Connection and community care
Five Reasons We Can’t Celebrate Canada Today
Jul 1, 2025
By Harpreet Ahuja
Image taken from: Victoria Buzz (2020).
Canada Day is often wrapped in fireworks and festivities, celebrating our gratitude for living in a safe country that so many aspire to join. But for many this country is not safe, and these celebrations represent a painful reminder of injustice, systemic harm, and unfulfilled promises.
Canada Day Is a Time to Reflect And Act—Not to Celebrate, an opportunity to confront what true nationhood would look like, one rooted in accountability, justice, and care.
Indigenous Land and Lives Are Still Not Respected
The remains of Indigenous children from residential schools still haven’t all been returned. Land back efforts continue to be blocked. There is no true reconciliation without reparations and justice.The Foster Care System Funnels Indigenous Children Into Prisons
Many children in care are criminalized instead of cared for. Canada cannot celebrate while it continues to forcibly remove children from their families and communities, and then when they age out of care, warehouse them.Incarcerated Indigenous Peoples Face Inhumane Conditions
Solitary confinement, lack of mental health care, and systemic racism plague Canadian correctional institutions. Justice cannot be about punishment.Anti-Indigenous Racism Is Still Embedded in Our Institutions
From policing to education to health care, structural racism shapes outcomes for entire communities. Canada’s multicultural image often hides behind its colonial reality.There Is No Equity Without Structural Change And Integrity
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are buzzwords. Without accountability mechanisms and redistributive policies, EDI remains performative while exploiting and tokenizing the Indigenous Peoples they claim to serve.
While celebration may not be in order, you can use Canada Day as an opportunity to take a step toward justice with action.
These are five organizations where you can donate to or volunteer:
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada