I googled Canada Day, and the first useful thing was “for kids” …
the question now is wether this reflects the state-of-mind of the average Candaian or their southern neighbors :) ;)
Anyway here’s the explanation from there:
A long time ago, Canada belonged to Great Britain. Over time, parts of the country joined together and wanted to form their own government.
On July 1, 1867, the British government (under Queen Victoria) approved a plan which allowed Canada to become an independent country with its own government. This new nation, which remained loyal to Britain, was called the Dominion of Canada. At that time, the new Dominion of Canada had only four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). These days, there are 10 provinces and 3 territories.
PS: i misread the second line of “O Canada” …… “our home and naive land”… only then i noticed that i missed a “t”. :D