Each year, as summer settles across this vast country, Canada Day offers more than a pause to celebrate; it becomes a mirror. It reflects where we’ve been, how far we’ve come, and what still lies ahead. In 2025, that mirror shows a country in motion: humbled by hard truths, energized by change, and cautiously hopeful about its collective future.

Canada’s greatest strength has always been its people, more specifically, the way those people form communities, across difference, distance, and time. Whether it’s neighbourhoods organizing around mutual aid during crises, newcomers finding belonging through language and culture, or Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians working to build bridges of understanding, the story of Canada has always been about finding common cause in uncommon diversity.

A Country That Listens
The last decade has been a time of awakening. We have begun, in earnest, to face the truths long buried beneath the official narratives. The unmarked graves at residential school sites shook the conscience of the nation. The calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have challenged us to move beyond apologies; to action, to justice, and to shared governance.

This year, as we mark Canada Day, many communities will fly the flag not just alongside fireworks, but beside Indigenous symbols and ceremonies. This is not tokenism, it is a recognition that Canada cannot be whole until its relationship with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples is grounded in truth, respect, and partnership. We are not “including” Indigenous peoples in Canada. They are foundational to it. The land we gather on, from coast to coast to coast, has always been home to Indigenous Nations whose stewardship, governance, and wisdom predate Confederation by millennia.

Building Communities Worth Belonging To
Canada is changing, and so too is our idea of what belonging looks like. From the refugee who opens a bakery in a prairie town, to the queer teen finding affirmation in a Pride flag at city hall, to the elder reconnecting with their Anishinaabe language after decades of suppression, these are the quiet revolutions that define who we are becoming.

What binds us is not sameness, but a shared commitment to live well together. In our towns and cities, on reserves and in rural areas, Canadians are building communities that emphasize care, inclusion, and responsibility to one another. That might mean ensuring affordable housing, supporting local food systems, protecting public health care, or reimagining schools and services that honour different ways of knowing and being.

This is no small task in an era of global uncertainty, but across Canada, there is a growing understanding that prosperity isn’t measured solely in GDP, but in how well we support one another, and how wisely we care for the land we share.

A Collective Future Rooted in Respect
Canada Day is no longer a day of uncritical pride. It has become a space of reflection; of mourning, of gratitude, and of possibility. That shift is healthy. It shows maturity. It means we are ready to move past mythologies and start shaping a future based on partnership and mutual responsibility.

We must reject any vision of Canada that seeks to divide, exclude, or erase. Instead, we can choose a model of governance that is not merely tolerant, but collaborative. One where Indigenous laws sit alongside Canadian law, where treaties are living agreements, not dusty documents, and where decisions about land, water, and resources are made together, with full consent and shared benefit.

This is already happening. Across the North, in B.C., in the courts and in the communities, new models of co-governance are emerging. Indigenous youth are leading language revitalization and climate action. Urban reserves are revitalizing local economies. Land acknowledgements are being matched with land back initiatives. These are not threats to Canada, they are Canada’s best chance at becoming whole.

Choosing Hope
As we gather this Canada Day; on picnic blankets, around bonfires, in ceremonies, and in celebrations, let us remember that patriotism need not mean perfection. It can mean care. It can mean commitment. And it can mean an unwavering belief that we can do better – together.

The maple leaf is not just a symbol of peace and modesty. It’s a living thing, growing, branching, changing with the seasons. So too is this country.

Let us plant our feet not in nostalgia, but in the present. Let us honour the ancestors, Indigenous and settler alike, whose sacrifices shaped this land. Let us listen deeply to the truths we once ignored, and let us walk, side by side, into a future that is more just, more joyful, and more deeply rooted in shared respect.

Happy Canada Day – to the land, to the people, and to the promise of what we can build, together.