Photos: Canada Day in Calgary

Tens of thousands of Calgarians took in the city’s Canada Day festivities, marking both a day of celebration for the nation but also a complex day of milestones in Canadian history.

The festival this year was more multicultural than in previous ones, with a focus on giving cultural groups space to show of their own cultures and connections to Canada.

“Just to walk around and see the community of people coming together the energy of everybody celebrating or reflecting in whatever way they’d like, is so amazing,” said Jonathan Radomski, an event coordinator with the arts and culture at the City of Calgary.

“The weather is holding up, and it’s beautiful just to see and witness and watch from a distance.”

Radomski said that this year was one that marked a real return to the city’s desire for a full slate of Canada Day activities.

“Last year, we still had a bit of the Covid cloud that hung over, so we couldn’t do a full Canada Day like we liked. But this year, we made a real effort to listen, bringing a lot of groups,” he said.

“We included our anti racism and diversity team. We did a lot of work with the Indigenous Relations Office with the City of Calgary. We did a lot of listening with the Chinese community, and just wanted to make sure everybody felt included.”

Canada Day is a day of many meanings

Canada Day has meant a day of celebration for many Canadians, among them the many new Canadians who took their citizenship oaths at Heritage Park. But for other people from Indigenous and Chinese backgrounds, today marked difficult periods in Canadian history.

Canada Day 2023 also marked the 100 year anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act—a period marked by extreme societal racism that led to Chinese people being unable to emigrate to Canada.

“This day is tough for a lot of people but we wanted to give them an outlet to come together and build the community,” said Radomski.

The Canada Day celebrations began at City Hall, Olympic Plaza, and Fort Calgary with blessings by Indigenous Elders, followed by displays of lion dances and other Asian cultural heritage.

For Calgary’s Sikh community, Canada Day 2023 marked a return of the how to tie a turban demonstrations, that had dozens of non-Sikh Calgarians walking around for the rest of the day in their own turban.

The event, which had run pre-Covid until being ended due to the pandemic, returned after enthusiastic local volunteers decided to bring it back despite not having a backing organization.

“People are always waiting to get a volunteer to tie a turban. So it’s been it’s been steady crowd since morning,” said Sukhvinder Malth

“I think it’s important for all Canadians to know who we are, what our identity is, and what the turban means.”

Message about finding common ground

Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who travelled to a number of the day’s events across the city, said that her message was essentially the same at all of them.

“I think we need to remember that each day of our lives has multiple meanings not only for ourselves, but other people around us as well,” she said.

“I think it’s important to celebrate the fact that we are in a nation that has given many of us so much opportunity and so much hope. However, we have a history that can’t be forgotten—it is possible to do two things at once.”

The message, said Mayor Gondek, was one of recognizing that history cannot be allowed to repeat itself, while encouraging inclusiveness, kindness, and compassion.

“We can be proud of where we live, while acknowledging that there is work to do,” she said.

“There’s a really strong sense of optimism and hope for who we are as a nation and who we can continue to become. I think it’s amazing to see so many groups coming out and showing who they are, and just being proud of the role that they play in this nation.”