The main stage on Parliament Hill hosted WE Day Canada on July 2, presenting an evening’s worth of inspirational speeches and musical performances in honour of empowering youth and inspiring change.
Similar to the previous night’s Canada Day celebration, much of WE Day Canada was devoted to speaking on Indigenous rights, freedoms, and how to move towards reconciliation.
In comparison to last fall’s WE Day event at the Canadian Tire Centre, this year’s celebration had the main pledge of looking forward.
Hosted by Tyrone Edwards, Jus Reign, Maripier Morin, Kardinal Offishall, Nicolas Ouellet, Inez Point, and Chloe Wilde, WE Day Canada began with a video interlude stating the day’s manifesto: “We will make a pledge for the next 150 years, because as history has taught us, when Canada comes together, we can accomplish anything. And our Canada starts now.”
The first speaker of the day, Claudette Commanda, took the stage with youth of Algonquin descent, calling them the “stewards of this land.”
Referencing Canada 150, Commanda said that “the next 150 years is a time of healing, of hopes, and a celebration of our children and our culture. It will be a time that our youth . . . will express and live their identities through their languages, through traditions, through customs, through ceremonies, with pride.”
Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, spoke on stage, calling Canada a united, “two-legged nation.”
Retired Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire also spoke at the event.
“You will influence directly every human being, so you can be a generation that says human rights is for all humans,” Dallaire said. “We are a country that doesn’t want to subjugate anybody, and we will sort out our life with those First Aboriginal Nations.”
Later, Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie appeared on stage with Daisy and Pearl Wenjack. His multimedia project The Secret Path shares the story of their brother, Chenie Wenjack, who died escaping a residential school in 1966.
They were accompanied by a youth choir for a poignant rendition of “The Stranger,” where he took the opportunity to address the struggles and pain that Indigenous children still encounter today.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who later joined Downie onstage, said “the burden of this experience has been on the shoulders of the Indigenous community for too long and the impacts are intergenerational,” regarding the horrific impact of residential schools.
“As a government, as a country, as citizens, we must accept our responsibilities for our failings as we try to help the victims and their families heal these decades-old, generational wounds,” Trudeau added.
Downie’s attendance, along with singers Serena Ryder and Shania Twain, were only officially announced and confirmed hours before the event on the official WE Day Canada Facebook page.
WE Day Canada also featured numerous musical guests, both French and English.
The lineup included YouTuber Lilly Singh (also known by her username IISuperwomanII), Humble the Poet, Alex Nevsky, The Barenaked Ladies, Chris Hadfield, Les Trois Accords, Nelly Furtado, and Hedley, who closed out the show.
Other notable appearances during the evening included actor Jacob Tremblay, Governor General David Johnston, Margaret Trudeau, Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, Paralympian Rick Hansen, and Olympic athlete Penny Oleksiak, among many others.
“Canada 150 is a chance for a conversation of a type of country we want to build,” said WE co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, who organized the event, before asking the crowd to chant “We are Canada!” to rapturous applause.
As Shania Twain said onstage, “Man, I feel like a Canadian.”
