I love being Canadian. I love the Canadian flag and everything that our true, native land represents. As part of the digital media course that I am completing at U of T, one of the assignments is to capture a live event through posting about it on a social media platform.
What is more befitting than Canada Day, and celebrating it with a twist: during a pandemic. This blog post will deviate from my usual content about women and politics but lets be real here – I wouldn’t be a woman in politics if it weren’t for this country, and the freedoms and liberties it has afforded me.
This post isn’t just about the assignment but my patriotism and gratefulness to Canada. On July 1, 2020, I captured much of my day and the activities through various Tweets which I have shared throughout this post.
Canada Day 2020:
Three girlfriends and myself headed up to Tobermory, Ontario, on June 30th for 4 glorious days to get away from the city and celebrate Canada Day! This was days after most of the province entered in Stage 2 of the re-opening, which meant that national parks only became operational on June 28th. Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect for this getaway.
For the first time since the start of COVID-19, I forgot we were living through a pandemic. We drove 3.5 hours northwest to Tobermory, Ontario to experience the beauty and all the offerings of the Bruce Peninsula.
I travel often but its hardly throughout Canada, and I haven’t taken advantage of all of our beautiful national and provincial parks, and I have realized how incredible our own backyard is and that I need to do a lot more exploring.
Kicking off the day:
Like most of you, my day always kicks off with a cup of coffee and Craigie’s Harbourview Restaurant provided the best patriotic cup of joe I have ever had. These pretty faces might have been masked but their smiles were bright, beaming through sparkly eyes.
Smiles in Tobermory, under masks, were one of the most beautiful sights throughout the few days we spent there.
Flower Pot Island:
We departed for Flower Pot Island on the Blue Heron Cruises from Tobermory Marina. The #BlueHeronCruises has the largest glass bottom boat in Canada. This was incredible considering the crystal clear water which gave you a Caribbean Island feel.
I have never seen anywhere in Ontario more beautiful: it took my breath away, literally! Our time was short on island as there were new time restrictions due to COVID. We scheduled our departure for 9 am and had to depart back to Tobermory by 12:50 pm. The journey was about 15 mins and sunbathed on the upper deck with the cool island breeze cascading over us.
As we arrived, we found ourselves on a hiking trail. A hiking trail sprinkled by camping sites that all overlooked various points and horizons over the water. After wondering for about 5 kilometres we found ourselves on the rocky beach.
The post below captures my favourite part of the Island: just looking over the horizon and seeing nothing but beautiful water and sky for miles.
This was the by far the best part of the day, as it was extremely hot day, temperatures ranging in the low 30s and high humidity. There was nothing left but to jump into the water.
Nothing was more exhilarating than canon-balling into the refreshing cold water. It was a like a thousand needles piercing through your body for a split second and then the most relaxing recovery. I felt like putty when I came out of the water and could base in the sun for an afternoon siesta.
We also came across a friendly snake during our swimming adventure:
Evening Celebrations:
One of the annual traditions to commemorate Canada Day is the parades and fire works that cap off the evening. However, due to limitation on public gatherings, all firework displays across the country were cancelled. But that wasn’t going to stop us from making a memorable evening!
We decided to make our own special night through gathering (socially distant from other patrons) at the rocks on the edge of the peninsula to watch the sunset. And was it ever magical! It gave me goosebumps to witness the sun going down and the beautiful cascade of pascal colours that filled the sky. Unfortunately those colours are very difficult to capture on any regular camera.
We ended the night with this little fellow:
He unfortunately was late for the sunset but he did rush down the rocks to get the last glimpse of the beautiful horizon with a proud Canadian flag on his back. This boy was the perfect reminder of everything we have to be proud of as Canadians and our future.
Why I am proud to be Canadian:
Our country isn’t perfect by any measure, and we have our set of societal challenges that we as the collective need to work on and overcome i.e. Truth and Reconciliation with our Indigenous Communities, racism and much more. However, what I am most proud of is the fact that most of us are united in our universal beliefs of decency, protecting human rights and watching out for one another.
This pandemic has been challenging for everyone but I couldn’t have asked to be anywhere else in the world other than in Canada in lockdown. I am grateful to us as a society and our response to it. We came together and did our parts to stay home, to limit the spread and not overwhelm our healthcare system and frontline workers, and to those who were most vulnerable. I am grateful for the politicians who set political differences aside and started working together in order to deliver the services and programs that were needed for citizens.
Thank you Canada for being one of the greatest places in a world. Thank you to my parents for choosing this great nation to settle and giving my sister and I every advantage to be successful.
Happy 153rd Birthday Canada!
Sara Alimardani 