A year to remember in Canada
Author chronicles how the country changed for Centennial celebrations of 1967
So, have you started celebrating Canada 150 yet? Have you got a flag, a 24-pack of Molson Canadian and Ketchup chips ready to go?
Even if you do have all those and a wicked Canadian playlist (for the love of Gordie Howe don’t forget plenty of The Tragically Hip) ready to blast at a cabin on a lake, your celebrations, I’m afraid, might pale compared with what Canadians got up to 50 years ago when the Centennial rang in.
Author Tom Hawthorn, born in Montreal and lives in Victoria, looks back at Canada’s big Centennial embrace in his new book, The Year Canadians Lost Their Minds and Found Their Country: The Centennial of 1967.
From a bathtub race from Nanaimo across the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver, to a 104-day canoe pageant from the icy (literally, there was still ice in some spots) North Saskatchewan River to Expo 67 in Montreal, Canadians embraced the Centennial.
“There was the building of what is billed as a UFO landing pad in St. Paul Alta. That for sure was thought-up by guys in a pub,” said Hawthorn during a recent phone interview. “That is literally what happened — because UFOs are in the (news) paper. Essentially it is just a band shell in the middle of the town, but they still have tourists that come from all over the world to get their photos taken there.”
Of course, Hawthorn, who was “obsessed with Expo 67 as a boy in Montreal,” has a favourite celebratory story.
“The guy I hope that gets some attention out of this is a guy named Hank Gallant,” said Hawthorn about Gallant, then a 24-year-old labourer from P.E.I. who comes to B.C. to work. “He is moved by the spirit. He says, ‘I love this country, I’m going to walk across it.’ “
He packs a backpack complete with a sign that says, “Victoria to Bonivista, Centennial 67 Walker, No Rides Please.” Yes, Bonavista, N.L., was spelled wrong, but it appears no one had the heart to tell him.
On Feb. 6, he dipped his toe in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and 280 days later, on his 25th birthday, he dipped his foot in the Atlantic Ocean off St. John’s. N.L.
There were stories about Gallant, who to this day lives in Nail Pond, P.E.I., in newspapers across Canada.
“He has to stop every once and awhile and work because he runs out of money,” said Hawthorn. “But he never takes a vehicle or a bus or anything. He walks everywhere because he doesn’t want to end his walk across Canada. Which is totally insane.”
Insane, but dedicated, as is proven in Ottawa when he stopped for a bit and pulled out his guitar, and played for a few hippies sitting around a fountain. He sings, then promptly gets busted for vagrancy.
“They want him to go in the police car and he begs off,” said Hawthorn. “Gallant got his way and was allowed to walk to the police station, where he explains his story. They make a few phone calls and he is allowed to go on his way.”
Hawthorn asked Gallant what he learned from the experience, and don’t you just know it, the answer is completely Canadian.
“(Canada’s) not very small, I can tell you that,” said Gallant.
Hawthorn, a former reporter for The Province and an award-winning writer for many different publications, was inspired to do this book after he saw a friend’s Facebook post of a picture of Sovereign Saskatchewan’s wonderfully aged Centennial firehall.
“I thought that if the Centennial happened there it must have happened everywhere,” said Hawthorn, about the weathered hall that still supports the official Centennial symbol of the maple leaf made up of triangles. “Every hamlet, every crossroads, in fact, that was the case. I just started doing research and came across these crazy people that did crazy things, and I thought, ‘OK, that’s the story. How different Canada became in this one wacky year.’ “
Like a groovy (remember it was 1967) scrapbook, the book is packed with stories. Turn to any page and enjoy a fun, colourful tale of our bout of patriotism.
While singular Canadians rose to the occasion of the Centennial, Hawthorn makes it as clear as a prairie sky that the big birthday was also a big turning point for our collective Canadian character.
Yes, we came out of our attention-avoiding closets, shrugged off our heavy Hudson Bay blankets and said, ‘Here we are and we do cool stuff, too.’
“The Canada of 1968 was entirely different than the Canada of 1966,” said Hawthorn. “That’s the conceit of the book. In 1966, let’s look at it. Our political leaders are Lester Pearson, John Diefenbaker, Tommy Douglas and Real Caouette (leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada), about whom nobody has ever said they are sexy.
“Then in 1968 it’s Pierre Trudeau. I don’t think Trudeau happens without 1967. Without this national, yearlong celebration where Canadians make a lot of noise and talk about themselves and look at themselves, and decide that they like themselves.”
You can hear Hawthorn read and talk about more of the great, kooky Canadian Centennial celebrations on May 31, 6 p.m., at the Museum of Vancouver.
“The Canada of 1968 was entirely different than the Canada of 1966.” — TOM HAWTHORN MONTREAL-BORN, VICTORIA-BASED AUTHOR