ABSTRACT
Canada recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of its Confederation of the British Colonies of Canada West and East (now Ontario and Quebec, respectively), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Along with the flags flown, tulips planted, T-shirts worn, temporary maple leaf tattoos sported, and free national park passes applied for came deeper questions of commemoration and reflections on our shared histories on traditional Indigenous territories. In the celebration of the great white north, the narratives of this land and of the people of this land have persisted through time, well before the gathering of the Fathers of Confederation in 1867. What does Canada mean to me? What does it mean to me to be Canadian? This chapter follows the route of a summer road trip from Toronto, Ontario, to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and at stops along the way, shares histories of place and person, wanderings of wonder about the land and its shaping of experience, identity, and home. Inclusive of postcards and personal and place-related narratives, it invites the reader to mediate on their own selves and their stories, to tell the tale of what their thoughts would tell, and what it means to be home.
