EagleBear's Den/Aerie

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Canada

I know that most of the visitors to my site will be from the U.S., so you might be asking, "What's so great about Canada?". It has been said that Great Britain is a country defined by History, and that to understand the U.S., you must focus on Politics. To understand Canada, you need to know Geography.

By Geography, I don't mean identifying Canada as "that big orange (or pink) space up north." Yes, that is how we were perceived by many U.S. students in the 60's, when all British Commonwealth countries were coloured the same on the World Maps. No, Canada is the world's second largest country by area (after Russia; before China and the U.S.) with the world's largest reserves of fresh water (hands off!). With a population of only 30,000,000 (usually right in step with California's). Over 90% of Canada's population lives within 125 miles of the U.S. border, "the world's longest undefended border".

Windsor, Ontario is directly South of Detroit, Michigan. Yes, Canada is generally North of the U.S., but because of the Great Lakes, all of Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont; and most of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, New York and Massachusetts are further North than Windsor.

With a lower population density, a large part of Canada is still untouched wilderness and tourism is a major industry. Unfortunately, even many Canadians have not seen the beauty of many parts of Canada.

Our relationship with the U.S. has been compared to a mouse sleeping with an elephant. Like any minority, we tend to take pot shots at the majority and make jokes about ourselves to diffuse any perceived threat. This, coupled with our access to British, U.S. and French humour, has led to much of our Great Canadian Humour -- Kids in the Hall, Second City Television, Wayne and Schuster, Rich Little, John Candy, Dan Akroyd, Rick Moranis, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, the Royal Canadian Air Farce.

There are some things in Canada to laugh at (besides politicians). We have "eh", that all-purpose syllable used in place of the U.S. "huh", "you know" or "um". There's our fascination with Newfoundland English, two Official Languages, and our funny (or some of us would say) "proper" spelling and pronunciation. You may laugh at our our money colours, but U.S. "greenbacks"> are known as the easiest currency to forge. Can you tell a five from a twenty from across the room?

And, as the mouse next door to the elephant, occasionally we've had our toes trampled on by some historic and current attitudes towards Canada. Like the Monroe Doctrine (all of North America should be part of the U.S.), or the related "54-40 or Fight". In case you don't know, it refers to the latitude of the southernmost part of Alaska. The sentiment was to set the U.S./Canada border at that latitude (taking in present-day British Columbia) for U.S. "security" reasons -- or else. More recently, take former President Reagan's description of SDI. Soviet missiles coming over the North Pole would be disabled, then they would "fall harmlessly to earth". That would be on Canada, I believe?

And besides the Helms-Burton act, you might ask "Who won the War of 1812?", "What happened to the Avro Arrow?", and "Where were basketball and the telephone invented?" if you wanted to start an argument.

Whether Canadians view U.S. citizens as "brash" or "go-getters"; "rude" or "frank", in general, most Canadians are perceived as quieter and politer than most U.S. citizens. Our cities are often complimented on being so clean, our health system is lauded, and despite the jokes, public confidence in our government (not our politicians) is higher than many other countries. Our gun laws are more restrictive, and getting more so over time. Our crime rates are lower and our social safety net bigger (at least for now). For this, we pay higher taxes across the board. Maybe the difference in national slogans shows it best. Whereas the U.S. has "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness", Canada has "Peace, Order and Good Government."

On the Canadian Links page, you will find links to sites dealing with many of these issues. More will follow over time, and I will try to keep them current. Any URL's including the letters "gc.ca" are Government of Canada sites. Happy linking.

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Last Updated: June 8, 1998
Links Checked: June 1, 1998
© 1997, 1998 Kevin Peckham