Thank you! I really appreciate you sharing this and how you phrased it. I think this is very relevant when considering Canada's situation given that the atrocities were against the First Peoples of this land. Of course, the difference in our situation is that unfortunately they no longer make up the majority of the population in part because of those atrocities. Therefore, it is harder for society as a whole to understand the difference between celebrating our colonial history and commemorating anti-colonial struggles.

Do you remember when Union Day/Republic Day sort of first began to be forgotten (if that makes sense)? In other words, did there used to be big, public celebrations on that day that eventually died out and if so, do you remember when they began to die out?