Introduction

“When I get older, I will be stronger,
they’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag.”

— “Waving Flag,” K’Naan, Troubadour, 2009

Young Canadians today embrace freedom of expression, and this permits talented, vocal individuals to reach others through various genres of writing, art, and music. It is no coincidence that songs, books, and paintings — media that everyone can relate to — are used to communicate the need for freedom and to preserve the history of the past struggles.

Why has the song “Waving Flag” resonated with people around the world? People can relate to K’Naan’s experience. Some have gone through similar experiences of escaping war, surviving, and going on to achieve personal success. In a general sense, the song expresses the universal story of overcoming insurmountable obstacles in one’s life, the hope of freedom, and the fulfilment of one’s aspirations. It was covered by a group of Canadian music artists, Young Artists for Haiti, in relief efforts for Haiti after the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake. “Waving Flag” was also selected as the anthem for the 2010 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup Trophy Tour, and it was recorded in numerous versions with singers from different countries.

K’Naan, born Keinan Abdi Warsame in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1978, fled with his family to Canada to escape the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. K’Naan’s hit song, and his music as a whole, is influenced by his experiences growing up in Somalia. Freedom, victory over evil, refuge, and opportunity in Canada is not just K’Naan’s story. It is the life journey of many people, past and present, worldwide, who can relate to experiencing war, social injustice, and forms of enslavement. The chorus of the song — “When I get older / I will be stronger / They’ll call me freedom / Just like a waving flag” — is a courageous declaration that liberty and freedom can never ultimately be denied to those who seek it.

The comparison of freedom to a waving flag is a vivid metaphor: a flag soars in the wind, unrestricted. A flag represents the promise of freedom, refuge, and opportunity, the ideals of a country, of loyalty, patriotism, national pride, as well as security and the protection of one’s rights and civil liberties. All of these concepts have been celebrated the world over by individuals fortunate enough to live in countries at a time when they expressed such sentiments.

In Canada, 1834, then known as Upper and Lower Canada, one such freedom festival began when the enslavement of people of African descent was abolished. People came together to celebrate freedom and the ideals that Canada now symbolizes, and this led to a longstanding African-Canadian cultural tradition: Emancipation Day. For this annual celebration, Blacks from Canada and the United States, people of European background, and members of First Nations groups assembled in many towns across Ontario and Quebec, the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and in British Columbia. As of 2011, Emancipation Day has been commemorated in Canada on August 1 for 177 years.

Freedom has been the constant theme of Emancipation Day, but even though enslaved Blacks were freed, in the following decades African Canadians had to fight for the full rights and privileges they were entitled to as citizens, because of the racial discrimination they faced in their daily lives.

And so, true freedom remained in the distance and Blacks in Canada persistently pursued it. Thus, the celebration of freedom on the August First was also a call for people to address inequality. Emancipation Day evolved over time, developing its own unique traditional elements and cultural rituals. It grew to include numerous activities, events, and incorporated political activism, raising racial consciousness, and fostering community development with the purpose of breaking down racial barriers and moving toward a life of equality.