Canadian Holidays: Thanksgiving & Halloween

I often get asked if Canadians celebrate certain holidays the same way Americans do, so I decided to start blogging about holidays in Canada as they come about (instead of writing a big blog post about all of them at once, which would probably be massive). There are a lot of commonalities between many US and Canadian holidays in general; however, there are also differences in how and when these holidays are celebrated, some differences being minor and some major. Additionally, Canada also has its own unique holidays that are recognized at a federal and/or provincial level (such as BC Day, which I believe I wrote about before).

Some are probably wondering why I listed Thanksgiving before Halloween in the title of this post. Unlike Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving in late November, modern day Canadians have officially had Thanksgiving (called Jour de l'Action de grâce in Canadian French) on the second Monday in October since the Canadian Parliament proclaimed it a federal holiday in 1957. Therefore, in case you're having what I like to call "a bad brain day," this means that Thanksgiving occurs before Halloween in Canada.

Even though Thanksgiving is officially on a Monday, Canadians have their Thanksgiving feast (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc.) on any day of the 3 day weekend, with Sunday and Monday being the most popular. Popular modern American Thanksgiving traditions, such as parades and football games, have been incorporated into Canadian traditions over the years. The only parade that is broadcast nationwide on Thanksgiving Day in Canada is a parade called the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest parade, which is part of the annual Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest festival, celebrated in the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario. I fail to see the connection between this festival and Thanksgiving except for the fact that it is nationally televised on the nationally-recognized holiday and supposedly a lot of people watch it on that holiday (even though Jeff has never even heard of it). This is definitely a "Canadian Oddity."

The Canadian Football League (in case you didn't know, Canadians have their own football league that plays under slightly different rules than the American NFL) holds a nationally-televised doubleheader known as the "Thanksgiving Day Classic". The teams that play on Thanksgiving Day vary from year to year.

The concept of Thanksgiving in Canada and United States is basically the same, but the history behind the holiday differs. I won't go into much depth as it would make for a long, boring post, but in short--let it be first noted that the First Nations peoples of Canada (referring to the Aboriginal peoples of Canada) had regular feasts in thanksgiving and celebration of successful harvests centuries before the Europeans set foot in North America (so there). The first celebration of Thanksgiving by a European in Canada was held in 1578 (the first in the US was held in 1621) by an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a feat that explorers before him had failed miserably (meaning they died trying). Since he returned safely from his search (although he didn't find what's now officially known as the Northwest Passage--in fact, it wasn't successfully navigated until 1906), he held a celebration to give thanks for his successful homecoming, although I cannot find anything that says any First Nations peoples attended or were even invited to this event. Interestingly though, Thanksgiving-like feasts were also held by French Settlers in Canada, who apparently happily shared their food with their First Nations neighbors.

Anywho, that's probably more than anyone wanted to know about Thanksgiving in Canada, so onto Halloween. Luckily (as I'm kind of sick of writing for today), Halloween is "celebrated" in the same way in Canada as it is in the US and has the same historical roots. However, to provide a significant historical event pertaining to Halloween: this is the first time Jeff and I will be handing out candy together to trick-or-treaters since we've been married. Last year, none came to our door since the porch light wasn't on (I was not aware of this rule, although I believe Jeff was...shady), so we ate all the candy ourselves. I just took the picture above of our neighbor's Halloween decor. It looks like it probably lights up when plugged in, but I didn't have the guts to run to the neighbor's door and plug it in (maybe I'll take another picture tonight when it's lit up). ;)

Canada's "Think Pink" Quarter

How cool is this? Jeff and I just came across a Canadian quarter with the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon printed on it, and I, of course, had to investigate. I had to steal this picture from the CBC (sorry, please don't sue me) because my camera wouldn't pick up such small details, but I just had to share it, especially because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, both in the US and Canada.

These "Think Pink" quarters have actually been in circulation for a few years already (since 2006), so it's pretty ironic that we came across one for the first time this particular month.

You can read more about these cool coins on the CBC's website here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/03/31/pink-quarter060331.html

The Difference is in the Cookies

"Do you guys know where I can find a good Girl Scout?" I asked my American coworkers one day out of the blue. At the time, I was having a mad craving for some Carmel deLites (aka Samoas) but had no idea where (or should I say, from whom) to get them. They turned from their desks to give me the usual "Is this girl serious?" look, but then we all started doing research on how to find a local Girl Scout to get me some cookies (true story).

Having been a Girl Scout for many years during my childhood, I should have remembered that Girl Scouts only sell cookies during a certain time of the year, officially known as "Cookie Season." At that particular time, unfortunately, Girl Scout Cookies were not in season, so I had to settle for a Snickers.

Had I been smart, I would have thought to research when the Girl Guides, Canada's version of the Girl Scouts, sell their cookies. I had heard of Canada's Girl Guides before but thought they were just an identical version of the US's Girl Scouts that probably just copy everything the American Girl Scouts do. Wrong! True, they do have many similarities and common origins; however, they are not exactly the same and are actually completely separate entities, each with its own surprisingly rich and long history.

Canada's Girl Guides and America's Girl Scouts organizations were actually both inspired by a movement in England in 1909. According to the "History of Guiding" article on the Girl Guides Website, a British Army General, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, wrote a series of articles on scouting based on techniques he learned and used when fighting in the South African Wars. These articles were published in 1908 in some English boy's magazine, which inspired boys to start "scouting" on their own, engaging in activities that included stalking, tracking, first aid, and even stopping runaway horses and supposedly rescuing people from burning buildings (I sort of question the last one, but you never know). Anyways, these scouting activities became so popular by 1909 that a rally was held in London at which 11,000 boys turned up. To everyone's astonishment, a surprisingly large number of girls also showed up, "stuck it to the man" and demanded entry into the rally. Apparently these bad ass gals had also read the articles and had been scouting in secret. To make a long story short, even though scouting wasn't considered "ladylike" at that time in history, the General was nonetheless impressed by the girls and asked his sister to create a program just for them, thereby starting the Girl Guiding Movement. From that point on, the General's sister and wife relentlessly toured the country to promote the Movement wherever they went, even teaching girls how to bandage the wounds of soldiers during World War I! Canada's Girl Guides came into existence in 1910 (whereas the first American Girl Scout troop was formed in 1912) and many other similar Girl Guide/Scout troops popped up in various other countries around the world around that time as well.

To reduce the risk of continuing to be boring, I'm going to stop with the historical mumbo jumbo and just record my own observations from this point forward. From what I can tell, the Girl Scouts and Girl Guides operate on similar principles, engage in similar activities (camping, volunteering, arts and crafts, etc), and most importantly: they both sell cookies. However, when grocery shopping yesterday, Jeff and I came across some Girl Guides selling the aforementioned cookies. Upon leaving the grocery store, I whipped out my loonies and asked what kind of cookies they had. To my disappointment, they were only selling one variety: "Chocolatey Mint". Huh? No Carmel deLites? No Peanut Butter Patties? Apparently, Canadian Girl Guides only sell 3 varieties of cookies: Chocolately Mint, Classic Chocolate and Classic Vanilla. The picture above shows me holding the Chocolately Mint variety in their special 100th Anniversary box. Since this picture was taken about 15 minutes ago, I have sampled quite a few of these Chocolately Mint cookies, purely for the purpose of writing this blog post, of course. They're not bad, but they're no Thin Mint. According to the official US Girl Scout Cookie Website where you can "Meet the Cookies" and "See the Cookie Video", there are currently 11 different varieties of cookies, including a reduced fat cinnamon-flavored cookie called a "Daisy-Go-Round." Even though some varieties have been added, discontinued, or changed since I was a Girl Scout, there continues to be quite the range of flavors, whereas the Canadian Girl Guide cookies are kind of...well...boring (no offence Girl Guides).

However different the cookies may be, the missions of each the Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada and the Girl Scouts of the USA organizations are essentially the same: to enable girls to be confident, resourceful and courageous in order to make the world a better place. For little girls, the seemingly-simplistic task of selling cookies takes each of those attributes to be successful (unless your parents just pass the order form around at work, which neither of my parents ever did, much to my benefit, even though I didn't look it that way at the time). I remember it taking a lot of courage to knock on some stranger's door in my dorky snowsuit and moon boots, introduce myself, and ask them to order cookies; however, I also recall how empowered I felt when I finally had that long list of orders, and at the end of "Cookie Season", that feeling of empowerment is all that mattered and is probably all that matters to the Girl Scouts and Girl Guides of today.

LGBT Rights: Canada vs. the US

Since I moved to Canada, I've often wondered about differences between the US and Canada's laws when it comes to protecting their LGBT populations but never really researched the topic in depth. On the surface, it's amazing to me that even though the countries appear to be so similar in numerous ways, same-sex marriage has been recognized in Canada at a federal level since 2005 (at a provincial level in 8 out of 10 provinces and 1 out of 3 territories since 2003), whereas in the United States, I don't feel as though the federal government is anywhere near passing this sort of legislation (we couldn't even get the Equal Rights Amendment passed for heaven's sake). Currently in the US, same-sex marriages are legally recognized in 5 states and D.C. (ironic, eh?); however, these marriages aren't in any way, shape or form recognized by the US federal government. Additionally, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law passed in the US in 1996, legislates that no state is required to recognize a same-sex marriage that may be recognized as a same-sex marriage in another state and explicitly defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman under federal law.

The differences between the federal laws and policies in the US and Canada related to LGBT rights go far beyond legislation surrounding the recognition same-sex marriage. The following are a few more comparisons of federal laws and policies (not state laws) related to LGBT rights (or lack thereof) in Canada and the United States:

Right #1: Allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military

US: Restricted under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a policy restricting efforts to discover or reveal closeted gay service members, while barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service. This policy is currently under review for elimination (thank GOD).

Canada: Legal since 1992

Right #2: Allowing same-sex sexual activity

US: Legal since 2003

Canada: Legal since 1969

Right #3: Allowing same-sex couples to adopt

US: None for couples at the federal level, although single gay persons may adopt.

Canada: There is no federal or provincial law preventing same-sex couples to adopt.

Right #4: Recognition of same-sex unions

US: Not recognized by the federal government.

Canada: Recognized by the federal government.

Right #5: Recognition of same-sex marriages

US: None at the federal level.

Canada: In 2005, Canada became the 4th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriages nationwide.

Right #6: Protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual-orientation

US: None at the federal level; however, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Protection Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in October of last year, provides penalties for hate crimes motivated by perceived sexual orientation under federal law.

Canada: Bans all anti-gay discrimination at the federal level, including hate speech.

I should mention that I am by no means an expert on this topic and am starting to get overwhelmed by its complexity as I write this, but in honor of National Coming Out Day and as a supporter of legislative protection (at both state/provincial and federal levels) and equal rights of LGBT persons worldwide, I would just like to point out how polarized the laws are (especially at the federal level) pertaining to LGBT rights between countries with such supposedly-similar cultures. This is not to say there is no room for improvement of the treatment of the LGBT population in Canada, nor am I saying was there no struggle involved in obtaining these rights in Canada, nor am I ignoring the progress and efforts that have been made in the US to improve and protect the treatment of its LGBT population (efforts of which I once took part myself). Nonetheless, I think some sort of awareness should be made and some sort of explicative be used when looking at the vast difference between the way each country protects (or doesn't protect) the civil liberties of its people, no matter their sexual preference or gender identity.