Canadians to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 60-year reign.

Xinhua - The government on Tuesday urged Canadians to take part in the celebrations for next February's 60th anniversary of the region of Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the throne as Queen of Great Britain as well as Canada in 1952.

James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, said the Queen's Diamond Jubilee events will reinforce the public's interest in the country's institutions.

"The only other time Canada celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of a reigning sovereign was for Queen Victoria in 1897," he said at an event at the Royal Canadian Mint, where he joined David Johnston, Canada's Governor General at a ceremony for the first striking of a total of 60,000 handcrafted Diamond Jubilee medals.

The government will invest 7.5 million Canadian dollars (7.42 million U.S. dollars) to increase awareness throughout the country and provide paper hand flags, lapel pins and posters for people who are organizing events as well as teachers and youth leaders to celebrate the anniversary.

The public will be able to send congratulatory messages through a website. Diplomats in Canadian consulates and embassies around the world were ordered to prominently display the Queen's picture.

Elizabeth II inherited the crown of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries when her father, George VI, died of lung cancer on Feb. 6, 1952.

But opposition leader Nycole Turmel criticized the government for spending 7.5 million Canadian dollars on the Queen's Jubilee compared to 8.6 million Canadian dollars (8.5 million U.S. dollars) over five years for housing in Attawapiskat, a First Nations' community which is under housing emergency with cold weather.