It has been a while since I have written a post about Food Festivals but I went to one in North York that sparked my frustration. I put up a rant on Instagram that I have since deleted after getting a reply from someone I know who didn't understand the point I was trying to make and thought I was being ignorant. So I decided to take more time and reword what I was trying to say properly.
I decided to go to the Sweets Festival on Canada Day at Mel Lastman Square because it's within walking distance and I wanted to get out for a bit.
It said there were games and stuff for the kids, Canadian treats, and more. Ok, so I thought maybe there will be things like butter tarts or something, who knows. Well, the most Canadian thing at that festival was me, Canadian-born wearing a red and white shirt and holding a little Canadian flag that they handed out.
Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to do a festival but this festival was not what I thought from the advertising and from what Canada Day events there were like in the past. In previous years there were fireworks, and food trucks including ice cream trucks on the street. There were all types of vendors and there were more Canadian-influenced things there.
There was a Sweets Festival at David Pecaut Square in the past and I thought that was going to be there in a small way but the closest thing to sweets was mochi donuts and something in a coconut bowl. The vendors were some of the same vendors that had been at the last few Asian festivals so not a whole lot of new things to see and not a whole lot of Canada Day besides the flags and a string activity for the kids but I am not even sure what they were making.
I made a stupid reference in my rant about taking away Indigenous culture from the kids who were taken away from their families by the Canadian Government. In no way do I think that was right and to me, there is no difference in the generational trauma that the Indigenous people experienced from the people of the holocaust to the black people during slavery. It was all a loss of freedom, lives, everything they owned, and who they were. No one was worse than the other one for the people experiencing that trauma in their family. I can honestly say that as the daughter of a holocaust survivor. It leaves lifelong scars even though they can't be seen in most cases.
The point I was trying to make in my post was that since Canada is trying to do reconciliation for the human rights violations against the Indigenous people we are throwing the baby out with the bath water so to speak and basically erasing any good that was celebrated on Canada Day in the past. Their people must receive reconciliation but I don't think that should negate showing pride in being Canadian and the other great things we have in Canada. We have the right to protest which some countries do not have. For a large country, we have shrunk our pride out of shame. We have so many huge global artists such as Drake, Justin Bieber, the Weeknd, Celine Dion, Michael Buble, Shania Twain, Rush, Avril Lavigne and on and on. We have great artists and fashion designers. We have great actors, Donald Sutherland who just passed, Ryan Reynolds, Jim Carrey, Ryan Gosling, Christopher Plummer and so many more.
We also have innovative design engineers who can develop space products.
Sports, we have the Raptors who flooded the city when they won a few years ago.
We have some of the best restaurants, and they are finally getting recognized by the Michelin Guide.
- Poutine
- Ketchup Chips
- Caesar's
- Coffee Crisp
- Hawaiian Pizza
- Sushi Pizza
- Nanaimo bars
and we are known for Butter Tarts and the shop on every corner Tim Horton's.
We invented the basketball net, Hockey, Garbage bags, the insulin process, and Ginger Ale.
I wanted to see some of this somewhere in Toronto but I couldn't find it.
This festival had Bao buns, Mochi donuts, squid on a stick, Filipino turon and pork on a stick, bubble tea, and succulents.
This does not scream Canadian sweet treats to me. There are festivals at the square almost every weekend throughout the summer. There have been many vendors that have returned for multiple different festivals. So far there has been a night market, a Taiwanese festival, a Chinese Festival and there will be a Korean festival and a Hawaiian festival. That's fantastic and I want to see all these cultures and their food showcased at each festival and not a mish-mash of different Asian things that dilute the name of the festival and the education of what each culture's influences are.
On Canada Day I wanted to see something that represented the great things in Canada. I didn't see any of the musical acts and never heard of the ones listed on the program but there could have been future stars I don't know of but it would have been nice to see one well-known maybe not global superstar head an evening performance.
The fact that the fireworks are gone from Mel Lastman Square but taken over but families all over Willowdale now should provide them with a bit of money to do a bit more.
I am sure the kids were happy with the bouncy castles and the ice cream from a food truck but, as an adult who is a resident of the area was hoping for more.
I love all the different festivals in the city, that's what I live for when I have free time but I don't want to lose what being a Canadian is and showing pride and celebrating the good things in this city because life has become tough in the past 10 years, we have lost a lot of the Canada the Good and we need to find a way to see it come back.
The Americans go all out for the 4th of July so I would love to see Canada have that reputation and build its identity as something other than we are nice people.
This is my opinion. You are entitled to yours but please don't insult me for expressing how I feel about the changes I have seen over the past few years. We have become a divided Country where your opinion just cancels you instead of fostering a civilized discussion. We need to learn how to speak without being offended and discuss instead of cancel.
