Fort Edmonton park celebrates multiculturalism for Canada Day

Canada's diversity was on display at Fort Edmonton Park on Saturday.

For the past few years, the park has celebrated Canada Day by paying tribute to the different backgrounds that make up the country's mosaic.

"Canada is a melting pot. Our history is that of multiculturalism," said Neil Cramer, Fort Edmonton Park programs manager. "And we've really been trying to highlight those narratives."

Cramer said the day was full of history, with performers and interpreters giving demonstrations of activities from the past.

"We even have black powder demonstrations, so we've got folks shooting muskets down here. Anything and everything and it's all just in celebration of this fantastic day."

Several community groups were also at the park to give cultural performances.

Danielle George's parents moved to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago and she was at the park sharing their Caribbean heritage, playing a steelpan drum while her sister demonstrated traditional dance from the islands.

"Canada is really diverse, we have a lot of cultures here that we all like to celebrate. So it was good to be here and show you guys a sliver of my little culture," George said.

Connie Kanayok McCrae and her daughter shared their Inuit knowledge with guests at the Indigenous People's Experience, through song, drumming, dance and education.

"We come here to celebrate our tradition, our culture and share a little bit of our experiences," McCrae said.

Canada Day is a good time to share Indigenous culture with people, she added, and the pair enjoy helping people learn about what it means to be Inuit.

"People should know who lives in Canada and what kind of backgrounds they have and share those with other people so they could expand more," McCrae said.

Education and understanding are key messages that Fort Edmonton Park staff hope visitors take away from Saturday's event.

Cramer said Canada Day can be a divisive day sometimes, with different people taking different meanings from the day.

"There's some people that view Canada Day as this amazing celebration," he said. "Because they've been able to come here and maybe they're immigrants to Canada and they view this as an amazing opportunity for them.

"And there are others that say, 'Hey, it is a good country, but it's got some negative sides to it as well.' And we want to recognize that."

George said she was happy to see so many people at the park embracing the multicultural approach to Canada Day.

"As a performer it makes me feel happy, it makes me perform better just knowing that people are having fun enjoying what I'm doing," she said.

"The Caribbean culture is very free, very happy, very moving, so just to see everyone kind of embrace that, was amazing."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb