Canada Celebrates Year 152 on Parliament Hill

The weather gods atoned for the past two years on Monday by delivering a sunny warm day filled with good cheer, good music, and patriotism.

Over 56,000 people made their way in to downtown Ottawa on Monday over the course of the day and there was a capacity crowd for the evening celebrations with approximately 30,000 people taking in the show and fireworks.

The noon show included flag waving K’naan, T. Thomason of The Launch fame, Quebec supers Karim Ouellet and indigenous powerhouse Shawnee, accompanied by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, as well as a performance by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal. Prime Minister Trudeau and his family were in attendance as was the Governor General Julie Payette who kayaked to the celebration (how Canadian), and a surprise appearance from Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds, who hails from Vancouver.

The evening show, which ran from 6:45 p.m. to 10 p.m., included DJ extraordinaire Kaytranada, Toronto’s The Strumbellas, chanteuse par excellence Marie Mai, country crooner Brett Kissel, Montreal’s darling Coeur de Pirate, and indigenous performers William Prince and Crystal Shawanda who paired up with Kissel for an amazing duet. K’naan and Karim Ouellet rounded out the evening’s entertainment.

We hope you enjoy some of the photos that our photographer captured during the festivities.