It’s Canada Day (formerly Dominion Day), a federal holiday celebrating the first united Canadian provinces. It’s also the celebration day for Canada becoming an independent country in 1982, before which it was still considered under British rule (now it is “freely associated’ with Britain instead).
In honor of Canada Day, here are some rando factoids about Canada’s accomplishments for your trivia pleasure. While you are guffawing about Canada producing the largest number of sports-mascot costumes in the world, please also remember that Canadian doctors figured out how to mass-produce insulin and an immigrant to Canada invented the first AIDS “drug cocktail” that made long-term survivability possible.
Meanwhile, here in Québec, people would really like the provinces to be less united–specifically, Québec would like to be less united with the ROC. Polls say most Quebeckers would rather remain part of the Canadian confederation but it’s clear that separatism still looms large in the province’s ruling party platform.
Though there will be some Canada Day fireworks and events here in La Belle Province, most Québécois will be focusing their energy on Moving Day, a quirky throwback to a 17th-century Quebec civil law that required most legal agreements in the province, including leases, to begin and end on May 1st.
This was ostensibly to help prevent tenant farmers from being evicted in the wintertime, but because May 1st was during the school year and children were impacted, in the 1970s the Québec government rescinded the law and moved Moving Day to July 1st.
Which just happened to coincide with Dominion Day aka Canada Day.
Though it’s no longer a law in Québec that leases begin on July 1st, Moving Day remains as a tradition that both wreaks havoc and builds community spirit. Though moving vans prices can jump 300% and parking one is a nightmare, everyone joins in to help neighbors and friends, hauling refrigerators or cribs or trash up and down the city’s ubiquitous metal stairs.
The traditional reward is pizza and maybe a beer, accompanied by a grateful if weary smile.
For the Montréalais, Moving Day is an annual opportunity to s’entraider, or help each other out–to show friends and neighbors they care. Maybe the stress, expense, and chaos of Moving Day make that demonstration of team spirit even sweeter.
And a little pizza à partager couldn’t hurt.
