{"id":7804,"date":"2019-11-15T05:30:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T05:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vsb.bc.ca\/heritage\/?p=7804"},"modified":"2020-03-26T23:00:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T23:00:32","slug":"7804","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vsb.bc.ca\/heritage\/2019\/11\/15\/7804\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Six: The Sixties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expo 67 – Montreal<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I.\u00a0 INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1967, Canada celebrated its Centennial. \u2013 the uniting of the British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and new Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada. Prime Minister Lester B Pearson spoke for many Canadians in his speech at the official opening of Expo 67, a six-month international fair held in Montreal, Quebec.<\/p>\n

This is a proud day for Montreal, for Quebec and above all for Canada. Behind this big Canadian birthday “blast” are achievements in planning, organi<\/em>sation and construction that are little short of miraculous.<\/em><\/p>\n

The men behind these achievements should be proud and happy. We should be grateful to them, as we recall the sceptics who once said Expo 67 was too big a project for Montreal, Quebec or Canada to accomplish in less than four years. But it was done — and well done.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are witnesses today to the fulfilment of one of the most daring acts of faith in Canadian enterprise and ability ever undertaken. That faith was not misplaced. But Expo is much more than a great Canadian achievement of design and planning and construction. It is also a monument to Man. It tells the exciting and inspiring story of a world that belongs not to any one nation but to every nation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Link to Canada\u2019s Centennial Song: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Uj4LZB5oarA<\/a><\/p>\n

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Schools throughout the Vancouver School District join in celebrating Canada\u2019s 100th<\/sup>\u00a0Birthday<\/strong><\/p>\n

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There were those who did not join in the celebrations. One such person was Chief Dan George \u2013 a leader of the Tsleil-Waututh, a Coast Salish nation whose ancestral lands border Burrard Inlet:<\/p>\n

Oh Canada, how can I celebrate with you this centenary, this hundred years? Shall I thank you for the reserves that are left to me of my beautiful forests? For the canned fish of my rivers? For the loss of my pride and authority, even among my own people? For the lack of my will to fight back? No! I must forget what\u2019s past and gone.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh God in heaven! Give me back the courage of the olden chiefs. Let me wrestle with my surroundings. Let me again, as in the days of old, dominate my environment. Let me humbly accept this new culture and through it rise up and go on.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh God! Like the thunderbird of old I shall rise again out of the sea; I shall grab the instruments of the white man\u2019s success, his education, his skills, and with these new tools I shall build my race into the proudest segment of your society. Before I follow the great chiefs who have gone before us, Oh Canada, I shall see these things come to pass.<\/em><\/p>\n

I shall see our young braves and our chiefs sitting in the houses of law and government, ruling and being ruled by the knowledge and freedoms of our great land. So shall we shatter the barriers of our isolation? So shall the next hundred years be the greatest in the proud history of our tribes and nations.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Chief Dan George<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

A.\u00a0 World Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>During the 1960\u2019s, the world beyond Canada\u2019s borders saw social upheaval, political turmoil, and international rivalry.<\/p>\n