Reflections On Canada & Being Canadian
Today is Canada Day and so I thought I would share with you some interesting thoughts on our nation from people of interest over the years. Now, please note that I am not endorsing a quote by putting it here, but rather acknowledging that (fair or not) it is an accurate representation of ideas or perspectives in or about Canada. Enjoy!
“Canadian nationalism is a subtle, easily misunderstood but powerfull reality, expressed in a way that is not to state directed – something like a beer commercial or the death of a significant Canadian figure.”
-Paul Kopas
“We Canadians live in a blind spot about our identity. We have very strong feelings about who we aren’t but only weak ones about who we are. We’re passionate about what we don’t want to become but oddly passive about what we should be.”
-John Cruickshank
“Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States.”
-J. Bartlett Brebner
“Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain.”
-Pierre Trudeau
“Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour – we’re more like celery as a flavour.”
- Mike Meyers
“Canada: A few acres of snow.”
-Voltaire
“I want to thank all the Canadians who came out today to wave to me – with all five fingers!”
-President George W. Bush
“A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It’s a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it’s because it’s proven.”
-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (on finding no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction)
“Canadians are the people who learned to live without the bold accents of the natural ego-trippers of other lands.”
-Marshall McLuhan
“Canadians have an abiding interest in surprising those Americans who have historically made little effort to learn about their neighbour to the North.”
-Peter Jennings
“The great themes of Canadian history are as follows: Keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear.”
-Will Ferguson
“In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect.”
-U.S. President Bill Clinton
“Canadians have been so busy explaining to the Americans that we aren’t British, and to the British that we aren’t Americans that we haven’t had time to become Canadians.”
-Helen Gordon McPherson
“I don’t even know what street Canada is on.”
-Al Capone
“We’ll explain the appeal of curling to you if you explain the appeal of the National Rifle Association to us.”
-Andy Barrie
“Canada is the greatest nation in this country.”
-Former Toronto mayor Allan Lamport
Happy Canada Day, eh!
All I know about Canada comes from Red Green… wacky, but lovable
Seriously, I am intrigued by Canadians. Some I have been reading lately seem to make more sense than many of my fellow U.S. citizens.
Glenn,
I think that Canadians, for our otherness from the US, have a great deal to offer in many respects. However, the same is true of the US for Canada, and any other nation. The trick is not to presume one is better than another merely on the merits of our objectivity and national strengths. That being said, I am glad we can offer something!
Peace,
Jamie
Ah, Red Green! You made my day!
RWK,
Glad you liked it.
Peace,
Jamie
We used to joke about moving to Canada…over the past few years (and especially after the 2004 presidential election here in the US), it’s become less of a joke and more of a possibility.
Kievas,
Well, for what it is worth, Winnipeg would be the place. Few Canadians would say it is the first spot for people to move, but it is diverse, very affordable and really great Christian community. So, you know, if you ever…
Peace,
Jamie
I just crossed the border back into the US (Montana) from Alberta a couple hours ago. I spent 6 days driving from Winnipeg to Calgary, and yesterday I spent about 5 hours in Kananaskis Country. I wouldn’t trade any second of it. Well… maybe a day in Medicine Hat for another in Calgary.
Happy Canada Day.
Anon,
Sounds like a great trip!
Peace,
Jamie
Thank you, Jamie. I now feel thoroughly enlightened!
Cindy,
Glad to help. Any favourites there?
Peace,
Jamie
“I don’t even know what street Canada is on.”
-Al Capone
Ah yes, that is a good one. I am partial to “Canada is the greatest nation in this country.” I can say it with pride without… pride.
Peace,
Jamie
oh a different note, i had a strange dream last night that i think you were in! (you) had written a book, or, more accurately, created some kind of weird digital display screen that sort of told a story in abstract images… (I said it was weird…) The only other thing i remember is that (you) brought your own sugar bowl for your coffee and instead of regular sugar it had a sugared/crystallized flower bloom in it. Now, I’m pretty good with imagery in dreams, but this one is a total loss for me! I guess you were on my mind after reading your canada post last night.
Happy belated Canada Day Jamie! Great quotes! Canada isn’t such a bad country – let’s consider the facts, it’s been voted as the best country in the world to live a lot of times in the past decade, it’s also home to the current best city in the world to live in!
I was thrilled to buy get into London a few weeks ago, so we could buy some more Tim Horton’s coffee from The Canada Shop in Covent Garden …. now that’s really sad, eh?
Cindy,
Wow… Umm, maybe you should talk to someone (wink). But seriously, I usually have keen sense of dream meanings, but that one evades me. Did it seem significant when you woke up?
Peace,
Jamie
Lyn,
Thanks! I am glad we can provide you a coffee vice. Unfortunately, as I don’t drink coffee, I can’t vouch for it.
Peace,
Jamie
“Did it seem significant when you woke up?”
Not so much!
Cindy,
Phew… Sleep well!
Peace,
Jamie
Happy Canada Day (late) to all! As an American and a Canadian (dual: however contradictory) I have enjoyed discovering how Canadians are narrow in different ways from Americans. In the USA we often see Canada as “America Junior” (Homer Simpson) and know almost nothing about what happens here. But I have been surprised at how little CBC Radio news has to say about anything outside of Canada. If I want world news I turn on NPR from the States. Both countries have strength and weakness: nu surprise there I guess!
Hey Daryl,
I’m Canadian/American too, so I share many of your observations. I am constantly trying to get Canadian’s to see that for their faults, the US shames Canadians in many other areas. It is too easy to dismiss each other for our weaknesses.
Peace,
Jamie
A few other canuck related quotes that i like:
I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.
Robertson Davies
Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity”
Marshall McLuhan
Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes.”
Tommy Douglas
The beaver, which has come to represent Canada as the eagle does the United States and the lion Britain, is a flat-tailed, slow-witted, toothy rodent known to bite off it’s own testicles or to stand under its own falling trees.
June Callwood
Canadians look down on the United States and consider it Hell. They are right to do so. Canada is to the United States what, in Dante’s scheme, Limbo is to Hell.
Irving Layton
Bill,
Thanks Bill. Great additions all!
Peace,
Jamie
I like Canada. Went to Prairie Bible Institute way back in the ’80′s. It’s even better now. A beautiful land, as well.
Ted,
Glad we can be a part of your journey!
Peace,
Jamie
Jamie — These are some great quotes. I hope I’m not overgeneralizing, but from my experience growing up near Detroit (just across the bridge from Windsor) Canadians are able to take themselves less seriously than most Americans.
In that same spirit, have you seen these shirts?
http://www.threadless.com/product/388/Canada_Owes_Me
http://www.threadless.com/product/601/Canada_Living_the_American_dream
Happy belated Canada Day (and 4th of July)
Hey Daniel,
Great shirts. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie
http://budlong.blogspot.com/2007/03/definition-of-canada.html
A definition I heard on the radio.
Chris,
Nice one!
Peace,
Jamie