What makes people Canadian?

[oldbike54]

 A nation's culture can in fact often times be reflected and shaped by its artists . Steve Smith as Red Green gave us a glimpse of Canadian sensibilities , often times self deprecating in a way that is refreshing , while still not apologizing for being Canadian . One of my favorite scenes from the show involved a manhole cover that Harold discovered near the lodge . Harold was concerned it might be something important , and asked if they should contact the Air Force . Red asked if he meant the USAF , and Harold replied no the Canadian AF . Red looked at his watch and stated it was after
5:00PM , the Canadian AF had already gone home 

 Dusty

[ITSec]

While I mentioned The Box (I absolutely love 'L'Affaire Dumoutier'!), I likely was a bit light in failing to include some additional important French-Canadian influences. Though to be broadly influential, they were often presented in English, or in both languages.)

An important one of these that I remember from the 60s was an incredibly funny radio series about a mixed couple from Montreal - he was working class French-Canadian, she from the upper crust Anglo neighborhood of Westmount. Like most marriage comedies of the day, the couple loved each other dearly - but argued because of their dramatic differences. It was called 'Les Anglaises". Think of The Honeymooners - if Alice's family were wealthy, and had disowned her when she married a French Jackie Gleason!

[ITSec]

A nation's culture can in fact often times be reflected and shaped by its artists . Steve Smith as Red Green gave us a glimpse of Canadian sensibilities , often times self deprecating in a way that is refreshing , while still not apologizing for being Canadian . One of my favorite scenes from the show involved a manhole cover that Harold discovered near the lodge . Harold was concerned it might be something important , and asked if they should contact the Air Force . Red asked if he meant the USAF , and Harold replied no the Canadian AF . Red looked at his watch and stated it was after
5:00PM , the Canadian AF had already gone home 

 Dusty

 I added Red Green (Steve Smith, who also had an earlier show with his wife) and Don Harron to the list after I had posted it here. I also thought long and hard about adding the cast of The Beachcombers, but I'm not sure how much impact they had out in the Maritimes.

One of my favorites from the Red Green Show was the quintessentially Canadian Gordon Pinsent, who played Hap Shaughnessy. Hap was a water-taxi operator, but he'd tell you he was canada's answer to James Bond  - at least, until he retired. 

[Penderic]

Canada?


Just add Polar Bears.

 

[oldbike54]

I added Red Green (Steve Smith, who also had an earlier show with his wife) and Don Harron to the list after I had posted it here. I also thought long and hard about adding the cast of The Beachcombers, but I'm not sure how much impact they had out in the Maritimes.

One of my favorites from the Red Green Show was the quintessentially Canadian Gordon Pinsent, who played Hap Shaughnessy. Hap was a water-taxi operator, but he'd tell you he was canada's answer to James Bond  - at least, until he retired. 

 Graham Greene's character Ed the explosives expert was also a favorite of mine . Graham also played an Indian wise man on Northern Exposure , love how dead pan he plays everything 

 Dusty

 

[Penderic]

Stompin' Tom Connors - Moon Man Newfie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUFHX5CbHiQ

[not-fishing]

You left out one of my favorite Musicians, Stan Rogers.

Oh, the year was 1778, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!
A letter of marque come from the king,
To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,
God damn them all!
I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold
We'd fire no guns-shed no tears
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett's Privateers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Ufe0jF-AE

[ITSec]

I also forgot to mention - Red Green wears suspenders. Guzzi content!

[geoff in almonte]

or for all you Fred Heads out there - you know who you are!!!

"Time to get a gun
That's what I've been thinking
I could afford one
If I did just a little less drinking"

Fred Eaglesmith

G

[Arizona Wayne]

My cousin became a Canadian thanks to the Vietnam War.   This Canadian thing seems, at least with your dog breeds, to be very cloak and daggerishish - with the Labrador Retriever coming from Newfoundland, and the Newfie coming from Labrador.  Don't really know about the people of Newfoundland, but the Landseer Newfie is possibly (all right, definitely, the greatest dog ever!).   

I graduated from High School in 1961 and got called to report for the draft but signed up into the Navy Reserves just in time to avoid that and to finish getting my AA before reporting for active duty in `66 to `68. .......... After I did my time in the Navy I used my GI Bill to finish my education getting a BA in Business/Marketing.   Over time also bought 4 houses with my Veteran benefits.

[Lannis]

More than anything else, Canadians are defined by a fairly small group of very talented people, concentrated in just a few professions - almost all performers or writers or other creative types.

 I read and re-read what you said above but ...

I really disagree with the idea that you can characterize an entire nation consisting of First Nations people, Labrador fishermen, Toronto urbanites, Vancouver 'hippies', Alberta wheat farmers, Saskatchewan uranium miners, and South Asian new immigrants by saying

"Canadians are defined by a very small group of ...".

You certainly wouldn't say that about any other nation, like "Slovakians are defined by a very small group of ...." or "Americans are defined by a very small group of ....".

It's not even accurate as a gedankenexperiment .... On the other hand, as a piece of Wild Guzzi fotting around, like "Could Chuck Norris whip Seraph?", I suppose it could waste an afternoon ...

Lannis

[Steph]

I read and re-read what you said above but ...

I really disagree with the idea that you can characterize an entire nation consisting of First Nations people, Labrador fishermen, Toronto urbanites, Vancouver 'hippies', Alberta wheat farmers, Saskatchewan uranium miners, and South Asian new immigrants by saying

"Canadians are defined by a very small group of ...".

You certainly wouldn't say that about any other nation, like "Slovakians are defined by a very small group of ...." or "Americans are defined by a very small group of ....".

It's not even accurate as a gedankenexperiment .... On the other hand, as a piece of Wild Guzzi fotting around, like "Could Chuck Norris whip Seraph?", I suppose it could waste an afternoon ...

Lannis

Yeah, but do the Slovakian have Hockey Night in Canada?

https://youtu.be/LJkHm2WtSsk

[ITSec]

I read and re-read what you said above but ...

I really disagree with the idea that you can characterize an entire nation consisting of First Nations people, Labrador fishermen, Toronto urbanites, Vancouver 'hippies', Alberta wheat farmers, Saskatchewan uranium miners, and South Asian new immigrants by saying

"Canadians are defined by a very small group of ...".

You certainly wouldn't say that about any other nation, like "Slovakians are defined by a very small group of ...." or "Americans are defined by a very small group of ....".

It's not even accurate as a gedankenexperiment .... On the other hand, as a piece of Wild Guzzi fotting around, like "Could Chuck Norris whip Seraph?", I suppose it could waste an afternoon ...

Lannis

Fair enough, Lannis - no extrapolation is ever going to be perfect or complete.

This was more a matter of bringing forward some examples of people who are widely known (as Cohen was) who have helped influence how Canadians feel about themselves. I avoided political and sociological examples, because I didn't want to get into something that would make Luap and the team uncomfortable - I provided examples most people view as positive - and mostly people who weren't even trying to influence others, but were just presenting something of themselves that ended up striking a sympathetic chord with many Canadians. The list of examples of Canadian stereotypes you provided, true as they are, are if anything less common than their opposites. But even the people you mention are largely part of the list and subsequent discussion - Tommy Chong (Vancouver hippie), my personal friend Jackson Beardy (First Nations artist, who I met while living at Garden Hill First Nations reserve), Alberta farmers (the songs of Bim, Valdy and The Tragically Hip), Toronto urbanites (The Hip again, Bruce Cockburn, Margaret Atwood).

I lived on First Nation reserves in Canada for years, and learned to speak a dialect of Objibwa. I speak French-Canadian, and I understand Quebecois (a Canadian knows the difference!). I've paddled a canoe over the Grand Portage and down (or worse yet, up!) many of the rivers in the west, and marched in the parade at the Festival du Voyageur in St Boniface. I lived on the prairies, and while many of my friends came from farming families, more still came from many other professions. I was deeply involved in Canadian politics for decades, and worked with people from every possible background. I was an immigrant to Canada myself, and I'm hugely sensitive to how Canada handles differences in history, culture, values, and ways of life. I've been to every province, and to two out of the now three territories.

For me, this was just a way of recognizing, appreciating, and celebrating some of the key influences that have shaped how Canadians feel about being Canadian. As a dual citizen, I can do the same for the USA. For a discussion like those on Wildguzzi, I might include Buddy Holly or Brian Wilson or Pete Seeger or Mark Twain - but I'd likely leave the social or political persons and groups for another place and time.

[smdl]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuVsHt3rBnc

[Lannis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuVsHt3rBnc

That's a nice song and a well-done video.

I'm glad to be able to note, however, that you could have substituted the name of almost any northern US state for "Canada", and the scenery, lyrics, etc would still have been appropriate!

Lannis

[smdl]

That's a nice song and a well-done video.

I'm glad to be able to note, however, that you could have substituted the name of almost any northern US state for "Canada", and the scenery, lyrics, etc would still have been appropriate!

Lannis

True, Lannis, but it might not have rhymed as well.   

Great folks on both sides of the 49th, for sure, with more similarities than differences.  However subtle, though, the differences are worth celebrating, on and with both sides, just like the differences in each individual. 

Cheers,
Shaun

[cloudbase]

Thanks to the loonie, give a gal a $1 bill in a dark gentleman's club and she thinks you're giving her a deuce.














(Or so I've heard)

[Guzzistajohn]

Red Green is all you had to say! What an actor!

I have an appreciation for the Canadian people, my dad fought along side the Canadian army in WWII in Italy.

[ITSec]

Thanks to the loonie, give a gal a $1 bill in a dark gentleman's club and she thinks you're giving her a deuce.

(Or so I've heard)

Nope - smallest bill in Canada is a five. A loonie is a single, a toonie (two-nie) is a two-dollar coin - a bit larger, two different metals, polar bear on the back instead of a loon.



When the gals in Canada get paper, they know they're getting something worthwhile 

[Aaron D.]

When my grandfather came to the States he had trouble with getting change, what with all the American money being the same color. He was accustomed to $1 bills being green, $2 was reddish, $5 was blue and so on.

All before Loonies of course.

[Lannis]

When my grandfather came to the States he had trouble with getting change, what with all the American money being the same color. He was accustomed to $1 bills being green, $2 was reddish, $5 was blue and so on.

All before Loonies of course.

In England in 2005 when I was there, a pound was $2.15 - really rough exchange rate.

The coins were hard to get used to.   In the US, when I have a small handful of coins, it might be 6 quarters, 4 dimes, 8 nickels, and 5 pennies, or about $2.35.   That's all I'd expect to see here at home.

Over there, they had 2 pound coins.   A small handful of coins might be six 2 pound coins, 5 one-pound coins, 4 50p pieces and a few pence.   But that's over $40!   

I was chucking money around like a drunk GI out on the town and didn't even know it ....

Lannis

[analog kid]

Ummmmmmm, yeah....I was about to contemplate all this, but went for a ride today instead. Sunny & 12 degrees C in November, don't take it for granted.

While I mentioned The Box (I absolutely love 'L'Affaire Dumoutier'!),

Saw them perform this summer, great show. Their new stuff sounded good - in the Yes/Genesis vein, but the old stuff is why I went. They played Dumoutier and, since Jean Marc used to be a member of Men Without Hats, this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjPau5QYtYs
 

[bmc5733946]

Growing up and living in Michigan I have always felt a kinship to our northern neighbor. While travelling in Canada in the 1960's and since, I was treated as if I were one of them. I am humbled by the treatment I have received in every part of Canada from PEI to BC.
I can relate to most of those on the list. I have almost always been able to watch Canadian television either over the airwaves or through the cable box except for the last two years with ATT, I miss it.  Thanks for reminding me. I would add Megan Follows and Richard Farnsworth to your list.

Brian

[keener]

this is an older vid but i still believe it represents what exists between Canada and the USA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrA4V6YF6SA   

[smdl]

this is an older vid but i still believe it represents what exists between Canada and the USA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrA4V6YF6SA   

Lol, it doesn't look like that video is available in Canada.   

Edit:. I found another copy on YouTube.  Good one, thanks.

Cheers,
Shaun

[Arizona Wayne]

Whenever I ride back up to Washington State in  the summer I meet some Canadian Guzzisti @ our MGNOC campout.  We all have a good laugh together teasing each other of our different ways,  eh? 

[Nic in Western NYS]

Margo Timmins and the Cowboy Junkies are cause for my eternal gratitude to our northern neighbors.

[Fuzzy]

In 1970 I was hitchhiking outside of Vancouver trying to get home. I was picked up by RCMP who gave me a ride to a safer, more well lit spot. It was a very courteous act which I appreciated all the more when my first ride got me almost to Alberta. Shortly after I got stuck in Regina, but that was probably my own fault.
I don't know if it is still the case, but my image of the RCMP is respectful and polite (and well dressed!), which I think is (was?) a fine reflection of the Canadian persona.

[Rebochi]

    I have had  a couple of Canadian crew members on boat. They seem normal enough and go in noticed until they put mayonnaise on their French fries and fried chicken revealing their secret identity.

[smdl]

    I have had  a couple of Canadian crew members on boat. They seem normal enough and go in noticed until they put mayonnaise on their French fries and fried chicken revealing their secret identity.

Lol!  That's a regional thing, I think.  I've certainly seen mayo on french fries, but not the fried chicken part.  I don't doubt that it's true, though.

How about putting white vinegar on french fries?  I clearly remember the looks we got at fast food joints when we asked for that back in 1976 on the way south to Disneyland.  "Well, we might have some out back for cleaning....".  Oh, and we should warn our American cousins to be cautious in ordering 'tea' in Canada.  If you are seeking cold tea, ask for 'Iced Tea', and make sure to taste it before adding any sweetener.  It almost universally comes pre-sweetened here.  It's more closely aligned with soft drinks than with regular tea (hot tea).

Cheers,
Shaun