A group of residents in the Okanagan region of BC spent hours in the cold, meticulously sculpting a patriotic exhibition.
The result is a frozen Canadian flag carved in the snow in Ellison Lake, right north of Kelowna.
Metering just under 100 meters by 25 meters, the screen, large enough to be seen by airplanes to and from the near Kelowna airport, came from resident Stuart Sutton who drew the project using its adhesive tape.
He joined him in the course of two days for a dozen friends and neighbors who helped make the idea come true.
“We want to maintain and retain our inheritance and our way of life that we have built over the years,” he said about why so many people were so dedicated to seeing the project.
They joined on Saturday by dozens of people who went on the ice to sing “or Canada” for a flag day marked by patriotic ceremonies throughout the country.
People gathered on the screen to sing ‘or Canada’ to mark the day of the flag.
The events were encouraged by a call from the five first living ministers of Canada to “show the flag as never before”, since the country contains “Donald Trump’s threats and insults” in the form of tariffs and talking about turning Canada into The 51st State.
A recent Angus Reid survey recorded an average increase in national pride in Canada of nine points, from 58 percent in December to 67 percent in February. A recent Leger survey also found an increase in respondents that said they were proud to be Canadian.
That feeling was resonated by Maggie Graham, who was in the cold crowd on Saturday, waving the iconic Arce leaf flag of Canada from the ice.
“We are very proud to be Canadians, and with everything that happens in the world at this time, we are even more grateful that we are Canadian.”
