|
Canada Day
Canada Day is
a national holiday in Canada celebrated on July 1st. It is a day
that celebrates the creation of the dominion of Canada through the
British North America Act on July 1, 1867, uniting three British
territories ,the Province of Canada (southern Ontario and southern
Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a federation.
The holiday itself was formally established in 1879 and was originally
called Dominion Day, making reference to the Canadian-originated term
"dominion" to describe the political union, at a time when the Fathers
of Confederation were hesitant to use a name such as the Kingdom of
Canada. The name was changed to Canada Day on 27 October 1982, largely
harking of the adoption of the earlier Canada Act 1982.
On Dominion Day 1923, the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 went into
effect. Until the act was repealed in 1947, many Chinese-Canadians
referred to 1 July as "Humiliation Day" and refused to celebrate
Canada's birthday.
It is a federal holiday celebrated by all provincial governments and
most businesses across Canada. Quebec also has Moving Day on 1 July,
due to the fact that most leases there begin and end on that day, with
many people changing residences.
Canada Day is generally marked by patriotic celebrations. Most cities
have organized celebrations, often featuring fireworks. Entertainment
usually has a Canadian theme. Canadian flags abound, and some go as far
as to paint their faces in the Canadian national colors of red and
white. Montreal is known to have the largest celebration in the
country, which sometimes exceeds 500,000 people at the Old Port
alone. Celebrations in Ottawa are particularly lavish. Every
Canada Day, hundreds of thousands gather on Parliament Hill to
celebrate Canada's birth.
Derived from Wikipedia.
The information is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
|
