Thanksgiving in Canada is often confused with the American version, with Pilgrims and the somewhat dubious narrative of joyous collaboration with Indigenous communities that is paradoxically co-existent with the winning of the West by John Wayne et al in the American mythos. But the Canadian version has considerably different roots, although some of the sentiment is undeniably the same.
The first Thanksgiving celebrated by Europeans in North America was held by Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew in the Eastern Arctic in 1578 where they dined on a meal of salt beef, biscuits and mushy peas to celebrate and give thanks for their safe arrival in what is now Nunavut—but the Indigenous peoples of this land we now call Canada held similar fall harvest celebrations.
Many early Thanksgivings were based on a religious foundation—giving thanks and praise to the Creator for the bounty of the harvest, and that is the case with the official Canadian Thanksgiving to be held in what was then the Province of Canada, largely at the behest of the Protestant clergy.
Following Confederation, the first Thanksgiving in the new nation was observed on April 5, 1872 as a national civic holiday celebrating the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a serious illness—but that was a one-off. The first regular annual observance was held November 6, 1879, but the date varied from year to year as determined by Parliament and could take place as late as December 6—it even coincided occasionally with the American version—but the third Monday in October remained a popular choice as the weather remains reasonable.
Following the war to end all wars (now wasn’t that a pretty conceit that was soon to be horribly dashed) and beginning in 1921, Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were observed on the same day—the first Monday in the week of November 11. Remembrance Day was disentangled from Thanksgiving in 1931 to better commemorate veterans of the First World War—with the harvest celebration moving to the second Monday in October. Not everyone was pleased with the move, as it was seen by some as moving it from “the farmers’ day” to a day off for city dwellers.
Today, there are far too many voices trying to diminish and tarnish the day with references to genocides and other terrible actions that took place before and after the establishment of our nation—voices that especially reference the American experience and the revisionist mythos of the so-called Pilgrim Fathers.
With the ongoing, and rapidly growing, gap between the poor and the wealthy in our country, with housing crisis and (thankfully abating) inflation, we too often forget how much better our lives are than that of so many of the world’s population. It is an established fact that Canada remains the number one desired destination of the world’s economic and other refugees—a nation notable for its freedom from violent conflict and blessed with still-general prosperity.
Whatever the entomology of “Thanksgiving Day,” today in Canada, it is a day focussed on gathering together with family and friends to give thanks and celebrate the good fortune we all enjoy as Canadians and whose proud heritage in this land can be traced back through the mists of time for millenia.
So, hopefully you enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving with friends and family and that we all enjoy many more to come.
