Canada Vs. The United States Essay, Research Paper

Growing up in Canada and growing up in the United

States for children these days is totally

different from how it used to be. The idea of

Canadian identity is an issue that not many people

think about, and that most people take for

granted. What you may not know, is that some of

these differences in our mannerisms and culture

could effect our society so much that we could

go from 10 provinces and 3 territories to 4

provinces and 3 territories in a time frame of a

few years. I will explain this point later in my

essay which I hope you will enjoy, and I hope

you will think about the reality of struggling to

keep our country together, so close to the all

mighty US of A.

One of the things that I feel separates a

Canadian from an American is the role of culture

and heritage. When immigrants come to Canada

from another country, they are encouraged to

remember their other identity, and their roots

in their country of birth, while Americans tell

them to forget their old life because they are

Americans now! For example the Canadian

government might give a Portuguese community

funding to create a Portuguese community centre,

so that when these people have children who are

born in Canada, their culture and heritage will

not be forgotten. I think that encouraging

cultural diversity is a good idea because it makes

our cities more interesting. We don’t just have

cities filled with Anglo-Saxon Canadians, but

cities filled with Portuguese-Canadians,

Chinese-Canadians and others, who are true to

Canada, yet still remembering their old homeland.

Unfortunately this same diversity can, and may,

cause problems for our society. Quebec is the

biggest region in Canada where ethnic culture

and study of heritage is very important. This was

why Quebec was thinking of separating from Canada,

because they have taken the statement, ‘Do not

forget your true culture and heritage,’ to a whole

new level. They believe that their culture is

being lost, and that no one wants French speaking

people in Canada. This is obviously is not true.

Unfortunately, they think it is, and in 1998, when

they held the referendum on sovereignty

association, the votes were dangerously close.

If a few hundred people had voted yes, and Quebec

had separated, there would have been, in effect,

a wall separating Central and Western part of

Canada from the Eastern. The Maritimes would be

isolated. We know how Maritimers take their

culture very seriously, well, this could prove

dangerous because since they would be isolated,

they would feel it necessary to join the States,

as the Maritimes in general are much more akin

to New England than they are Ontario. We would

now be down to 5 provinces.

BC is one of the most industrial provinces in

Canada and has everything from excellent natural

resources, and local governments, to beneficial

trading opportunities with the western United

States. These things make BC a great place to

live. However, the West Coasters believe that

they are shut off from the rest of Canada and

that Ontario, in central Canada, receives every

bonus, opportunity, and extra money the Federal

Government has to offer. The BC provincial

government has come up with the idea to adopt

another currency. Of course it would be an obvious

decision to adopt the American dollar, because

they trade with them the most. Surely you can

guess that it would be logical for BC to join the

United States for now they would share a currency

and the western U.S. is more in tune with their

way of thinking than the other provinces and

territories of Canada. Now, BC would be gone, and

so would the reputation of our 4 province 3

territory country, as we would be falling apart.

Have you ever seen a Canadian movie? One, maybe

two? Canadian movies are out there, in theaters

and in movie stores, but if you think you’ll wait

a few weeks before going to see a Canadian movie

in the theaters, try again. After an average of

two weeks, Canadian movies are already out of the

theaters due to poor ticket sales. Canadians feel

they only need to see big Hollywood Blockbusters

like ‘Saving Private Ryan’, and ‘The Blair Witch

Project’, not movies like ‘The Sweet Hereafter’.

I bet you’ve never even heard of that last one,

right? Let the truth be known that Canadians

believe that Americans make better movies. Why?

Who knows. Most Canadian citizens believe that

our culture is too boring and we have nothing to

say in our films. Have you ever seen a Canadian

movie up for best picture at the Oscars? No,

neither have I. We don’t have the big stars to

draw the crowds and therefore no ‘big bucks’ which

means no power. What I’m basically trying to say

is that, in general, we Canadians rely too heavily

on the US for our culture, including movies, great TV

shows, and so forth. Only most of them aren’t so

great and don’t portray our Canadian identity, and

we are different! I only hope that soon, Canadians

will realize that they make films that are just

as good, if not better than those of the

Americans.

As you have heard from the above information,

our Canadian identity is slowly diminishing as

we are being assimilated into the United States of

America. We should be proud of our culture,

heritage and country and embrace it as one. Let

the Americans make their movies, have a different

culture and be the All-American country. The

Canadian image is one to be proud of, therefore

we shouldn’t attempt to follow our neighbours’

path, we should follow our own.