10 Reasons why Canada Rocks!

Jul 1, 2010 by Shophaven

Happy Birthday Canada!

It’s very easy for us to get in the spirit of things, because we live in Ottawa – the nation’s capital. We get good concert acts, massive fireworks, and foreign dignitaries visiting us on that day to celebrate Canada.

And this year, the Queen is visiting to partake in the events of this proud day. Amidst our excitement about all things “True North Strong and Free”, we made up a list of top 10 reasons why Canada rocks our socks.

1. Stunning natural scenes. We’ve got Niagara, Banff, Victoria, P.E.I, and practically every inch of the country is jam-packed with natural beauty. Sometimes a quick drive out to the countryside takes you back almost 400 years, when the first settlers started arriving. It’s eery sometimes to look at the landscapes and think that it has mostly stayed the same in a few spots – virtually untouched by the last few hundred years.

2. Country of the Brave, proud and free. Whether it were our soldiers leaving to fight in Europe or Korea, or our civil movements that gave minorities the right to exist freely and vote, we’re a nation known for our true heroes and strong historic figures.

3. Polite as heck, with the exception of hockey games. We’re teased globally about our excessive politeness, with “thank yous”, “sorrys” and “pardon me”s making up the first few phrases we learn as little children. We proudly acknowledge that fact and are happy to roll with our rep as “nice people”, until a hockey game comes on. That’s when, “I’ll have another beer please, thank you” turns into “punch his *bleeping* face in you *bleep* and right back to “thanks for the cold beer, pal”. Where else can you get such well-intended duality?

3.  Oh yeah..O Canada Hockey. We will respectfully disagree about politics, food, culture, taste, and hockey jerseys any day of the week. But if Team Canada is playing somewhere in the world, we’re all behind it 100% taking no lunches and working overtime just to watch “the game”. Most of us are happy forgot most of the history we learned in civics class, but when we’re talking Canadian hockey – we’re basically Puckpedia.

4. We’re great foodies. We love to eat out. We schedule our social events around lunches, BBQs, wine & cheeses, potlucks, cookouts and so on. We’re welcoming of all cuisines and integrative of all new tastes and styles. Our passionate relationship with food is nothing less than an affair, since we can’t seem to agree on one national dish and go off in many directions in search of the best thing out there.

5. Global citizens. We’re a multicultural and welcoming society, proudly embracing all ethnicities that come to the Big White North and make Canada their home. We grant our new citizens equal rights and respect their traditions and experiences – different as they may be. But we also advocate on behalf of those that can’t speak for themselves -globally. We have charitable work and government aid flowing to all corners of the planet. We’re first to help out when disaster strikes our fellow humankind. We may differ politically, but we all stand united when it comes to Canadian aid and effort internationally.

6. Our Sense of Humour. How many times have you met a self-degrading Canadian? We’re all over the place. We take cheap shots at ourselves and have a healthy sense of humour about ourselves as individuals and as a nation. We’re so good at humour, we export hilarious actors south to brighten and lighten up our neigihbours’ moods.

7. Talent and Innovators Galore. Don’t mean to brag, but we did actually “invent” hockey, and basketball, and the Blackberry. Well, not ShopHaven, but Canadians did. We develop world-class technologies, produce some amazing creative work, and create scientific solutions for global problems – and that’s with just 30 million of us floating around.

8. Inukshuks (or Inuksuks, as they’re properly called).  The unique identifier of Canadians comes from the Inuit and peoples of the Arctic and Northern regions. that has moved on to become one of our national symbols. Used for navigation and hunting, this stone structure is unique one to the other, and reflects individual styles. They may all take a similar shape, but the little details and intricacies are quite varied.

9. Our furry national symbols. What other country has more animals on its money than we do on our toonies ($2 coin)? We’re known to use our furry friends as national identifiers. If you put a moose, Canadian goose, beaver or polar bear in a red jacket and a Mountie hat, you have yourself a great souvenir. We’re also fond of combining no. 6 and  no. 9 together – how else do you explain the closing ceremonies in the Vancouver Winter Olympics? We poked fun of our great stereotypes to the entire world. It was our subtle Canadian way of saying, “Yeah we all know what you think, we still got #1 hockey”.

10. EH!? As someone who traveled abroad a few times, I can’t even estimate how many times I got caught being *Canadian* by dropping in the occasional “eh?!”. For example, “how great was that beach, eh?”. And as a general travel tip: feel free to uncensor your “ehs”, it got me many-a-discount just for being a nice Canuck abroad.

So, here were our 10 reasons why today is a great day. What are some of your proud reasons to stand up and sing O Canada?!