What better way to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday than with an epic journey from coast to coast?
The Canada C3 expedition is a journey from Toronto to Vancouver via the Northwest passage on-board a Canadian icebreaker. It’s designed to connect Canadians through experiences, stories and ideas, and on Monday, it arrived in Halifax.
“It’s a journey of many things,” said C3 founder and expedition leader, Geoff Green.
“It’s a journey of reconciliation, it’s a journey of education, youth engagement, environment, science and celebrating diversity and inclusion in Canada.”
READ MORE: Cross-Canada expedition reaches out to Montreal Mohawks
The expedition began in Toronto on June 1. Green says already, the expedition has surpassed his wildest expectations.
“It’s been very emotional at times,” he said.
“There’s been lots of tears and joys and laughter. We’ve been learning a lot about our country, the people in our country, about the discussion of where we’re going.”
The expedition is divided into 15, 10-day legs, picking up and dropping off a diverse group of participants along the way.
“They’re teachers, they’re scientists, musicians, artists, botanists, Indigenous leaders, youth leaders,” said Green.
“They’re there not as passengers, but they’re on-board this journey to share this amazing mission with Canadians.”
READ MORE: Icebreaker C3 cruising the Northwest Passage from Toronto to Victoria for Canada 150
The Canada C3 project was built on three major themes: reconciliation, youth engagement, diversity and inclusion and the environment.
Jane Hamilton of Oakville, Ont., was chosen as one of the 300 lucky participants from across the country and said so far, it’s the people that make this trip worthwhile.
“We were thrown together as strangers dealing with some pretty heavy topics,” said Hamilton.
“But everyone has been extremely warm and accepting and willing to listen, and I think its been a great opportunity to get the reconciliation message out and to discuss it and talk about what Canada is and where it needs to go.”
READ MORE: Canada is 150 and still needs to face its racism problem: advocates
There are also a number of Youth Ambassadors on-board, including 22 year old James Infante of Vancouver, B.C.
“I’m a first generation Canadian. My parents came here from the Philippines,” said Infante, adding that for him, this is also a journey of self-discovery.
“It’s a story really about finding oneself. Finding what it means to be a young Canadian, someone who is a guest, a settler on First Peoples’ land.”
The Polar Prince will be leaving Halifax on Tuesday night for the rest of the Atlantic Canadian leg which includes stops at Louisbourg, Sydney and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The journey will wrap up in Victoria, B.C. on October 28.