Little Big Things

It might be strange to think of the absence of religion in a place like Québec: even though the province is now officially secular (and policy takes it to an extreme that has been roundly criticized by the rest of the country ), religion is a near-constant presence in its architecture. Since much of the population was historically Roman Catholic, there is no shortage of churches, crosses, and other forms of Christian iconography scattered throughout the landscape. Instead, when I speak of "faith in the absence of religion", I am referring more to myself. That seems to be the thing about this "Beauty in Stillness" series: three parts, each with its own distinct lens. In the first post about Vieux-Québec, I brought up the questions I had about "great man history"; in the second post about Montréal, I wanted to caution against looking at Indigenous-settler relations through the idyllic lens of the fur trade. This time, though, while Canada as a country is sti...

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea. This line, from the King James Version of Psalm 72, forms the basis for Canada's national motto: a mari usque ad mare  (from sea to sea). It's a reference to the country's vast geographic range, from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west; recent iterations of the concept have even made it three-way by including the Arctic Ocean in the north as well: "from coast to coast to coast". (The farthest east and west I have ever been in Canada: Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Atlantic, and Victoria, British Columbia on the Pacific) Looking back through the archives, I notice that my first post on this blog was on Canada Day 2017; now, during this revival of the blog four years later, I've come back around full circle to Canada Day 2021. Or, have I? The truth of the matter is that this year's Canada Day will not be like any other Canada Day many of us have seen. No-one planned for the recent grim dis...