To celebrate Canada Day I (reporter, Graeme Wood) travelled throughout Richmond to ask residents, like you, what it means to be Canadian, what defines us as a nation and, perhaps, what we can improve upon moving forward.
The remarkable thing about Richmond is its diversity; I spoke to people from all walks of life and the results were no surprise – Canada is a fantastic country and when you consider our position in this world, especially living in Metro Vancouver, it’s no doubt we are a fortunate bunch.
This is a summary of what I heard from everyone:
Our freedoms are unparalleled — we generally accept others no matter of race, sexuality, gender or religious affiliation. We are a prosperous country with many resources. We are thinkers and embrace scientific truths; we love our environment, what with our abundant, clean water and air and lush forests.
And we strive to be better.
We need to maintain our environment, the crown jewel of who we our. We need to protect wildlife and maintain our healthy way of living. We need to improve upon our already great public health care system. We love our children and will defend them to any length. We need to continue on our prosperous path with a strong, robust economy that is open to business and trade. We must challenge government to be more forthcoming.
The great thing about Richmond is that the more people you meet the more countries you’re likely to learn about. On this little adventure I met natives of Russia, India, a Sweden, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and, of course, China. And that’s only from speaking to about 20 people from some of the most popular corners and hangouts in the city.
On this page is an interactive map showing all the people we have met. Click on the pointers to pull up their stories and click on the photo to enlarge it.
I welcome you to add to this map by sending me your story photos to [email protected].
