Today, Canada turns 141 years old. As I celebrate this day, I can’t help but reflect on the journey that eventually led me to call Canada my home.  When I came into this world I had lived in a tiny town called Lesnye Polyany (thats the google earth picture of it on the right) in Russia just north of Moscow. We lived right beside the agricultural factory my father had worked in. The town was so small it didn’t even have a hospital and so my parents had to rush to another place called Ivanteevka for me to be born. When my father got a promotion, we moved to Moscow where I attended school up to grade 4. I moved to Toronto when I was 10 years old. I didn’t know a word of English, I didn’t understand any of the cultures, and I didn’t know anything about Canada except that it was very far from my home country. Well, thats not entirely true, I had learned from my older sister how to say: “Hello, my name is Vlad” and “can I go to the washroom” to get permission from my teachers the day I started class, something I am glad I did later that day. In 2000, my family and I received our Canadian citizenship. We had to sing the national anthem in both English and French and pledge our allegiance to the Queen and Canada. I didn’t understand it at the time but it was a key turning point in my life as a young immigrant growing up in Toronto. 

Finding your identity as a child can be a tricky thing but it can be even more confusing if you were born in a different country. What am I, Canadian or Russian? As I was growing up I began to realize that Canada’s culture is multiculturalism and that to be Canadian means to respect others regardless of of their background. It means that I can be proud of where I come from and I can be proud of where I am. It means that when I look at the Canadian Flag, I see my self being represented by it regardless of race, nationality, culture, beliefs, etc. There isn’t a place in the world where this statement can be as true as it is in Canada.

I am proud that our democracy gives us the freedom to pursue our dreams. I am proud that our rule of law is determined by its people and not a dictatorship. I am proud that if someone becomes sick, we all pitch in to give them free healthcare. I am proud of Canada’s efforts for human rights and social justice. I am proud of Canada’s aboriginal roots. I am proud of Canada’s international commitment to the environment and poverty relief. I could go on and on because there are countless reasons to be proud of Canada. There is, of coarse, a need for improvement in all of the areas I’ve briefly mentioned and it makes me proud that as part of being Canadian, it means having the opportunity and the responsibility to affect change politically, socially, and on a private level. All of this, makes me proud to be Canadian. 

Happy Birthday Canada!