Is there any difference between the United States and Canada? If so, how is that possible?

·

Photo by Brianna R. on Unsplash

Well, USA no doubt has a large influence on Canada as our main trading partner and main source of entertainment (movies etc) the USA has a lot of influence but, our history is unique and it did create a very distinct group that has some key differences between us and the US.

The biggest of them is around the idea of socialism. The US treats Socialism like it’s the boogie man and the beginning of the end of modern society. It’s actually pretty humorous to hear some of the vitriol statements towards socialism and the ill-informed debates that happen down there over it.

Independence — Canada is more Peaceful

Don’t get me wrong, we still have our nut jobs and jerks here, but we are as a whole less belligerent than the US and the reason comes down to our unique history.

The United States went to war with England to become independent. The results of them winning that war had all the United States people who were still loyal to the crown — they moved to Canada.

We were a small nation still back then so those that moved here created a big surge of population. These people were all against the US declaring war on England. So, this polarizing stance ver England was a natural barrier for us not to become Americanized.

Canada went a more peaceful route for independence, and they introduced each transfer of responsibility through passing Acts and legislation. More and more responsibility and authority came to Canada and finally, in 1982, Canada finally repatriated the constitution. We would also choose to and we continue our connection to the royal family as part of our cultural tradition.

Not one shot was fired for our independence but, it did take us 200 extra years to attain it — well, arguably the British North American act of 1867 largely made the biggest move towards independence . It wasn’t until World War 1 though that Canada truly began to feel like a nation.

World War I brought Canadians together as a nation and proved itself as a contender on the global stage worthy of respect because of what our soldiers and people back home were able to do in support of England.

Canada as a nation may have been forged by World War I, however the fact remains that legally it was not wholly independent until they repatriated our Constitution.

Right to Bear Arms

Another noteworthy trait difference is that the Americans are more belligerent in general, and I believe it is due to the right to bear arms. The one constitutional point was meant so that the US could always raise a militia should the British decide at a later date that they wished to have the Americas back under their flag. This was a real serious concern for the forefathers, so they made sure that America would always be able to raise an army if attacked.

Canada does not have the same attachment to firearms as the US does. Again, this is another point that cracks me up when I hear it that if the US implemented gun controls, they would lose the streets to gangs almost immediately.

The guns are the only thing that keeps the people safe from the gangs. Meanwhile, a hundred miles north and you’ve got a country that has no guns and what there are for gangs sure don’t roma the streets with any ownership that I’ve ever seen.

Civil Rights Movement

The Civil rights movement in the US Was much more polarized and violent although, with ours we did have some terrorism that went on for a period over Quebe’s role in Canada’s future.

There was one point where a few people were killed and someone was kidnapped etc. Generally speaking the Canadian civil rights movement had been a bit more civil.

The Civil rights movement led to a civil war in the first phase to declare blacks free and then in the 1900s it was quite polarizing and violent because of the racism and fear that people had. In the end, the US often times seems like our rich borderline sister.

Everything that happens is disproportional from our perspective, and it's from one end of reason to the far end of unreasonable in terms of emotional shifting and dysregulation.

Self Focus

Lastly, America traditionally has been very self focused. They were brought onto the stage as police for the Wetern way of life after World War II. The responsibility seen the country step up at key times to make a big difference on the world stage but, it also had the effect of making Americans feel unappreciated and foreigners feeling as though the US will rattle it’s saber in order to silently force countries to comply with their desires.

This imporance on the world stage had the effect of making the US center stage all of the time and the people in general had become very self focused. If you take the average American and started quizzing them about history of other countries and not many will be able to tell you all that much.

Their school systems for years focused on American history and neglected Mexico or Canadian history. Most Americans really have no idea where our provincial capitals are or any of our history at all. Canadians on the other hand have focused on American history and world history so there is a much better chance of finding a Canadian that knows a lot about American than to find an American tha knows a lot about Canada.

So, the inwards focus and effects of being center stage, the manner in which the US fought for independence, the aggressive and at times belligerent attitudes due to a self focused’ country and ith the consitituional right to bear arms, many Americans have a more cavalier attitude towards weapons which manifests itself in atittude lastly the very distinct history of each country is what had allowed for Canada to emerge as a tightly linked partner of the United States but with very different cultures.