Today is a Provincial Holiday called British Columbia Day. I sat and asked my brother what this means, then I looked online. According to my brother, wise as he is, today is a heritage day, where we celebrate the diversity that is B.C. Awesome, eh? But that leaves open a lot of interpretation. What is the heritage of B.C? Why did we start celebrating something so vague?

According to online resources, it started not in B.C, but in Alberta (the next province over). They declared the first Monday in August as Heritage day. While Albertan heritage is a bit easier to define than BC’s, this act gave Alberta more holidays than the rest of English Canada by one. So The Federal Government marked that day to be each province’s Heritage day, (In Ontario they have many different names for it depending on the city you’re in).

So thank you Alberta for giving us British Columbia Heritage day. Now I pose the question: What is B.C. Heritage? It can be hard for a lot of people to understand that B.C. is bigger than Vancouver: I’ll let that sink in a bit. Vancouver is not BC. Most of B.C. is Mountainous, has a lot of snow in the winter, is “rural” at best (Even the cities are not very large), people are welcoming, and helpful. Vancouver on the other hand is very urban, get almost no snow ever, is muddy beaches, ocean front, and forested. The city is warm, strangers are less likely to talk to each other, and has a much, much higher crime rate.

Since Vancouver has the highest population density of B.C. some people might say that it is Vancouver’s culture that should be celebrated. And I present this view to you in that case: If We celebrate Vancouver’s culture and heritage only on B.C. Day, because of population density, then by the same logic we should start celebrating Chinese culture, or India culture, or Philippine Culture. Vancouver has recently (and not so recently) had a huge number of immigrants from the other side of the world, and at this point, they outnumber the races we traditionally view as Canadian (First Nations, Caucasian, and African) in the area.

So, do we integrate the new Canadians, into Canadian culture with good old Canadian warm welcomes or do we integrate ourselves into their culture because they outnumber us….? I believe today is a day for every single family to stop what they are doing in B.C. and celebrate however they want. This way we all are celebrating our own heritage, no matter what it may be. That has been the Canadian way for my whole life. We accept that our neighbours are different, and let them live however they want as long as they are not hurting anyone. And if you are lucky enough to celebrate, or spend the day with a family from a different culture, you might learn a bit more about them. (Hey it’s like traveling around the world without going far!)

BC is where I grew up, and without the ethnic diversity I had around me while growing up, I probably would not be the same man I am today. Today is a day to embrace that, not to segregate that. Vancouver is nice, with their big city attitude, but I still prefer my small towns, but as I have traveled a bit I can sit and understand how a lot of new Canadians feel. My family has had difficulty integrating back as well, and if you had no point of reference it would make it much more difficult. So Just remember as you relax today that B.C. doesn’t have 1 heritage, it has 1 heritage for almost every culture in the world, and that makes us stronger, not weaker.

Happy B.C. Day everyone! Go have fun and respect each other!

Nanay is the Philippine word for “mother”, and as such that is what I always called my mother-in-law. Her real name was Imelda Tagalacia, but I will always remember her as Nanay, and there wil never be another Nanay in my mind. Today would have been her birthday, and I’m ashamed to say I’m not sure of how old she would have been. She will always be the same ageless age that I saw her at last time.

Nanay and I always got along, and we would wake up and have coffee together in the mornings while I visited the Philippines. She was the only adult in the town of Mambog who was not afraid to hold a conversation with me (sober). We would talk about culture differences, day-to-day activities, life experiences, and hopes. We would sit on the 2^nd floor front veranda where we had set up chairs and greet the morning with hot cups of instant coffee (That’s what they drink there).

I sometimes felt that I was the only one she didn’t feel the need to yell at. She yelled at her husband, her children, and other people. I think because she was not a tall woman, people tended to ignore her when she spoke, so she tended to repeat herself, in such a manner that the entire block would hear her. She had a stage performer’s ability to make her voice carry. Her children (Including my wife) didn’t ignore her for long, and it only took 2 times for directions to be carried out.

When my youngest was born, Nanay was on the first plane over to Beijing. She spent 3 months helping out with Sammy and JD. She switched to real coffee (Folger’s every morning). And took care of Irish and the kids. She was so excited when it snowed. She had never seen snow before in her life, so Irish loaned her a jacket, and she took JD out to play in the snow. She was like a big kids herself. She had no problems going to the store by herself and getting things even through the language barrier. She, I hope, had a great time. Unfortunately Immigration wouldn’t let her extend her visa, as she wasn’t MY blood relative, and I was the one working. So at the 3 month period, she headed back to the Philippines.

When she passed, it was quite a shock to all of us. Irish had it the worst of all her sisters, being the oldest. We had to borrow money from my family to pay for the funeral, because her insurance papers where so mixed up that nobody wanted to pay out anything. This was the first time I ever saw someone I knew closely get put in the ground. My wife still, years later, dreams about her mother. Nanay did not have the chance to see what great adults her 2 youngest daughters would turn out to be. She would not get to see her grandchildren go to school. And she would never have morning coffee with me again.

Happy Birthday Nanay, We miss you.

Happy Birthday