🇨🇦"O Canada, Where Have You Gone?"

There was a time—not so long ago—when Canada felt like the best-kept secret in the world.

A quiet giant of decency, dignity, and understated greatness. We didn’t beat our chests or wave flags for show. We didn’t need to. We were the country of quiet mornings and steady hands, where neighbour meant more than geography, and decency wasn’t a political act—it was a way of life.

Canada Day used to smell like charcoal grills and fresh-cut grass. Kids with maple leaf stickers on their cheeks, parades that didn’t need security barricades, and fireworks that ended with your uncle’s voice cracking during “O Canada.” The red-and-white wasn’t just a flag—it was a feeling. A shared one.

We were the country of Terry Fox and Anne of Green Gables. Of milk in bags and winters that made you tougher without you even knowing it. We were the land of CBC voices crackling through the kitchen radio, of poutine and politeness, of long road trips through wheat fields and winding coastal roads. You could hitchhike and not worry. You could disagree and still shake hands. You could trust your institutions—even if you grumbled at them.

We believed in fairness, not favour. In effort over entitlement. In earning our keep, but never leaving someone behind. We said sorry even when we weren’t sorry, and we meant it in the best possible way.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted.

Today, Canada feels a little less like a home and more like a house we rent from someone who doesn’t live here anymore. We're divided where we used to be united. We're lectured to by leaders who don’t listen. We’re told who to be, instead of simply being who we are.

What happened to the Canada that raised us?

What happened to the country that didn’t just talk about values, but lived them?

Yet, even in the ache of nostalgia, I still believe. Because the spirit of Canada isn't in policy or politics. It lives in people.

In the farmer who still leaves eggs in a box with a note that says “Pay what’s fair.”In the teacher who buys breakfast for kids too hungry to learn.In the hockey coach who shovels the outdoor rink at 6am so someone else’s kid can chase a dream.

That Canada is still here. We just have to remember it. Fight for it. Live like it still matters.

This Canada Day, I won’t be waving a flag because I’m told to. I’ll be holding it because I remember what it meant.

And because deep down, I still believe in the quiet, defiant greatness of this country.

O Canada—my home, my heartbreak, my hope.

Michael Shenher