilience.
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