This year marks 150 years since the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick formed the Canadian Confederation on 1st July 1867. And, while that date has always been a major time for Canadian pride, this year is extra special, making it a great time to visit.
To help you figure out just how to join in the celebrations, we’ve collected 13 ways to celebrate Canada on the cheap throughout the rest of 2017, with events taking places from Vancouver to Halifax and everywhere in between. Armed with this budget-friendly knowledge, now’s the time to book a flight. Luckily you’ve found yourself on Cheapflights.co.uk, where you can search for the best deals on flights, hotels and car hire around.
National: Take in Canada’s natural wonders for free
What better way to say “Happy Birthday, Canada” than by opening the country’s national parks to visitors, all for free? For all of 2017, Parks Canada is offering its Discovery Pass, which will allow visitors to enjoy national parks, national marine conservation areas and national historic sites across the country, free of charge.
Toronto: Attend (possibly) the largest rock performance ever
Canada Rocks 150 is a not-for-profit group in Toronto aiming to drum up 1,500 musicians – from vocalists to keyboardists, guitarists and more – from across Canada and the rest of the world to break the Guinness World Record for most participants in a band, performing a set list of four iconic Canadian rock songs. Their GoFundMe page hopes to raise $10,000 to put on the production, with the overall goal of raising CA $150,000 to benefit the musical charity, MusiCounts. Canada Rocks 150 is up against stiff competition; the current record is held by the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy, which held a performance featuring 953 participating musicians.
National: Follow the Canadian mosaic program
Art can be a great way to bring people together, so the artists and community builders at Canada 150 Mosaic have been teaming up and recruiting communities and Canadians across the country to lend their walls, their artistic abilities and, in some cases, their faces to help in a national art project. A handful of communities in each Canadian province and territory will create a mural in their town, which will be made up of between 400 and 750 individually painted tiles depicting that community’s interpretation of a train moving through town. Individually, each mural will be a symbolic representation of the local community, but, they will also each be individual “storybook pages” that, as a whole, show the train on its journey across the country. So far, 27 murals have been revealed, with the rest rolling out throughout the year.
Montreal: Celebrate Montreal’s 375th birthday
Canada isn’t the only one with a big birthday this year. On 17th May, Montreal celebrates 375 years since French missionaries landed on its shores. While it’s no 400th birthday, the city’s 375th anniversary falls in the same years as the 50th anniversary of Expo 67, as well as the country’s 150th, and that’s all the reason they need to celebrate. Head to Montreal anytime this year for events ranging from concerts and art exhibitions to an interactive lighting project at the city’s Jacques-Cartier Bridge. The bridge’s transformation will be revealed on 17th May, the day of the anniversary.
Toronto & Ottawa: Walk through open doors
Doors Open Toronto and Doors Open Ottawa are set to welcome both residents and visitors with free access to architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings, monuments and landmarks across their cities. Doors Open Toronto will take place on Saturday 27th-28th May. This year’s theme is Fifteen Decades of Canadian Architecture and features highlights from each decade since the 1860s. Since it began 18 years ago, Doors Open Toronto has become the largest such event in Canada, and one of the three largest Doors Open events in the world, and has attracted more than two million visitors to nearly 700 locations across Toronto. Doors Open Ottawa will take place on 3rd-4th June, offering visitors a free opportunity to explore significant buildings in Canada’s capital. Take advantage of Doors Open Ottawa’s free Shuttle Bus service.
Ottawa: Get to know Our Stories with a visit to the National Gallery
Canada 150 Mosaic isn’t the only art project aimed at bringing Canadians together this year. Throughout 2017, Ottawa’s National Gallery will host “Our Masterpieces, Our Stories,” a celebration of art in Canada, that puts visitors in touch with the legends and stories that have shaped Canada’s cultural heritage. Special exhibitions will include displays of contemporary art and photography, as well as a new take on Canadian Indigenous Galleries, housed in a reinvented exhibition space. Being called the “heart of the story,” the Canadian Indigenous Galleries will open its doors on 15th June. The cost of admission to the National Gallery is CA $12 for adults, CA $10 for seniors and students and CA $6 for children aged 12-19. Members and children age 11 and under are free.
Ottawa: Welcome the world
Like any good celebration, a birthday is best when shared with friends. So the city of Ottawa is opening its doors to any and all visitors with Ottawa Welcomes the World, a series of events throughout the year featuring programming from partnerships between the City of Ottawa and its many international embassies. Events with partner embassies include Turkey (events from 23rd-25th April ), Ireland (16th June), India (29th September) and dozens more. The calendar of free events aim to “promote and strengthen ties between nations on the occasion of Canada’s 150th anniversary,” and will feature food tastings, musical celebrations, artistic performances and more.
Ottawa: Tiptoe through the tulips
Despite having plenty to celebrate this year, Ottawa will continue its tradition of paying homage to its official flower, the tulip, which it has been recognising every year since 1953 with the Canadian Tulip Festival. Unique to this year’s festival is the Canada 150 tulip, a special kind of tulip breed that strongly resembles the maple leaf flag. Around 300,000 of these unique flowers will be showcased at the free event, which runs from 12th-22nd May. Visitors and residents are invited to tour any of the three tulip gardens, find entertainment in a variety of musical acts and flower arrangement workshops and celebrate Canada’s symbols both large and small with an impressive display of fireworks. Why the tulip? The flower has been symbolic in Ottawa since 1945 when 100,000 tulips bulbs were sent as a gift to the Canadian people by Princess Juliana of the Netherlands who wanted to express her gratitude for sheltering her and her children during the Second World War and for Canada’s role in liberating her homeland.
Victoria: Spirit of 150 Victoria festival
While it’s clear that Ottawa is excited about Canada’s 150th, other cities are getting in on the fun too. From 21st June to Canada Day, the city of Victoria will host Spirit of 150 Victoria, 11 days of free outdoor events in the city’s Inner Harbour. The event will commemorate multicultural artistry on a national and citywide level, featuring live music, activities and a diverse sampling of food, before culminating in the main stage programming and fireworks display on 1st July. The full schedule has yet to be announced.
Vancouver: Celebrate 150 years, plus
To both celebrate this year’s major anniversary and acknowledge the vast history that existed across this land before 1867, the city of Vancouver is hosting an event called Canada 150+, which will feature community strengthening events throughout 2017. Major events will include the Gathering of Canoes in Vancouver Park and a 10-day festival in downtown Vancouver, both to take place in July, as well as a Walk for Reconciliation set for September. The city of Vancouver says the events will allow residents and visitors to “engage in the vibrant interactive programming of traditional and contemporary Indigenous performances, arts and crafts, culture, fashion, feasts, music and multimedia.”
National: Immerse yourself in a cinematic view of Canada
Chosen as a signature project of Canada 150, SESQUI is an immersive cinematic experience, giving viewers a “ journey into the heart and soul of this great country, powered by advanced technology.” SESQUI features a full dome, surrounding visitors with 360 degrees of virtual reality storytelling, interactive content, online activities and learning programs showcasing the best in Canadian art and innovation in an engaging and creative way. The SESQUI dome and its feature film, Horizon, will be paying visits to communities across Canada throughout the upcoming year. It’s hard to simply sum up all that the SESQUI project is, so visit its website to get a better understanding.
Quebec City: Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta
There’s more to Canada than just the land. In fact, in celebration of Canadian waters, more than 40 Tall Ships will be making their way around Canada, with stops in more than 35 different ports, as part of the international Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ship Regatta. The race begins in England on 13th April and finishes in France between 31st August and 3rd September, making stops in Portugal, Bermuda, the United States and Canada along the way. The ships are scheduled to arrive in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 30th June and will sail into Quebec City for an event-filled celebration from 18th-23rd July. Along the way, the fleet will stop in 30 Canadian ports, including a final stop in Halifax before crossing back to France in the last leg of the race.
National: Get your Canadian movie fix
Movie lovers, rejoice. 19th April is National Canadian Film Day 150, that is a chance to see the best of Canada from the big screen. To mark the sesquicentennial, REEL Canada is organising this nationwide film fest of top Canadian cinema. Look for showings online, that are taking place across theatres, libraries, city parks and public venues in communities across the country. There’s no better way to celebrate the deep entertainment talent of Canada than with a national day at the movies.
Ready to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday? Then head on over to Cheapflights.co.za and start searching for flights.
