Canadians around the country will be attending parties and celebrations today to mark the country's 145th birthday.

The biggest bash will be on Parliament Hill, where festivities were scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET. They'll wrap later this evening with a massive fireworks display.

There will be performances by Feist, Simple Plan, Roch Voisine, Jully Black and Donny Parenteau; a fly-past by the Snowbirds, and speeches by Gov. Gen. David Johnston and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The Grey Cup will be given VIP status as the football tournament celebrates its 100th birthday this year.

The show will also feature actors playing key figures from the War of 1812, one of the themes of this year's celebrations. This year marks the bicentennial of the war.

In his Canada Day message, Harper said Canadians have much for which they can be proud and thankful this year and he made special mention of the War of 1812 bicentennial.

"It is fitting that with the passage of 200 years we should reflect on the military struggle that made Confederation possible, the War of 1912," he said.

"The United States today is our good neighbour and close friend. But the border as once a place of fear and hostility, where almost exactly two centuries ago, an American invasion of Canada was launched.

"Our ancestors, English, French, Aboriginal, people of all backgrounds joined in the fight for Canada. In doing so, they created a common sense of nationality based on diversity and they laid the basis for the parliamentary federation of freedom, democracy and justice that is our inheritance," Harper said.

In the Governor General's message, he said from the moment of Confederation in 1867, Canada has been a unique and challenging experiment.

Johnston said the nation resembles a giant family that each day displays a commitment to unity, diversity, excellence and equality of opportunity.