This year on Canada Day, everything feels different. Not only because of the pandemic. Not only because I’m stuck at home by myself instead of leading a group of travelers on some epic adventure or going to a Canada Day fireworks celebration with a group of friends while – in either case – wearing a Canadian flag as a cape. But because I’m having trouble being proud of Canada at a time when a spotlight is being shone on the many injustices that have been and are continuing to be perpetrated in this country I call home. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Canada, and there’s still no place I’d rather be especially during these pandemic times (except maybe New Zealand… or space). But we have to do better. So, so much better. But how?
How do we break the moulds of racial injustice? This is a question that has been at the forefront of my mind for a good long while. How many lives and hearts and bodies have been broken in this country because of racial injustice? How do we break the mould of injustice so that it stops breaking us?
I am wrestling with these questions, but I do not have the answers. What I do know is that, like many of the societal challenges we face, it is not something that can be solved by one person in one go. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of listening, and a lot of learning, and a lot of love, and a lot of showing up… It takes an overwhelming amount of things.
It’s easy to become paralyzed by how overwhelming it is when you’re dealing with something so big.
But like any big important thing, it can only be done One Thing at a time.
Author Gary Keller’s words on productivity and prioritizing come to my mind: Focus on the One Thing.
What is the big picture? What is the One Thing?
In this case, the One Thing is to break the moulds of racial injustice.
So, what is the One Thing I can do Right Now to get closer to that big picture One Thing?
For me, Right Now, it is to write this post.
So I propose, instead of celebrating Canada this year, or instead of only celebrating Canada, we re-imagine Canada Day as “Do Better Day.”
What is One Thing you can do today to help break the moulds of racial injustice in Canada (or whatever place you live in)? What is One Thing you can do, to help the Canada we are supposed to be celebrating, do better?
Feel free to share your One Thing in the comments below! Not sure where to start? Here are a few ideas…
Breaking Moulds 
Stand up instead of just standing by when you witness injustice. Support the changes that need to happen and the organizations that are fighting to make them happen. 🙂
Acknowledge Canada is founded on breaking treaties with Indigenous peoples and to learn our own history. That’s two things.
Agreed! I have been learning so much the last few years in studying Canada’s stories as a tour guide… and it’s certainly not the glazed over history I learned in school. Grappling with how to share the real stories of “Canada” with travellers while also giving them a positive travel experience has been one of my big challenges…