We pack a lot into the pages of every issue of Kayak, but there’s always more great stuff we just can’t fit in. So join Teeka and Beau, our otter mascots, to find out more about the theme of each issue, or just pick up some random bits of Canadian history.

Happy Canada Day!

The July 1 holiday to mark our country’s birthday used to be called Dominion Day. The Governor General, Lord Monck, declared it a day of celebration in June, 1868, and the holiday was made official in 1879. It marks the creation of Canada on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act was passed.

The July 1 holiday was renamed Canada Day in October, 1982. Not everyone liked the change. Every year, tens of thousands of people wearing red and white head to Parliament Hill in Ottawa for free concerts and an amazing fireworks show. All over Canada, people hold all kinds of special events, or just relax in their favourite place.

Things are different in most of Quebec, where the June 24 holiday, known as Fête Nationale or Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, is more important than Canada Day. In much of the province, especially Montreal, July 1 is the day when many thousands of people move from their old apartment to a new one.

Photo, top left: Ianus Keller / Flickr.

And in Newfoundland and Labrador, July 1 is an official day of remembrance for the terrible battle of Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment started the day with 778 men. By the end, just 68 were left standing—the others were dead or wounded. This photo, left, shows the monument to the regiment at the site of the battle in northern France.

Photo, bottom left: Tom Parnell / Flickr.