What happens when Canada Day comes ’round and there aren’t any other Canadians to celebrate with?
A lot of virtual celebration, that’s what: messages in social media, reading Canadian websites and news articles online, that sort of thing. It’s a day off for Canadian residents, and with it being a Friday this year, the weekend is extended. Friends are outside, having picnics and barbecues or traveling. There are fireworks, parties, and lots of red and white. This, by the way, is my favorite version of the Canadian flag.
Notably, this is the first Canada Day for many Syrian refugees. (This story totally made me tear up.) And there are refugees in Canada who are from other countries besides Syria, celebrating their first Canada Day.
I got to know one of them, an Eritrean named Daniel Semere, while we were in Malta last year on our anniversary/my birthday trip. At the time he’d been in Malta for five years, trying to immigrate to Canada. He even had sponsors, but his application was rejected on the basis that he’d landed in Europe, and that was considered a “durable solution”. It wasn’t until a month or so after I met him that he got another chance, when his sponsors were able to push for an appeal and he was given an interview with a Canadian visa officer to Italy who agreed to meet him in Malta. After his interview, he was finally accepted to Winnipeg last summer and arrived in April this year, once the paperwork and typical screening was complete. You can read more about him in this Winnipeg Free Press article published in May, a follow-up to two articles about him by Carol Sanders last year, published in July and August. (I’ve added his name and story in the hopes that prospective employers may find this blog post — feel free to contact me — and that it helps Daniel gain meaningful employment, since he is new to Canada and needs references.)
Happy Canada Day to all Canadians, soon-to-be Canadians, and Canadians-in-progress and spirit! I toast your health and prosperity by raising my new tin of Canada Grade A 100% maple syrup, gifted to me a few days ago by fellow Canadians from New Brunswick visiting Porto. What could be more Canadian than maple syrup, right?