70 years of thanks!

Many people when they first meet me ask me “what are you?” This didn’t happen where I grew up in BC, but in Toronto, it appears necessary to many people to put people in a box.

I always answer Canadian as I am born here, however, I generally ultimately relent and say, I’m a Canadian born to Dutch Immigrants.

Today that Dutch part of me is thanking the Canadian in me – 70 years ago today Canada liberated Holland from Nazi occupation.

My grandfather had often had to hide in the attic to escape being taken by the Nazi’s to labour for them. My father was so skinny at the end of the war, he was sent to Sweden to be “fattened up” again.

Part of the reason my grandparents set sail for Canada after the war was the kindness of the Canadian soldiers and the knowledge that Canada would be a great place to settle.

Canada is still a great place to live.

We are free to express our beliefs without fear of persecution. We have protected rights and freedoms. We have the expectation of equality.

Thanks Canada !

Inga B. Andriessen JD