Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly announced Wednesday, alongside local music duo Elijah Woods and Jamie Fine, the schedule for this year’s Canada Day celebrations.
Three official sites have been designated for celebrations: Parliament Hill, Major’s Hill Park and the Canadian Museum of History.
According to Joly, there will be three major themes to this year’s celebrations. The first is woman empowerment.
“We wanted to acknowledge the fantastic women that decided to speak up this year,” Joly said. The theme recognizes the Me Too movement and everything that has gone on during the last year, with women standing up, she said. “We want to celebrate women empowerment.”
The second theme will celebrate the importance of diversity and inclusion and the third theme is reconciliation. Indigenous art will be prominently displayed during the celebration.
The celebrations will go from June 30-July 1, and will begin with family activities and musical performances at Major’s Hill Park. Canada Day on Parliament Hill will begin at 8 a.m. with an Algonquin blessing of the grounds and water. At 9 a.m., there will be artistic performances at the Centennial Flame, and then musical acts until 10:30 a.m.
The noon show will feature dignitaries speaking to the crowd, as well as a flyby from the Snowbirds. Musical acts like the Arkells, Lights and several others will also hit the stage. A second flyby is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
More musical acts will perform after 7 p.m. until the fireworks at 10 p.m., and will include local stars Elijah Woods and Jamie Fine, who were on hand at the announcement Wednesday and performed a free concert for the audience.
“It’s a pretty humbling experience,” said Woods about performing on the hill on Canada Day. “Jamie and I make all our music in my basement in Perth, Ontario. … It’s really wild, so we’re super humbled and very happy.”
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