Thousands of families with children and flag-draped celebrants gathered in a wide field west of Parliament Hill for a sad Canada Day marked by a heavy police presence in the nation’s capital.
Security was tight, skies were gray and the atmosphere was subdued as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his family and then Governor General Mary Simon arrived at LeBreton Flats near the National War Museum.
It was the first official in-person Canada Day celebration in Ottawa since 2019.
Trudeau and his family were flanked by more than a dozen RCMP bodyguards when they arrived. Trudeau waved, shook hands and moved quickly through a fenced path sheltered from the crowd. There were no boos or shouts from it, though on Parliament Hill, protesters carried banners and flags continuing the anti-vaccine mandate and anti-Trudeau campaign of last winter’s so-called Freedom Convoy.
