1967: A People Kind of Place

In 1967, the Canadian Centennial Committee named St. Paul "The Centennial Star" on account of the quantity, quality, and originality of the small town's year-long celebratory activity; namely, the decision to build the world's first "UFO Landing Pad." This oval-shaped platform constructed in cement was an idea translated into architectural form, a metaphorical welcoming of all people - including "aliens" - to the nation. In this way, the UFO landing pad functions as a symbol for Canada's increasing emphasis on hospitality, tolerance, diversity, and unity at that point in history. This shift in both discourse and policy is also evidenced by the concurrent implementation of a point-based immigration system focused on a set of objective criteria rather than the applicant's country of origin. A complex and paradoxical structural representation of both nationalist and anti-nationalist discourse, St. Paul's landing pad opens up a historical investigation of Canada as the "instigator" of multiculturalism.