Today’s Canada Day. But I don’t feel like celebrating my home country. I’m ashamed that we’re using this money to convince ourselves that we’re great despite the damage we’ve done to many peoples along the way.

So, what should we do instead? Burn the Canadian flag?

No. But on this day off from our busy lives, we should ask yourself how we got here. What are we even celebrating? We’ve stolen indegionous lives and lands and now we treat them like they’re a nuisance to us enjoying ourselves.

How do you think Natives feel today? “Canada Day is not a day of celebration for Indigenous people. It’s an Indigenous day of mourning,” says Terre Chartrand of Algonquin Nation, one of the organizers of a group occupying land at Victoria Park in a call to cancel the national holiday.

Instead of a Canada Day celebration, let’s use the 500 million dollar budget to repay damage to the Natives who were here before us.

Concrete Action:

• Tweet #CancelCanadaDay
• Donate to movements like Idle No More
• Join Cancel Canada Day protests (like this one happening in Vancouver)
• If you planned a celebration, talk to your friends about how to make a future change
• Contact the Department of Canadian Heritage and tell them “Cancel Canada Day 2021”