TRUTH BE TOLD

ALL I WANT TO DO!

Our summers are gorgeous! Let’s enjoy it! Image credit: ONTARIO PARKS.

By DR VICKI BISMILLA

Remember the January and February of winter just passed? Remember the awful snowstorms that dumped huge hills of snow on your yard and neighbourhood and made walking on your sidewalks treacherous, made pushing strollers almost impossible and manoeuvring wheelchairs completely impossible?

Remember the freezing minus 20 windchills and icy, slippery pedestrian-ways and roads? Can you feel those aching biceps from shovelling the snow?

Those mental images, still hovering in our minds make our Canadian summers so much more of a treasure.

Our summers are gorgeous! Flowers blooming in our gardens and parks; our enviable Canadian lakes shimmering happily; green grass in public spaces; rich tapestries of majestic trees in wooded areas; the laughter of children sliding down and climbing up in playgrounds! Music to our ears and singing in our hearts!

That is summer in Canada! Let’s enjoy it.

Many of us have bucket lists that include travel to a few international destinations to see particular cultural or historical places that we are curious about. But when we return we know there’s no place like home, there’s no place as beautiful and as beloved as our Canada.

Take the kids to iconic Canadian destinations; enrol them in municipal day camps to explore our natural wonders; walk in botanical gardens; take that trip to Banff (on our bucket list!). Canada’s mountains beckon as do our gorgeous oceans from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and our great majestic Great Lakes are unmatched anywhere. From British Columbia to Newfoundland, north to Nunavut, south to glorious Toronto and Niagara, east to Nova Scotia and PEI, west to the Okanagan Valley, our Canada is magnificent.

Especially from Spring to Fall for those of us whose blood bears the memories and joys of sunshine. Well, okay, I give you this – our Canadian-born, winter-loving children and grandchildren and those of you readers who have embraced our cold winters and love skiing, skating, building snow creations and taking walks in the crisp snow and face-awakening temperatures, I salute you! True tough Canadians you are!

But summer is my personal favourite. Every summer we as ex-pat South African Indians have a huge picnic in a large Toronto park thanks to a small group of dedicated organizers.

I should explain that the only, the absolute only silver-lining to the separate ethnic areas of the old apartheid South Africa were the strong bonds created amongst us Indians who were required to live only in specific areas together and not allowed to live in mixed ethnic areas. Hence, South African Indians, all with ancestors from India, bonded together. So this annual picnic in Toronto brings us as Canadians together to chat, reminisce, reconnect, play games, and hear about acquaintances “back home” even though for many of us Canada has been home for over half a century.

It’s a potluck picnic so we all cook and bring something which we place on long, heavily laden trestles. The food is out-of-this-world delicious. There are hors d’oeuvres, samosas, pakoras, pies, rotis, puris, main courses, biryanis, akhnis, barbecue meats, desserts to salivate over like ‘koeksisters’, and sodas, fruits and so many much-craved delicacies. And over this feast we sit on our folding chairs and picnic tables and chat, relax, laugh and enjoy. Try it with your community groups!

There are so many reasons to love our Canada! Recently, we saw a visceral awakening of our patriotism in the face of punishing treatment from a previously and historically friendly country that stabbed us in the back. Our government at all levels tried at first to be diplomatic (we are Canadian after all). But when that newly adversarial neighbour continued to stab with glee, our entire country stood firm and showed that we are not pushovers, we do not tolerate treachery.

Ontario secondary school teacher Gord Moran has written a rousing anti-tariff Canadian version of the 1978 Gloria Gaynor hit song I will Survive, which he titled We will Survive. His best friend Wayne McFaul produced the song with Ontario singer Sonya Zaback beautifully belting out this electrifying version found on YouTube (see saugeentimes.com). We don’t need slogans like “Make Canada Great Again,” we are already great! We are the true North strong and free.

Our scenery is spectacular and unmatched anywhere in the world. Then there are our spectacular sports, especially our winter sports in which our athletes literally shine on the world stage.

Our culture – be it the glorious, infinitely grounded indigenous pride or our hugely talented people in the fields of song, art, literature, science, – outshines the world quietly, not with huge noise and swagger but with the dignity of a truly, innately talented nation.

So let’s get out and proudly share this magnificent country of ours!

Dr Vicki Bismilla is a retired Superintendent of Schools and retired college Vice-President, Academic, and Chief Learning Officer. She has authored two books.