Early 2000s Canadian childhood summarized
By Sonam Kaloti, Arts Editor
Growing up in Canada means having a very niche collection of memories, partly because of CRTC laws regulating entertainment broadcasters to air at least 50 percent of their daily content to be of Canadian origin until 2011. Here are some products, television, and places that kids who grew up in the early 2000s may have buried in the depths of their memory.
Starting with the old Canadian bills and the infamously outlawed Canadian penny, if thereâs anything a Canadian child didnât understand but will remember anyway, itâs money. That, and probably chicken pox.
Onto the television. Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat was a cute show about, well, a Siamese cat. This showâs rarely, if ever, talked about, but anyone who watched it will remember this little dude.
6Teen may have been about teenagers, but most of the viewers of this show were probably too young to really understand these teenagersâ angst and peril. Luckily, 6Teen was the kind of show to ingrain itself into the minds of young kids, thus, making it a forever classic. Despite airing only until 2010, my 16th birthday in 2016 consisted of texting up my buddies and taking the SkyTrain to Metrotown to find and drink some lemonade together.
Hockey Night in Canada isnât exactly a â2000s kids onlyâ broadcast since its original release was as a radio show in 1931 and itâs still running. It holds importance to anyone whoâs grown up in Canada just the same.
Other classics from this time include Timothy Goes to School, Rolie Polie Olie, The Big Comfy Couch, Totally Spies, Mighty Machines, and The Berenstain Bears.
A plethora of public service announcements from the Canadian CCA (Concerned Childrenâs Advertisers) made a mark on the minds of millions of Canadian children. The TV ad featured âAn important media literacy lesson that uses animation to teach kids that they are smarter than the television.â As written in the caption for the YouTube video posted by CCACanada.
âHealth Rock,â another PSA from the CCA, is captioned by the CCA as âA lively sixty second animation with an entertaining theme song that explains the importance of balancing food and activity and encourages kids to âeat smart and move more.ââ
âThe House Hippoâ has and always will be my favourite painful ad to indulge in. The CCA states it is, âAn inventive spot that reminds children that not everything on television is real. Children are encouraged to think about what they see on TV and to ask questions.â Ironically, as a child I thought house hippos were real and I wanted one bad, so watching it now after having realized that theyâre not real at some point in my childhood keeps the pain fresh. Itâs like finding out Santa Claus isnât realâbut worse.
If kids still watched TV, ads like these wouldâve been fantastic to keep running to remind children that they have the capacity for critical thinking and that they should use it when absorbing information from the media.
Go Bananas is an indoor playcenter located now in Langley, Surrey, Richmond, and North Vancouver, BC. Childhood for a lot of Canadians included visiting these fun playroom attractions such as Chuck E. Cheese, the McDonaldâs PlayPlace (with the McDonaldâs character chairs), and for those in the Lower Mainland, Crash Crawlyâs.
Now, everyone knows Zellers. In fact, Iâm sure many Canadians still use âItâs close to where the Zellers was,â in giving everyday directions to someone, but only the real ones remember the Zellers ferris wheel. My mother used to bribe me to go to Zellers with her just to ride this thing, and I have a vivid memory of sitting on my friendâs lap going on it, while being far too old to have been going on this tiny ride. However, Iâm glad we did since this infamous landmark is gone forever.
Finally, we have some reading material. Robert Munsch was easily my favourite author when I was a wee lad and going to the library during elementary school class to be read his books by the librarian was truly some of the best times. Sure, there was also Dr. Seuss and Goosebumps and plenty of others, but they donât feel as Canadian childhood as this. The Paper Bag Princess has my heart out of all Munsch classics.
Saving the best for last, Scholastic Book Club newsletters were the epitome of happiness in elementary school. Youâd get one of these bad boys, hype up all the products with your friends, take the newsletter home to your parents (who were probably thinking ânot this againâ), and buy all the weird spy gadgets, science experiment books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid collections, and toys to your heartâs desire.
Growing up in Canada was a wild time, and these strange niche memories can connect you to any other Canadian, making for a fantastic conversation starter if youâre tired of talking about the rain or the snow.
