150th anniversary of Canada

Planning

The Institute of Public Administration of Canada held a conference called 150!Canada bringing together public servants, business leaders and non-governmental organizations at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on March 11 and 12, 2010. Over 300 delegates heard from 25 speakers, with the goal of developing an action to celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial.

The 150Alliance is a national network of groups whose goal it is to encourage communities and organizations to organize their own Canada 150 events. It held its first meeting in Ottawa on January 23, 2015.

Federal funding

The Canadian federal government will be spending an estimated half billion dollars on 150th anniversary events and projects. $300-million is being spent by Canadian regional development agencies through a Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program. The fund was set up by the Stephen Harper government and originally assigned a $150-million budget prior to the 2015 Canadian federal election. The new Liberal government under Justin Trudeau doubled the program's size in its first budget.

$40-million for cultural projects is being funded by the Canada Council for the Arts under its "New Chapter" program. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council has set up a grant program entitled Canada 150 Connection to support activities by post-secondary institutions and researchers that explore the contributions of social sciences and humanities research to Canadian society.

Logo

The Canada 150 logo is a stylized maple leaf made up of multi-coloured diamond shapes, designed in 2015 by Ariana Cuvin, a then-19-year-old student in the University of Waterloo's global business and digital arts program. The winning design was chosen from 300 entries in a contest for students—a move criticized by the Graphic Designers of Canada.

Currency

The Bank of Canada will release a commemorative $10 banknote for Canada's sesquicentennial, which will be broadly available by Canada Day.

The Royal Canadian Mint held a national contest titled My Canada, My Inspiration for the design of the reverses of each of five circulating coins of the Canadian dollar, which would be part of the "Canada 150 Collection". Each coin had an associated theme. On 2 November 2016, it held an unveiling ceremony in the communities of each of the winners, who were selected by an online vote in September 2015. The winners received a trip to Ottawa, $2000 in cash, and a special edition set of the coins.

The Royal Mint also produced commemorative coins, including a 2-ounce (57 g) matte proof finish silver coin with a face value of $10, a 2017 variant based on the Silver Maple Leaf coin. It expects to released about fifty commemorative and circulating coin products, including Brilliant Uncirculated sets.

Stamps

All stamps produced by Canada Post during 2017 will include a reference to the sesquicentennial.

Parks Canada

Parks Canada is giving away free passes to Canada's national parks, historic sites and marine conservation areas. The passes will be available at Parks Canada sites and through partners until the end of 2017.

Digital content

Lost Stories is an online film project initiated by Concordia University history professor Ronald Rudin, documenting unusual stories from Canadian history. Started in Montreal as a pilot project by Rudin, co-director of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia, Lost Stories is now a national initiative, with $235,000 in Canada 150 funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage.

The University of Alberta has launched a digital content hub to mark Canada's 150th birthday with stories, images, videos and featured events, as well as experts who will address topics such as the Canada's constitution, Canadian literature, Indigenous issues, wildlife conservation and climate change.

National mural project

A Canada 150 Mosaic project will see in 150 interconnected murals created across the country, depicting a train travelling coast-to-coast across Canada. Each mural will be made up of hundreds of tiles painted by individual Canadians. Roughly 100,000 individuals are expected to take part.

Film

On April 19, National Canadian Film Day 150 will showcase Canadian films on television, online as well as at more than 600 cinemas, libraries and public venues in close to 200 communities across the country.

Official flower

The Canada 150 tulip, also known as the Maple Leaf tulip, is the official tulip of Canada 150 and was unveiled May 9, 2016, in Commissioners Park. The tulip was selectively bred with white flower and red flames, which resembles the flag of Canada. For Canada 150, the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa will plant 30,000 Maple Leaf tulip bulbs.

British Columbia

British Columbia established a funding program "to celebrate B.C. communities and their contribution to Canada," with $8 million invested in museums and heritage sites throughout the province.

Vancouver

In B.C., the City of Vancouver has opted to call its anniversary celebrations Canada 150+, to recognize Indigenous peoples in Canada who lived in Canada prior to Confederation.

Nova Scotia

The province's 150 Forward Fund provides funding for organizations to help Nova Scotians celebrate Canada 150, with events or programs that honour Nova Scotian achievements, celebrate the province's cultural identity and diversity, or recognize innovation over the past 150 years. Communities, Culture and Heritage Minister Tony Ince announced January 30 that 39 non-profit enterprises and co-operatives had been awarded a total of $841,000 through the first round of grants. A second round of applications runs until February 28. Canada 150 celebrations in Nova Scotia will also include Rendez-Vous 2017, which will see tall ships visit 11 communities across the province over the summer.

Ontario

The province of Ontario is spending $7 million to support more than 350 Canada 150 events across the province. It opted to create its own Ontario 150 anniversary logo, or wordmark, at a cost of $30,000.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls officially launched its Canada 150 activities at a flag raising ceremony on January 27, with former Toronto Maple Leaf Johnny Bower in attendance. The city has allocated $150,000 for Canada 150 events.

Ottawa

Canada's capital of Ottawa has supported events and celebrations during the sesquicentennial under the banner "Ottawa 2017". Included in the planned events is the 2017 Ice Cross Downhill World Championship, the 2017 Juno Awards, the 105th Grey Cup, and the 2017 Canadian Videogames Awards.

Toronto

Canada Mosaic is a cross-country celebration of Canadian music and musicians administered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with $7.5 million in funding from the government of Canada. The program will involve 40 orchestras and as many as 60 new commissions. Canada Mosaic had its first performance January 21 at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, with conductors Alain Trudel and Victor Feldbrill leading the TSO in works by John Weinzweig, Godfrey Ridout, Pierre Mercure, Jean Coulthard and André Mathieu. The concert began with a two-minute fanfare by Trudel – one of 40 such so-called "sesquies" commissioned by Canada Mosaic.

Hundreds of musicians are expected to perform together in Toronto to set a Guinness world record for the largest rock performance, by playing four as-yet-unannounced Canadian rock classics. Organizers of Canada Rocks 150 hope to attract 1,500 musicians.

The Toronto Blue Jays will be wearing special red-and-white uniforms at select games during the 2017 season to mark Canada 150.

Windsor

Dubbed the Great Canadian Flag Project, Windsor, Ontario is erecting a 150-foot (45.7 metre) flagpole to fly a 60 feet by 30 feet (18 metres by nine metres) Canadian flag. Four upward-facing spotlights will illuminate the flag at night. A smaller 24 feet by 12 feet (7.3 metres by 3.7 metres) flag will fly during periods of strong winds. As of January 14, 2017, $300,000 has been raised for the project, including $150,000 from the federal government.

Quebec

Canada 150 in Quebec coincides with celebrations marking the 375th anniversary of Montreal, where notable projects include decorative lights for the Jacques Cartier Bridge and a new headquarters for the National Film Board of Canada in the Quartier des spectacles.

Northern Canada

A Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour will be a series of air shows across Canada's North, with plans to visit close to 100 northern communities. The tour will begin in June at Alberta's Rocky Mountain House Airport.

International

To celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary, the Glasgow Film Festival (Feb. 15 - 26) has selected a program entitled "True North: New Canadian Cinema." Films include Weirdos by Bruce McDonald, who is scheduled to attend the festival, along with Werewolf by Ashley McKenzie, Old Stone by Johnny Ma, Below Her Mouth by April Mullen and Hello Destroyer by Kevan Funk.

Other

In January 2017, the journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics published a paper by molecular researchers from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto who had sequenced the genome of Castor canadensis to celebrate the sesquicentennial.