Throwing a 150th birthday party for 36 million people

For the 150th anniversary of Confederation, a lot of partying will be local. Think canoe races and fitness challenges.

Thestar.com
Jan. 1, 2017
By Jim Coyle

So what do you need to throw a really epic party?

A reason. A venue. Eats, drink and entertainment. Check on all that.

And if you happen to be organizing a 150th birthday bash for a nation of about 36 million people spread across 10 provinces, three territories and six time zones, you’ll also need a bankroll, planning time and - most especially - local volunteers who do the legwork of co-operative federalism.

“It’s kind of my life,” laughed Colleen Baskin, an Uxbridge Township administrator and volunteer on the local Canada 150 committee, when the Star called to ask about sesquicentennial preparations.

There are bookings to be made, event calendars to be published, promotions to be done, “and certainly as you get closer to Canada Day it takes over for sure,” Baskin said.

You could say the sesquicentennial anniversary of Confederation has been 150 years in the making and the party to celebrate it at least four years (and two federal governments) in the planning.

Consultation sessions began in 2013. By 2014, the Conservative government was already promoting the sesquicentennial in what (this being Canada) critics complained was an advertising campaign less about anniversaries than pre-election politicking.

In early 2015, the Harper government established the Canada 150 Fund with a budget of about $210 million. Then - just as hosts occasionally change their minds about décor and menu - along came a change of government.

On taking office with his Liberal government in November 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed new Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to review the Canada 150 plans. The emphasis was tweaked slightly from the Conservative preference for commemorations of military history and heroism to include the four Liberal-favoured themes of diversity and inclusion, youth, the environment and reconciliation with aboriginal peoples.

In 2016, the sesquicentennial logo - designed by Ariana Cuvin, a Toronto student attending the University of Waterloo - was chosen. In April, the sesquicentennial countdown clock in Ottawa began ticking away the seconds until midnight Dec. 31, 2016.

Meanwhile, MPs across the country were announcing funding for local projects. At one money drop in Alberta, for instance, funds were announced for canoe races in Edmonton, a legacy park statue in Fort Saskatchewan, a project on the history of radio in Alberta and a sustainable “edible forest garden” in Red Deer."

It’s those sort of local projects rather than grander national events that will be the foundation of sesquicentennial year festivities.

In Uxbridge, Baskin said brainstorming ideas and applying for federal and provincial grants began more than a year ago and planning started in earnest this summer.

One Uxbridge highlight will be a fitness challenge, Baskin said. “We’re the trail capital of Canada, so our nucleus is really outdoor hiking and enjoying the (Oak Ridges) Moraine. We’re hemmed in on all sides by green space and protected land, so we just decided to make hay with it.”

That philosophy is a constant, with local planners taking advantage of the geography and history that defines their community.

So far, Baskin has the sense that 2017 is unlikely to rival the centennial of 1967 for national euphoria. “The hard-core volunteers have all signed up, but it’s the secondary people we really need to get on board. It’s early. I think the buzz in May might be a little more.”

The Centennial celebrations of 1967 were like a young person turning 21, coming of age, reaching adulthood. “The country was in love with itself,” Pierre Berton wrote in his book on that landmark year.

Canada was also booming economically, and dollar-for-dollar federal funding spread almost 3,000 centennial arenas, community centres, parks, libraries, museums and theatres.

The 2017 sesquicentennial seems more in the order of someone turning 35. They’re clearer about who they are, less giddy, more mature.

New Year’s Eve was expected to spark up some of the buzz Baskin was looking for, with nationwide festivities that included fireworks and light shows in 19 cities.

As will 2017’s national projects of a Canada 150 mosaic, creation of a national soundtrack, and the cross-country tour by high-tech Sesqui domes.

Still, with Ottawa’s financial contribution paling in comparison to 1967, and nothing like the national pilgrimage to Expo 67 in Montreal in the offing, the national celebration will by and large be local.

Galen Eagle, of the Canada 150 committee in Peterborough, told the Star that city council there showed foresight in setting aside about $100,000 in funding for the 2017 anniversary over the last couple of budget cycles.

“We figure people are going to be really looking to celebrate around that July 1 time. So we decided to give them a bigger party than we normally do. Instead of just celebrating on Canada Day this year, we’re offering four days of family events. Our motto, our theme is ‘Celebrate at Home.’ ”

Eagle said rocker Kim Mitchell has been announced to headline this year’s Peterborough music festival. As well, there will be two days of local celebrations with the city closing downtown streets and packing them with local musicians before “wrapping it up with a bow on Sunday” with family-oriented events near the historic Peterborough Lift Locks. The Canadian Canoe Museum, downtown business improvement association, school boards and local musicians all have a part to play, he said.

“There’s a lot of competition,” Eagle said. “Ottawa, for example, is pulling out all the stops, to bring millions of tourists throughout the year from January to July. We want to make it worth their while to celebrate in Peterborough.

“It will very much be a local affair, for sure. We haven’t had too much federal involvement.”

Kathleen Powell, supervisor of historical services and curator at the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canal Centre who is also on the local Canada 150 committee, sees merit in that.
“If everybody is thinking locally at the same time and connecting through Canada’s 150 secretariat then all of it kind of connects together eventually.”

Powell said her city has been working on the 150th anniversary for about two years and has a citizens task force planning activities.

There will be a “guided Spirit Walk” through the city’s largest cemetery and “that relates to the 1867 era,” she said. On July 1, an exhibit will open of a “living time capsule,” to which residents can contribute objects important to themselves or their business. It will also have a digital component.

“It will be on display, not buried in the ground,” she said. “To see what St. Catharines represents today, rather than 1867.”

It’s also important to recognize, Powell said, that while the 150th anniversary of Confederation is significant, indigenous people were here for centuries before. Many museums are creating “150-plus” exhibits to honour that fact, she said.

As it approached, the sesquicentennial - aided by the global infatuation with Trudeau - won Canada considerable recognition. The Economist magazine called Canada “an example to the world” and both Lonely Planet and Condé Naste Traveller listed Canada as the top travel destination for 2017.

“Awesome news,” tweeted Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s chief of staff. “2017 lining up as a massive year for tourism in Canada.”

For those given to reflection on auspicious occasions, there has been a spate of books on Canada leading up to the sesquicentennial. One, titled Canada, was produced by actor Mike Myers, which all things considered is probably only fitting.

It was Myers, who in his Wayne’s World persona, along with sidekick Garth, made “Party Time! Excellent!” a second Canadian national anthem. Though trying to spell sesquicentennial would likely have left Wayne and Garth even more addled than usual.