Feel like I might’ve posted a pic from this photo shoot before but still love it (and believe it or not, I still have that shirt though it’s migrated from “suitable for a casual photo shoot” to “wear it camping while sitting around the fire, may have a few burn holes”!)
In case, the link dies, the top 3 are:
Vermont (66%)
Massachusetts (62%)
Maine (62%)
…and the bottom three are:
Arkansas (34%)
Alabama (33%)
Mississippi (30%)
Keeping in mind we have different political climate, vaccine procurement levels and numerous other factors that prevent this from being a true apples to apples comparison.
Three years ago, I was placing second in our campground’s annual “Canada Day Decorating” contest.
This year?
Don’t really feel like decorating too much (though I did have a few ideas to subvert the contest but couldn’t find 751 orange helium balloons in time!) 🙁
At the risk of sounding like somebody on /r/entlightenedcentrism, I’m not sure completely canceling Canada Day celebrations is the right answer, even given the recent horrible discoveries of hundreds of kids buried in unmarked graves near residential schools across Canada (with likely hundreds and thousands more to come). Some places have tried to “thread that needle” – Melville’s statement about postponing their celebrations was good for instance and Stoughton also decided to proceed but only after consulting with nearby First Nations and adding a moment of reflection to their existing program.
Part of the reason I think this is the way to go is there is already a lot of attention on so-called “cancel culture” so when the right brands anything as being “canceled”, you immediately have a big wall against reaching people who may otherwise be open to the idea that, you know, taking kids from their parents then burying them in unmarked graves is bad.
Not everybody is going to be wearing an orange t-shirt or dropping off backpacks at the Legislature today but trying to move those who aren’t doing that along the path to a greater understanding is important.
Another related thing that I think would be a great move for the future would be to make June 21, which is already National Indigenous Day, a national holiday so the entire focus on the day could be on both the historic and current mistreatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada but also the important and growing role that First Nations people are playing in Canada’s successes.
Anyhow, Shea and I *are* wearing orange t-shirts at our campground which is in the heart of one of Saskatchewan’s most conservative areas today. We’ll see how it goes…
