The Junos are a big deal.

Acknowledging Canadian artists and their achievements, is as important to me, as saluting our forces or supporting our hockey teams, is to others. It’s something that as a music lover, I have complete confidence in.

Canada has such a large and underrated music scene, and it’s one time a year we can honor it on a national scale. With a population only 10 per cent of the U.S, there is no competition, but that is not to say Canadians aren’t relevant. Our music is just as good, just not as widely known.

Those ignorant people who act like Canadian music is insignificant bother me. There is absolutely no reason that Canada should put a kybosh on the Junos. It’s a celebration, like many others, that so many Canadians have worked hard for. Just like, we shouldn’t stop cheering for our favourite teams because they don’t always make the playoffs.

There is a plethora of great bands in Canada that have yet to be discovered or signed to a record label, just as I assume there are in other countries around the world. But people, even Canadians, look at Canada as a nation with little music talent.

Just check our indie scene on CBC Radio 3, you’ll see for yourself, THAT is not true.

It’s not just the bellbottoms, the abundance of marijuana or the free love that makes me wish I were around during the counterculture movement. It’s the rejection of conventional values, and the philosophies of peace, love and unity.

While psychedelic music and tie-dye shirts are an important part of the era, I’d go back to the 1960s to be a part of something bigger than myself.

The 60s were a tumultuous period but a significant one. After the introduction of civil rights and the continuance of the cold war, societal views were beginning to change.

Anti-war protests and demands for more rights and freedoms are both things that I firmly believe in. Hippies embraced a sense of brother, or sisterhood. They kept an open mind to new ideas and brought forth radical change from social reform to sexual liberation.

Young people spread the power of love and the allure of sex, opening the doors to sexuality in mainstream society. Without their brazen views on sex, beyond that of a heterosexual, monogamous relationship, acceptance of homosexuality and the legalization of abortion might have taken longer to obtain.

Free speech helped evolve opinions and open eyes. Creative thought and new perspective are not widely accepted by everyone. Hippies, however, valued it.

Experimentation with drugs isn’t necessarily a safe idea, but it revealed a new level of consciousness. Hippies reaped the benefits that altered states of perception, giving a psychedelic feel to their culture. Their altruistic and nonconformist ideals influenced a variety of pop culture, from music to film to literature.

Events like Woodstock brought hundreds of thousands of people together to unite as a whole and believe in something. Music.

The Beatles, Janis Joplin and The Rolling Stones became heroes of the time. Their lyrics were deeply rooted in ideas opposing certain notions that influenced feminism, black power, sexuality and environmentalism.

While these visions have been introduced to contemporary society with peaceful protests on Parliament Hill and open views on sexuality, there is still a disconnection.

Today’s generation isn’t passionate. They aren’t focused on community.

Instead, people are looking for something to latch on to. They’re centred on money and stature. What happened to harmony?

But as the saying goes, one step forward, two steps back.

come together