July 1, 2005
Ottawa, Ontario
Check Against Delivery
I'm delighted to be able to look out at all of you massed on the Hill
today. You are beautiful! Happy Canada Day to you, and to everyone who is
watching across the country. They can see for themselves what a great scene
this is. From where I stand, Canada and Canadians look fabulous!
In June, John Ralston Saul and I looked at Canada from the top of the
world - the 83rd parallel - at Canadian Forces Station Alert. It sits at the
tip of Ellesmere Island, and it's the northern-most settlement in the world.
Its nearest neighbours are Greenland and Russia, but it is our territory. It
is inhabited by our people. It is incredible to see Canada from that point of
view. We realized how important the North must be to Canadians - it shows us
the full dimensions of our country.
The only thing as beautiful as our people is our geography. Today, we
delight in the cheering and singing; we've heard great music and the roar of
the Snowbirds, and we will love the fireworks to come. But in Nunavut, we
spent a sunlit night in a tent in Canada's newest national park, Quttinirpaaq.
Up there, we were overwhelmed by a glorious silence. We saw the tracks of the
muskoxen and the first blooming of purple saxifrage, those extraordinary
Arctic flowers that cover the hills. We felt very small gazing at the enormous
glaciers. And once again, we learned from our great northern people, the
Inuit, about the proper custodianship of this mighty land.
There are so many ways to love Canada. There are so many reasons to do
it! We are blessed by beauty. We are blessed by peace. We are blessed by
astonishing achievements, because Canadians can do anything. We are working
little miracles in our families and communities, within this great country and
everywhere in the world.
For our diversity and inclusion, we are an inspiration and a model to
other nations. To many of the world's most disadvantaged peoples, Canada is a
land of hope and promise. We should see ourselves this way.
We should see ourselves as Sir Wilfrid Laurier saw us 100 years ago, when
he welcomed Saskatchewan and Alberta as new provinces. To their citizens, he
said, "If I look about me...I see the determination of a young and vigorous
people; I see the calm resolution, the courage, the enthusiasm to face all
difficulties, to settle all the problems which may confront (us)..."
Laurier might have been looking ahead to the terrible conflicts to come,
and to the brave Canadians who were to serve in them. Our veterans - of the
Second World War, of the Korean conflict, and of all the places where they
have opposed tyranny and stood for peace - have left behind them a trail of
international goodwill and admiration for Canada.
In this Canadian Year of the Veteran, I was privileged to meet so many of
them in the Netherlands in May, as we recalled its liberation by Canadian
troops. The veterans are more and more willing to speak about their
experiences, and we must listen and remember. The French, the Italians and the
Dutch certainly do. The young men that we have lost are honoured in
beautifully tended cemeteries all over Europe. At Holten in the Netherlands,
children light candles on over 1300 Canadian gravestones each Christmas. When
our veterans returned to the scenes of their sacrifice, they were cheered with
wild enthusiasm. At Apeldoorn, I felt as though my heart was going to burst.
Today, I know that you appreciate the country for what it is. I wish for
you the contentment that the quest for justice can bring. I wish for you the
happiness that working together creates. This is our enterprise. This is what
our veterans made possible for all of us.
