Behind the Canada Day parades and patriotic slogans lies a violent colonial history that continues to deny Indigenous sovereignty and suppress resistance.

Every July 1st, Canadians are invited to celebrate the nation with fireworks, flags, and parades. The Canadian Army joins in too, proudly tweeting about their presence “from coast to coast to coast” in celebration of what they call a “strong and free” country. But behind that sanitized slogan lies an uncomfortable truth: Canada’s strength has always been built on colonization, and its freedom has never extended to everyone.

The phrase “strong and free” echoes through official ceremonies, national anthems, and military campaigns—but for whom has Canada ever truly been free? Certainly not for Indigenous peoples, whose sovereignty has been systematically denied since the state’s founding. Canada’s military history isn’t one of defending liberty; it’s one of enforcing state power—often violently—against those resisting colonialism.

The Canadian Army played a direct role in forcing Indigenous children into residential schools, a genocidal system designed to erase their cultures and identities. It has helped police land defenders resisting pipelines and land theft. Abroad, Canada has joined imperialist wars not to defend democracy, but to uphold the interests of empire and capital—whether in Afghanistan, Libya, or Haiti.

Meanwhile, the lands over which the Army proudly claims presence—from coast to coast to coast—are largely unceded. That means they were never lawfully surrendered by the Indigenous Nations who have lived on and stewarded them for millennia. Rather than confronting this truth, Canada celebrates over it. The red and white flags, the flyovers, the smiling politicians—all mask an ongoing colonial occupation.

This isn’t ancient history. The Canadian state continues to criminalize Indigenous resistance, ignore treaty obligations, and exploit Indigenous lands for resource extraction. Whether through the RCMP raids on Wet’suwet’en territory or the strategic neglect of water infrastructure on reserves, the machinery of the state—military included—remains a tool of settler dominance.

The idea that the Canadian Army serves the people is a myth. In reality, it serves the state—a state that was founded through dispossession, sustained through violence, and dressed up in the language of peacekeeping and multiculturalism. But there is no peace without justice. And there is no justice without decolonization.

Celebrating Canada Day without confronting its foundation in genocide and land theft is not a neutral act. It is an endorsement of the status quo. It erases the lives and struggles of those who continue to resist colonial rule. It tells Indigenous communities, immigrants, and all those harmed by Canadian policy that their pain is secondary to patriotic performance.

Real honour doesn’t come in the form of parades or hashtags. It comes through truth, accountability, and the dismantling of structures that continue to harm. That means returning land, respecting Indigenous governance, ending military enforcement of extractive projects, and telling the full truth about what Canada is—and has always been.

Until then, the phrase “strong and free” will remain what it has always been: a slogan for settlers, not a reality for all.