July 1^st seems to be as big a holiday for the Canadians as our July 4^th is for the US.  

On Canada Day (formerly Dominion Day), most communities host organized celebrations, typically outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts, as well as citizenship ceremonies.

Apparently, there is no standard mode of celebration for Canada Day. Jennifer Welsh, a professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, said: “Canada Day, like the country, is endlessly decentralized. There doesn’t seem to be a central recipe for how to celebrate it—chalk it up to the nature of the federation.”

Well, this is how it’s celebrated in the Northwest Territories, specifically in Inuvik.  First, the parade line-up then the opening ceremonies:

Other parade participants included Randy in the ’52 International.  Randy is the one who let the guys use his shop for the water pump repair the day before.  Randy’s wife preferred to hitch a ride on Maxi.  And in Maxi’s back seat was Fred Church, artillery instructor.  (Pretty amazing chestful of medals!)

Maxi (being Maxi) accumulated more signatures:  Chris Garven and his wife Bev:

And members of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police signed.  That red jacket had to be pretty warm – I think the guys said the temperature was in the 90’s for the parade.

Then, there were many post-parade BBQ’s.  The guys were invited to this backyard BBQ:

The next post will cover the grand arrival in Tuktoyaktuk.