Canada's Birthday

On July 1st, 1867 Canada officially became a country. Time to celebrate!

Actually, Canada hasn't always celebrated its birthday.  Even though we became a country in 1867, it wasn't until 1879 that the day became a holiday called Dominion Day (in honour of how we used to be called the Dominion of Canada).  That means that we didn't celebrate Canada's birthday until it was turning twelve!

 

 

Canada Fun Celebrate Canada See what fun activities are planned to celebrate our country this year. Confederation for Kids Learn more about how Canada became a country and grew to be as big as it is today. Canada Day Crafts Get in the celebratory spirit with some fun crafts and activities!

Even though the day became a national holiday, Dominion Day wasn't really celebrated with the big parties and fireworks that we have these days.  In fact, they only really started doing something special to celebrate in 1968, when they started having festivals on Parliament Hill.  It took until 1980 (that's only 25 years ago!) before the government started to encourage different towns and cities across the country to have their own celebrations.  It was on October 27, 1982, when we officially changed the name of our holiday from Dominion Day to Canada Day, which is what we call it today.

Now that you know a little bit more about Canada Day, help celebrate our country's 138th birthday!  Make crafts, go see some fireworks, sing O Canada, and make sure to wear your red and white!