Happy Father’s Day to Our Dads and Yours!

Dad always had his own way of doing things. When it was cold outside, Dad microwaved our pyjamas so they were nice and toasty for bedtime. Sometimes when I was bored, Dad would mow a figure eight into the grass in the backyard so I had a track to run on.At Dad’s house, we didn’t just play dollhouse, we played burning dollhouse. You see, Dad would pull the house in front of the fire place, light a fire, so that flames would appear through all the windows. That was fun. No one else’s Dad had two motorcycles in the living room. Yep, our dad was pretty rad. Thanks Dad for giving us a memorable childhood! — Jen McNeely

There are countless things I love about my dad (bad jokes included), but if I had to pick one, it would be his encouragement to do what makes me happy. Life is too short to waste time on something unfulfilling, and my dad totally gets this. — Caitlyn Holroyd

My Dad (pictured here with my two sisters) is a busy man with a stressful job… and I didn’t really even know how busy or how stressful until I was pretty old, because he always, always made time for me and my sisters. Despite a hectic work schedule and the aforementioned sisters with lots of after school stuff to attend, my Dad never missed a single improv competition, debate, or weird “high concept” school play. To this day I still have to stop him from coming to lame comedy shows in grunge-y basements where I will be on for 3 full minutes, so supportive is he. My favourite part about getting older is getting to know my parents as people, not just parents, and I am happy to say that I consider my Dad a good friend. Love you, Dad. — Monica Heisey

After this photo was taken my sister said “Dad! Why didn’t you smile?” and he said “I thought I was smiling”. No one can ruin a photo, or park illegally, or eat other people’s food, or hoard broken VCRs, like my daddio can. — Jess Beaulieu

I love my dad because he’s always an inspiration when it comes to adventure and trying new things. Here he is in some of my travel shots from a recent trip to Banff and Lake Louise he took me on. He’s always had a great sense of humour and love for the outdoors. Thanks dad for being awesome, and happy Father’s Day! — Becca Lemire

First things first, he’s the realest. His actual name is Rick James. He let me watch The Simpsons as a kid even when my Mom said I was too young. When I was little, we’d drive around on Saturday mornings, listening to oldies, eating McDonalds breakfast, and buying Juicy Fruit gum (because that’s his fave). My Dad also coined the term, “baby bitch” thus nicknaming whiners accordingly, and he’s one of the only people I know who curses more than I do.

He’s also one of the only people I know who can annoy me the way he does — but the feeling is 100% mutual. One minute I’m convinced we legitimately hate each other, but the next we’re laughing at the story of my Grandma drunkenly falling down a ravine (twice).

So yes, sometimes growing up was the worst. We yelled at each other a lot, he physically had to leave the house when I didn’t back down (from being the worst), and things weren’t 100% the same between us until I moved out, and we both realized how much the other meant. But then I came home, and he he was actually there for me. So there, in fact, he moved the furniture from my apartment himself (with some guy from work he hated — but he had a van, so hey), then supported my moving day deadline choice to throw out pots and pans instead of packing them in the car. (Or more realistically, he applauded it: “Who needs this shit! The car is full!”)

It’s taken me almost 28 years to realize how much like my Dad I am, but without him I’d never have the sense of humour I do, the ability to incorporate “fuck” into almost any word that exists, and a survival instinct that has been synonymous with his family since history began. (I mean, my Mom’s side are all survivors too but this is about Rick James, so we’ll leave it there.) He taught me about entertaining people, and about how important it is to confront anyone face-to-face if they’re fucking shit up. (Last year he approached a few guys trying to break into our neighbours’ and they ran away. It was amazing.) He also taught me that you can only be yourself, and everyone else can go right to the devil.