Today’s quote is the last line of a video message from Canada’s Ambassador to the United States,
H.E. Kirsten Hillman
. In it, Ambassador Hillman speaks to the world – but especially to Canadians and Americans – from the rooftop of the Canadian Embassy, with the U.S. Capitol in the background.
Just as the history of the United States predates the Declaration of Independence by more than a hundred years, Canada’s story goes back much farther than 1867. But it is July 1,1867 that gave us Canada Day. That is when the Constitution Act of 1867 (then The British North America Act) took effect, and it was that Act of Parliament that effectively gave birth to the sovereign nation of Canada. There were other milestones before and since, lots of them, and the Wikipedia entry on
“Patriation”
has a useful list.
The celebrant today, though, is 21st century Canada, a country of nearly 38 million people with a total area of almost 3.9 million square miles. Only Russia is bigger, though in terms of land mass, Canada, China, and United States are all fairly close together.
In her Canada Day message, Ambassador Hillman took note of more than just the date. Because of COVID-19, this year is different, and the Embassy cannot host the kind of lively celebration this year that it did last. That was the first thing she talked about Yet the virus has served as a reminder of the close cooperation between the United States and Canada, from the “thousands of Canadian health care workers that cross into Michigan, New York State, and Washington State, every single day in order to care for American patients,” to the “wonderful” story she related of:
Some American bee keepers who worked with Canadian Airlines, farmers and agricultural experts to ensure that the queen bees that were needed for the pollination of Canadian crops this season made it to Canada in time, so that they could do their very important work.
USMCA
. Ambassador Hillman also took note of the fact that this day is a milestone for North American trade: As of today, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is now the law of the land in all three countries. In Canada, it is the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, but presumably the differences end there. We shall have more to say about USMCA in the days ahead. Here it is enough to quote Ambassador Hillman on the effort it took to achieve it. She said:
I would like to express my personal gratitude to our Mexican and our American friends for their devotion, hard work, and professionalism. We have now found ourselves with an agreement that is updated for the 21st century and that will provide vital stability and economic prosperity to Canadian workers, families and communities, and those that are also in the United States and Mexico.
She added that USMCA should help all three North American economies recover from the harm caused by COVID-19.
Lastly, looking ahead to this coming Saturday, Ambassador Hillman, spoke to Americans saying,
“I wish you a very, very joyful Independence Day.”
