No Small Wander

Happy Canada Day!

It’s July 1st, Canada’s national day of pride. Here in the UK, it’s a quiet day—unless you count the England football this evening (we won!).

It’s a little weird being patriotic about a country I’m no longer living in. When I lived in Ottawa, Canada Day was always a celebration. When I was a kid, that meant face paint, and going to my grandmother’s apartment to watch the fireworks. Later in life, I’d go to Major’s Hill Park, wearing head-to-toe red and white, listening to Canadian bands like Feist and Great Big Sea. It also meant watching fireworks up close, and spending hours getting home on the packed-like-sardines busses from downtown.

In London, it feels a little different. The first few years after I moved to London, there were celebrations in Trafalgar Square, next to Canada House. A lot of red-and-white wearing Canadians would trail from Trafalgar Square to the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden. Sometimes there were musical acts, all sponsored by various companies.

After a few years, the official celebrations were cancelled. I stopped celebrating Canada Day in London, as I didn’t know a lot of other Canadians. I’d get texts from friends and family saying “Happy Canada Day!” and I’d flip through Instagram stories of friends celebrating with barbeques and parties.

It’s a weird kind of loneliness, when you feel separate from a community you once belonged to. I still consider myself Canadian—but there aren’t a lot of chances that I have to celebrate that. I think a lot of immigrants/expats feel this way. And because the UK doesn’t really have national pride days, the sense of coming together as a community is something I miss both here and abroad.

I’ve written before about the emotional impact of an international move, as well as my journey of culture shocks in London. There aren’t a lot of days where I miss Canada; it was my home for a very long time, but I’ve put down so many roots here in the UK that it truly feels like my home now. Still, today I’m a little sad about being so far away from friends and family.

So if you’re in Canada, or a Canadian abroad, I’d like to wish you a very happy Canada day! If you have no community with you, please know you’ve got community in me.

Happy travels!