America’s having a birthday.  I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest one of he year considering it’s celebrated by whole nation.

It conjures images of hot dogs and fireworks, ice cream and alcohol, and a whole lot of American flags.

But July Fourth is more than a birthday — it’s the most patriotic day of the year.

I am Canadian so it doesn’t really mean as much to me as it does for natural-born citizens.

But, few days prior to your holiday, we celebrate our own on July 1, which is Canada’s birthday.

For the longest time even Canada Day meant nothing to me. It just seemed like an excuse for people to party and get drunk.  I wasn’t really thinking about it too much.

Then, one day, I started to realize what Canada means to a lot of people around the world.

The protests and violence in the wake of the Iranian elections are strong reminders of the pride I should take in the rights and freedoms that I have every day.

These are the rights and freedoms that I expect.  I used to wake up never imagining that one day those freedoms could vanish or that long ago they didn’t exist for a lot of people.

I am Canadian. I am proud to be Canadian because of the life I am free to choose. Because being Canadian can offer a lot of freedom, people can choose to be pretty much anything they want to be irrespective of race, culture, sexual orientation, age or sex.

But as good as I can make Canada sound — and I can — we too suffer many of the social stigmas that plague American society: homelessness, racism, domestic violence, child abuse and pollution, to name a few.

Contrary to celebratory tradition we should  acknowledge that we are a long way from perfection. Undoubtedly, there is room to grow and change.

We are two of the most empowered nations in the world, which means that, surely, we are capable of such change.

– Erin Mastre is a graduate student in landscape architecture from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.