Members of Okanagan-Syilx Nation are unsettling Canada 150. It's time for Canadians to listen.

The point is to make you uncomfortable.

If you drive east through the sage-spotted Similkameen Valley, between Keremeos and Osoyoos, you'll be confronted with a billboard that reminds travellers of the difficult realities of colonization. A large illustration depicts industry, residential schooling, resource extraction, ecological distress, and at the bottom, an Okanagan family agitated by flames; their bodies representing the land, their hair, the water. In the top-right corner of the billboard, set below a stylized medicine wheel, it reads: "Rethink 150."

Canada 150: sesquicentennial or sesqui-colonial?

This is tough, Canada.

The centennial in 1967 was a heck of a celebration. For our sesquicentennial, marked by cross-country events this Canada Day weekend, we’re less confident about ourselves. Lots of catchy tunes, but no world party. It feels more like a sesqui-colonial, given the ongoing struggle to reconcile our historical mistreatment of First Nations. The shame is overwhelming.

Long walk to counter Canada 150 celebrations

WINNIPEG - A Manitoba indigenous leader plans to walk 120 kilometres next month in a decidedly different commemoration of Canada's 150th birthday.

Derek Nepinak, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said his Walk to Remember is to celebrate the resilience of indigenous people in the face of what has happened to them since Confederation.

Canada 150: what's for Indigenous people to "celebrate," exactly?

When I was in Grade 1, the entire country was celebrating 100 years of Confederation. Every school child was given a commemorative coin minted for the centennial.

School choirs perfected Bobby Gimby's Canada, or The Centennial Song, to mark Canada's 100th birthday and Expo 67, the World's Fair held in Montreal, which continued on as Man And His World until 1984.

We also memorized the words to the Canadian version of This Land Is Your Land, which was originally a protest song written by American folksinger Woody Guthrie. And, of course, we were still singing O Canada and God Save The Queen.

Canada 150 logo called 'confusing' by Centennial logo creator

The Canadian designer applauded for his celebrated Centennial logo in 1967 says the Harper government's choice of logo for Canada's 150th birthday is too complicated and confusing.

Stuart Ash is also largely unimpressed with the 16 other student designs that became finalists in the Canadian Heritage Department's controversial contest to produce branding for 2017 festivities marking Confederation.

Ontario slams Tories' Canada 150 infrastructure plan as rushed

Ontario is warning it won’t be able to participate or match funds for the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program because the federal plan is rushed and will only fund projects that are politically motivated “frills” like gazebos instead of more urgent needs.

Brad Duguid, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure, said the province had no advance notice of the $150-million fund when it was announced on May 15.

Cash for Canada's 150th a 'slush fund' for Tory MPs: Mulcair

The government is being accused of using Canada's upcoming 150th birthday celebrations as a ploy to buy votes in the fall election.

Last Friday, the Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the new Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, in honour of the country's sesquicentennial, which earmarks $150 million for 1,800 community projects across the nation.

Canada 150 infrastructure plan criticized as Tory election move

Provinces, municipalities and community groups have as little as three weeks to get their proposals in for a new “Canada 150” infrastructure fund, prompting concern that the Conservatives are rushing to spend the cash ahead of the coming election.

Ottawa expects the program will renovate up to 1,800 existing facilities, such as community centres, hockey rinks, Legion halls and bike trails.

Museum Of Civilization Taps Big Oil To Help Fund Canada's 150th Birthday

GATINEAU, Qc - Canada's 150th birthday is being brought to you by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

A $1-million sponsorship of the Canadian Museum of Civilization is a great opportunity to get the oil and gas industry's message out to Canadians, the president of the industry lobby group said Monday as the deal was announced.

When Canada turns 150: A frightening future or a new day led by Bieber and Trudeau?

What might Canada look like in 2017, the year of our sesquicentennial celebration?

It is, of course, impossible to predict events a week from now, let alone five years out. But for fun and the sake of argument, let’s try. What follows is a brief national portrait, dated July 1, 2017. Utopia? Dystopia? Or the usual hodge-podge, leavened with fanciful nonsense? You decide.

When Canada turns 150: The politics of celebrating our history

The 150th birthday of Confederation is now less than five years away. Beginning today, Postmedia News offers a special series on how the country should mark the occasion.

OTTAWA –  It’s a major milestone in Canada’s history that’s still nearly five years away, but the approaching 150th anniversary of Confederation — a national birthday bash that will culminate on July 1, 2017, touch every corner of the country and cost hundreds of millions of dollars — has already inspired one showcase sesquicentennial project and, just as quickly, sparked the event’s first controversy: the Conservative government’s decision not to appoint an independent commission to oversee what promises to be the biggest cross-Canada celebration since 1967.