Proud to Be a Canadian

When I was in my late teens/early twenties I was taken aback by all of these people, usually guys, who were branding themselves with very "Canadian" tattoos.  The number of variations of maple leafs, flags and other iconic Canadian imagery blew my mind - particularly since I didn't feel very patriotic: and how "un-goth" is a tattoo that is bright red, white and perky anyway?  As the years passed and I spent more time outside of Canada and over 12 years in jobs that focus on helping both Canadians and internationally trained professionals begin their Canadian careers, my love and patriotism grew.  There is something drawing people to Canada, a lot of it being the warm hearts of a population that welcomes so many. I don't think I'm going to run out and get some red and white ink tomorrow, but my heart is definitely home.

My Canmerican friend's patriotic tattoo.

In Celebration of Canada's 147th Birthday Here are 47 of the reasons why I am proud to be Canadian:

1. I don't care what they say, Size does matter and Canada is huge!  Canada is 9984670 km² and the world's second largest country
2. People call it monopoly money, but they're just jealous of our rainbow coloured bills, don't even get them started on Canadian Tire currency!
3. Ambiguous Spelling.  Sometimes we like to spell the UK way sometimes US, if you call us on it, you're wrong, but we'll be polite about it
4. We name our Adirondack chairs by the province: in Alberta they're called "Camps", in Ontario "Muskoka Chairs"
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. This land is your land, this land is our land: Canada's population density, at 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.5 /sq mi), is among the lowest in the world. 
6. We're too cool for rhyming...even in the alphabet song, "zed" is a letter I assure you
7. Diverse Population: Today, immigrants represent over 20 percent of the total Canadian population, the highest proportion among G8 countries
8. The way we obsess about weather.  It's as if we are an entire nation of meteorologists

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Openness to culture, religion, sexual orientation and sharing our experiences.  When I look around Molly and Jack's daycare and see flags from all over the world and crafts coordinated by the ECE workers celebrating where they came from and what their traditions are it makes me so happy to know that they are being taught love
10. Landscape Diversity: Canada has 288 mountains, 3 oceans bordering, prairies and 561 lakes to explore
11. Provincial Parks
    
    
    
    
    
12. The insane decadent one upmanship of food offered at the Canadian National Exhibition.  Who is ever going to forget chocolate covered bacon or the Cronut Burger (even if it did make people sick)
13. The documentary Let's All Hate Toronto. 
14. They're called Beaver Tails, not Elephant Ears
15. Degrassi: The Street, The Jr. High, The High and The Next Generation
16. Maple Syrup - I can't wait to take the kids to Pioneer Village to experience this for real
17. Alexander Keiths - Canada's answer to Guinness for "National Beer"
18. Totem Poles
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. Terry Fox
20. Douglas Coupland, Mr. Generation X, Mr. Canada.
21. Hockey Night in Canada may have been the only thing that kept us and Molly sane during colic
22. Our love of big things as road side attractions.
23. Montreal Steak Spice
24. Red Rose Tea
25. Patio season
26. The Canoe
    
    
    
    
    
27. Our celebrities make wine: Dan Akroyd, Wayne Gretzky
28. Ketchup Chips
29. Our Health Care System: After having twins via C-section and seeing the care that my father received post-heart attack, I heart Canadian Health Care
30. Parental Leave: Although I'm a little bitter that I didn't get 100 weeks because I had two kids at once, being able to spend 13 months at home when Molly and Jack were first born was amazing
31. Gay Marriage
32. Canadian Music: Feist, Sloan, The Stars, Metric,Tegan and Sara we love you all!
33. Craft Beer: My personal all-time favourite is Moncton's Blueberry Cream Ale
34. Canada has more clean water than any other nation
35. Bryan Adams
36. Poutine
37. Loonies and Toonies (or shrapnel in my pocket as our Welsh friend likes to call it)
38. Kinder Surprises
39. Jedi is an official sanctioned church in Canada
40. The Log Driver's Waltz
41. Canadian Bacon, and regular bacon - we really like bacon
42. Jack Bower is really Canadian (so is his daughter)
43. Our apologetic nature: We are so sorry for Nickelback, Justin Bieber and Rob Ford
44. Anne of Green Gables
45. Narwhal - Unicorn of the Ocean
46. Leonard Cohen
47. The people who live here, want to live here and are proud to be from here!

What makes you most proud to be Canadian - please share!

I have been nominated for Voiceboks 2014 Multiple Parenting Blog Awards - If you have a moment to spare: Click Here Now and cast your vote for Multiple Momstrosity #27, it's the little heart icon that pops up in the top right hand corner that registers a vote NOT clicking on the photo.  If you follow any of the other blogs or enjoy them like say HDYDI (#21) you can vote for them too - you can vote for up to five different blogs daily.