sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

I was born and raised in Nanaimo, where my family lived in 1967. My older sister, Wendy, got married at the beginning of the year and had her first child, a daughter, before the year was out. We always said those were her centennial projects.

In the summer of 1967, I was a young infantry officer in the Royal 22nd Regiment, posted to the regimental depot La Citadelle in Quebec City.

Montreal 1967 was the heart of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½â€™s centennial celebrations, and its beat was loud and proud. The city hosted Expo 67, and Expo 67 hosted the world. That Montreal summer of 1967 was more than a special time; it was a mood.

I was born in Victoria, and in 1967 I was nine years old.

I was 12 years old in 1967, and that summer I had a special experience I will never forget.

Four of my great-great-great-grandfathers were New Englanders who fought in the American Revolutionary War. They fought on the British side, and were known as United Empire Loyalists or UELs. When Britain lost the war, the UELs fled north to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

Montreal, early spring, 1967. I was looking for a summer job before starting university. The previous nine months I’d been in France at school and hadn’t been following all the excitement about the World’s Fair.

There are really only two highlights that stick in my mind of the 1967 centennial celebrations. One is the song that was created for the centennial year.

My maternal grandfather Alvari Kotilla immigrated to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ from Kiviari, Finland, in 1898. He first went to the Klondike, where he transported gold seekers’ belongings over the Chilco Pass. It was hard arduous work.

The Canadian history of my family, the Mutches, extends back to well before Confederation, and takes in communities across the country.