Yesterday was Commonwealth Day, which doesn't really mean anything in Canada apart from some Government buildings flying the Union flag alongside the Canadian flag. i'm not really sure what the day is supposed to commemorate though. Maybe how our country was "founded" and colonised by the British (and French)? It's strange because even though Canada is part of the Commonwealth and the Queen appears on all our money and we subsequently receive her Christmas Day message, you almost forget that she is the head of our country and Government.In 1986 i remember having to sing "God Save the Queen" every Friday morning in Mrs. Lawlor's Grade 2 class after singing "O Canada". We would stand beside our desk as the National Anthem crackled over the PA system. Afterward we would turn to the photograph of the Queen, which leaned against the wall in the corner of the room on some shelves, and sing at the picture of her Highness in her crown and furs as she stood on some steps.
Why we had to sing it every Friday, i have no idea but Bob (Bitterqueen/Coco) can confirm it because he suffered through it as well. Being 7 years old, however, we didn't really question why our pro-monarchy teacher made us sing it; i remember just liking the idea of singing at some lady draped in pretty jewels, furs, and velvet and wanting to wear her "costume".
i suppose being part of the Commonwealth has its benefits - for example, i wouldn't have been able to get a UK Ancestry Visa if it weren't for my Welsh Grandmother and being
The Queen in Canada:
Whatever you may think of Pierre Trudeau, i will always love him for doing a Pirouette behind the Queen's back (and for the 1982 patriation of the Charter of Rights and Freedom, of course. Dude was even blacklisted from entering the US in the 1950s. Trudeau ruled!)Rick Mercer on the Queen
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