According to simplypsychology.org, in social psychology, a stereotype is a fixed, over-generalized belief about a particular group or class of people. As Canadians, we are stereotyped across the globe as a hockey-loving, beer-drinking, polite group of people who know each other by name and live on a frozen tundra in igloos. A nation that is typically welcomed with open arms as neighbours around the world but recently we’ve been exposed to our own sorted history through the tragic treatment of Indigenous people in our own backyards. As we approach Canada’s birthday, we are taking the time to listen and reflect as we learn how to break the cycles and reinvent these stereotypes and more for the better.
The fact is most of us do love a good hockey game. We enjoy vigorously cheering on our favourite team, whether it’s from the bench or our family room couch, and we’d gladly do it with an ice-cold pint in our hands whenever possible. Sometimes we drink imported beer, but let’s be frank, we’ll drink suds from any local craft brewing company or big brewery. Just make them cold!
We are polite which has led to many Canadian standoffs (2 cars at an intersection saying to each other – “no, you go”). And while we do have our differences, this is an amazing place to call home. We love this land. Measuring from coast to coast, it’s a staggering 9,306 km wide. It has paved roads and many highways, including the Trans-Canada spanning over 7,800 km. This land has over 21,300 named majestic mountains, 563 refreshing lakes, and the longest, most glorious coastline in the world. We have 4 distinct seasons. We live in houses, not igloos and if we connected with each other over Facebook, we’d have over 37 million friends! But hey, we have other things to do than surf the net, we enjoy adventures - hiking, sailing, riding our bikes or just soaking up the sun on a local beach.
Our sense of community and compassion is what stands out on the world stage and it’s time we do the same from within for each other as Canadians regardless of our heritage, race, creeds, colours or beliefs. While we as a nation are trying to listen, make amends where we can, it’s the collective effort of our people that make Canada what it is today and what it will become moving forward. We believe in the power of our people, our intentions, our heart and while humbled that’s why we still celebrate all the things this country is a-boot (I mean, about).
The possibilities for fun this Canada Day weekend are endless, just like the possibilities for creative thinking from the folks at New Moon Ideas. Here at NMI, we embrace fresh, exciting, and thoughtful ideas. We enjoy putting our Canadian spin on the regular to make it contemporary and relatable to others. We’re the force behind soul marketing. We’re not inventing the proverbial wheel, but we are improving it. And we're great at what we do. But we need time to recharge and we're looking forward to July 1st to do just that.
Happy Canada D’eh to all our fellow Canucks – all 37 million of them. And 'welcome' to all our global neighbours!
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