St. Augustine's Anglican Church

First reading and Psalm
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Psalm 130

Second reading
2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Gospel Reading
Mark 5:21-43

Canada Day / Fete du Canada is a federal statutory holiday, the anniversary of an important national milestone, Canadian Confederation, on the way to the country's full sovereignty. It celebrates the joining on July 1, 1867, of the colonies of Canada with the passing of the British North America Act, 1867, when the three separate colonies of the United Canadas (divided into Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were united into a single dominon within the British Empire called Canada.

Originally called Dominion Day / Le Jour de la Confederation, the holiday was renamed in 1982, the same year that the Canadian constitution was patriated by the Canada Act, 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada Day celebrations take place throughout the country, as well as in various locations around the world attended by Canadians living abroad.

Canada's centennial in 1967 is often seen as an important milestone in the history of Canadian nationalism and in Canada's maturing as a distinct, independent country, after which Dominion Day became more popular with average Canadians. Into the late 1960s, nationally televised, multi-cultural concerts held in Ottawa were added and the fête became known as Festival Canada. After 1980, the Canadian government began to promote celebrating Dominion Day beyond the national capital, giving grants and aid to cities across the country to help fund local activities.

Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, with her cabinet in the ballroom ofRideau Hall, Ottawa, on Dominion Day, 1967, the centennial of Confederation on Dominion Day, 1967, the centennial of Confederation.

As the anniversary of Confederation, Dominion Day, and later Canada Day, was the date set for a number of important events, such as the first national radio network hookup by the Canadian National Railway (1927); the inauguration of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's cross-country television broadcast, with Governor General Vincent Massey's Dominion Day speech from Parliament Hill (1958); the flooding of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (1958); the first colour television transmission in Canada (1966); the inauguration of the Order of Canada (1967); and the establishment of "O Canada" as the country's national anthem (1980). During Canada's sesquicentennial in 2017, the Bank of Canada released a commemorative $10 banknote.

Most communities across the country host organized celebrations for Canada Day, typically outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts, as well as citizenship ceremonies. There is no standard mode of celebration for Canada Day; it has been said that "Canada Day, like the country, is endlessly decentralized. There doesn't seem to be a central recipe for how to celebrate it—chalk it up to the nature of the federation".