Canadians in Taiwan and other members of the public yesterday joined a celebration in Taipei to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation, featuring live music, Canadian food and drinks and a pavilion showcasing the history of Canada.
Despite the rain, the event — held at the Taipei City Hakka Cultural Park — drew thousands of revelers.
Now in its 12th year, Taipei’s Canada Day celebration features live music from local and Canadian musicians and a procession, said the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, which organized the event.
Taiwan and Canada share many common values, such as democracy, and expressed the hope for increased bilateral people-to-people exchanges, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Mario Ste-Marie said.
He also expressed hope that the number of tourists from Taiwan and Canada visiting each other’s nations would increase.
The office, which represents Canada’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, was a cosponsor of the event.
As part of a series of “Canada 150” celebrations in Taiwan, the event was attended by various Taipei City Government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.
Other “Canada 150” celebrations in Taipei included special lighting projected onto a wall of Taipei City Hall, showing the Chinese characters for “happy birthday” to Canada and “Canada 150” in English.
The light display ran from 6:30pm to 10:30pm on Friday and yesterday, the office said.
Taipei’s Canada Day celebration is usually the biggest celebration for the occasion outside Canada, the organizers said.
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