Fred Short is like millions of other Canadian who are celebrating Canada day. For him, this day takes him back 50 years.

"I was a school teacher and we took 27 students all the way to Montreal by train to Expo ‘67. So sort of re-living what Canada is all about," he said.

Hundreds of people in Regina spent Saturday on the Legislative grounds or in Victoria Park, all to say happy birthday to our country.

But for Carol Kirk, she gets to celebrate Canada's birthday and her own.

"Not only is it our 150th birthday for the country, it is also my birthday, I was God’s gift to Canada in 1962,” said Kirk.

Kirk says Canada has grown quite a bit as a country since 1962, and that the biggest difference from then and now is seeing people from all over the world celebrating here along with other Canadians.

"We're so much more diverse in our culture. We become much more welcoming of immigrants coming over and making them a part of our culture and absorbing some of their culture. I think that that is a big change,” she said.

Many came with friends and family to celebrate what it means to be Canadian. However, there are those who say that there is more reason to protest than there is to celebrate.

"The idea of the Canada150 celebrations is an assumption that the indigenous people run on Canada's clock and that could not be further from the truth," said Nickita Longman from Colonialism No More.

"This is not a celebration for us if even half the amount of money had been spend on the crisis happening in indigenous communities instead of on balloons on cakes and patting themselves on their back we would be able to have safe drinking water, sustainable housing, rates of suicide would drop drastically,” said protestor Robyn Pitawanakwat.

 

Protestors here say they want to share the uncomfortable history of Canada with those who are out celebrating.

"People here who are celebrating also become aware of what our history is and where we have come and where we are at today, and hopefully it’s a good initiative to how we can better ourselves moving forward,” said Longman.

Protestors hope that as people celebrate, they also keep in mind those who are not celebrating and to take time to educate themselves about the history of Canada.