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Today, July 1st, is Canada Day.
This was an important date in Canadian history. Mostly because this was when the Confederation of Canada was created in 1867, but it was also important for some other reasons as well. American privateers attacked Lunenburg, in Nova Scotia. Nine years before Canada became a Union, it minted it's own coins (i, 5, 10, and 20 cent coins). The decimal currency system was incorporated in Canada, and Canada and the United States ended a fishery agreement. The first international telephone conversation took place on this day, with a call between Calais, Maine, and St Stephen, New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island officially became a province of Canada. Wilfred Laurier became the first French-speaking Prime Minister of Canada. Less happy history - it was on this date in 1933 that Canada suspended all Chinese immigration into the country. Eventually on this date, O Canada! became the official national anthem for Canada.
But most importantly, of course, it was on this day in 1867 that the Dominion of Canada came into existence. I have spent Canada Day inside of Canada a few times, most recently in 2017, for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Usually, in Quebec City, where they traditionally have free outdoor concerts and other celebratory events during the time of the end of June until early July. That is because June 24th is St. Jean Baptiiste Day in Quebec province, and then Canada Day a week later. So, it's a good time to take a trip there. Plus, there's a good chance that you can catch a good band or two. I think it was 2005 that I saw Tea Party up there (no, not the ridiculous American pseudo-political movement, but rather the pretty cool band).
Now, having lived in the United States for most of my life - and unfortunately, never having lived in Canada - it seems pretty clear to me that ignorance of Canada is strong. I have known many Americans who really had no idea of what Canada was like. Some - and I am talking about grown adults here - believed that it must be cold and possibly snowy all year long. Some - quite a few, actually - were under the impression that French was the dominant language, including one friend who I actually went to Quebec province with back in our college days. He actually was disappointed and claimed to be pissed off when I told him that, in fact, Quebec was the only province of the ten in Canada where French was the dominant language. Another, when I asked him what the "other" language (other than French) officially spoken in Canada, answered uncertainly that perhaps it was German. Apparently, he did not imagine that they spoke English there. And no, sadly, I am neither kidding nor exaggerating about any of this. These were actual things that people said of Canada, and that's arguably not even the worse thing. Indeed, I knew a guy - a young man who used to be a student at the school I worked at, but who had become a fully grown adult by this point - who was trying to move to Toronto and was stunned by how much paperwork was involved. He said that he could not remember anywhere near the same level of paperwork when he moved from New Jersey to New York. I told him (apparently informing him) that Toronto was in Canada, and thus, an entirely different country. He deleted the post shortly after that, perhaps out of embarrassment, although I will not speculate any farther.
Nor were they alone. I knew a guy in France who simply assumed that Quebec was France, for all intents and purposes. Tell that to the people of Quebec, and I think he might have been surprised by what their reaction to that might be. That is not to say there are not similarities and cultural ties, because obviously, there are. But the people inside of Quebec most certainly do not feel themselves de facto Frenchman and, in certain regards, live very different lives.
The point is, knowledge about Canada outside of Canada itself seems to be extremely limited. Sadly, that seems particularly true in the United States, a fact which, as an American, embarrassed the hell out of me. I always loved taking trips to Canada ever since my first trip there in 1983. I have been there a number of times, but you would be amazed how many people seem to think that multiple trips to Canada would be pointless, as if visiting, say, Quebec City is the same exact thing as visiting Toronto or Vancouver. Or that visiting the Maritime provinces is the same thing as visiting the Canadian Rockies. Or that Canada is not actually as big as it is - it has long been the second biggest country in terms of land mass in the world - and does not have the vast diversity of various landscapes and the accompanying cultural differences that it is known for. Even the French-speaking community is not all one and the same. While Quebec province is the only province where French is spoken by a majority (and a wide majority, at that), it is not the only province where French is spoken. In fact, there are communities of French-speakers in literally every Canadian province, and nearly a third of the population of New Brunswick speak French. There are also over 100,000 people in Ontario who speak French as their first language, including just under 20 percent of the people of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. And within the English-speaking provinces, I might argue that there are more differences - both geographically and culturally - between those people in the rural province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and those in Ontario's capital of Toronto, which happens to also be Canada's largest city, with massive urban sprawl. And all of those people likely live very different lives than the people who live in Victoria, a city which looks and feels quite English. Indeed, it has sometimes been regarded as English Canada's answer to Quebec City for French Canadians. In fact, despite having visited London with my son last year, the only time that I actually ever had "tea time" at a restaurant remains in Victoria, British Columbia.
Long have I believed that Americans really need to begin to pay attention to the world outside of their own sacred borders. And they could do worse than begin by learning more about our neighbors - sorry, our neighbours - to the north. And so, my recent blog entries on Canada for this week in between St Jean Baptiste (celebrated exclusively in Quebec province) and Canada Day (which is celebrated throughout Canada, and honors the day when Confederation was achieved back in 1867.
I wrote an article on Canada Day for the Guardian Liberty Voice which was published on this date in 2015. Fairly recently, I found out that this was a widely viewed article, with thousands and thousands of views, most likely making it the most widely read piece that I have written to date. Hopefully, you take a look. Here's the link:
Canada Day Has a Long and Divided History:
https://guardianlv.com/2015/07/canada-day-has-a-long-and-divided-history/
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