Henry Stern and Nephew Celebrate Canada Day

"God Bless Canada!" is how Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern kicked off this year's Canada Day celebrations at Central Park's SummerStage on Sunday, July 1. The concert, which attracted a crowd of more than 5000, featured Canadian musicians Sarah Harmer, Natalie MacMaster and the Cowboy Junkies, plus a quippy reading by Montreal-born author David Rakoff.

"We do too little for Canadian culture," Stern told me. "The U.S. assumes that all culture starts and ends here."

But what exactly is Canadian culture?

"It's people like us," he said, pointing to the mellow crowd, "getting together."

People like us? Perhaps he was referring to the new Canadian connection in the office of the Parks Dept.: his 19-year-old nephew, Aaron Stern, from Ontario. Aaron's father, Ken, a high school drama teacher, fled the draft in 1967 by emigrating northward. Aaron, a college student, is living in New York for the first time.

"I love it," Aaron said, standing barefoot on the astroturf beside the music stage. He said he's been impressed by New York's glamour and affluence, going to parties where Renoirs are on the wall and eating hors d'oeuvres of unknown origin.

At his job assisting his uncle, Aaron is known by the moniker "Skywalker."

"I've been told that I look like the new Anakin Skywalker," he said.

"Skywalker" also fits nicely with the Commissioner's own outer-spacey "StarQuest." Stern came up with the nicknames, or "noms du parc"?there was a "First Person" piece about it in these pages last December, by one "Shamu"?for radio communication in 1995. Today, there are more than 7000 in use, including "The Eagle" for Mayor Giuliani.

While he enjoyed the music and festivities alongside fellow Canadians, Aaron couldn't commiserate with their immigration woes. Unlike the reported 200,000 Canadians living and working in New York City, Aaron did not have to go through the trouble required to obtain a visa to work here.

"My uncle pays me out of his pocket," Aaron said.

The Commissioner acknowledged that Aaron is working as his assistant. "An intern, actually," Stern explained.

Aaron's summer employment will no doubt enrich his university studies of politics and drama. And while he says he'd love to be an actor, he hasn't ruled out the possibility of following his uncle's footsteps into the civic arena. But probably not here.

"[New York's] great," he said, "but I wouldn't want to stay here. I like Canada. I miss the air and backyards and porches in particular."