Canada Day

Canada Day is celebrated to mark the enactment of the Constitution Act, which was passed on July 1, 1867 and also serves as Canada’s birthday. In fact, Canada turned 149 years old on July 1, 2016!  The Vancouver Flag Party participates in various Canada Day activities on an annual basis. To be slightly more specific, we participated in the Canadian Citizenship Ceremony, and our members assisted Major Alguire at the cadet recruitment booth, as well as marching in the Canada Day Parade.
The Canadian Citizenship Ceremony was held at Canada Place, which is located in Downtown Vancouver. Members of the Vancouver Flag Party were invited to participate, and it was such an honour to witness the citizenship ceremony that swore 60 new members into our Canadian society. In my opinion, I find this a great opportunity for younger members of our society to participate in as it fosters such a strong sense of nationalism and allows younger generations of adolescents to be proud of their country.

It was such a great experience being able to help out at the cadet recruitment booth with Major Alguire and members of other elements. I gained so much by talking to people, and in turn I was also able to share my knowledge about our wonderful cadet program to them. Since we had members from all three elements, we all combined our different areas of expertise to ensure that we were providing the public with perspectives from all aspects of the cadet program! It was interesting to see the range of people that came to our booth, as they ranged from civilians to those that were cadets ‘eons’ ago, and even to veterans! At our booth, the public could try on different uniform parts, receive maple leaf tattoos, fly paper airplanes, and, of course, learn about the cadet movement.
July 1, 2016 marked the 8th Annual Canada Day Parade presented by the Port of Vancouver. The Vancouver Flag Party was commanded by MWO Kern, in which we marched from the corner of Georgia and Broughton all the down towards West Pender Street. During the parade, we could hear people cheering and applauding us. In fact, we were so popular that we appeared in the Canada Day Snapchat Story!
This is my second year serving the community on Canada Day, and this is something I will definitely continue doing throughout my cadet career and even years after it. I believe Canada Day is an excellent opportunity for our country to celebrate itself, and also for younger generations of adolescents to foster a sense of pride in our country. Before I joined Cadets, I honestly didn’t know much about Canada… but after a few years of community service and being in the Vancouver Flag Party, my experiences have collectively taught me to love my country for all it has to offer; and honestly I could not have asked for a better country to indulge myself in.

-FCpl Kesley Rana