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[larkymark]

Before You Flee to Canada, Can We Talk?

By Nora Jacobson
Sunday, November 28, 2004; Page B02

TORONTO

I moved to Canada after the 2000 election. Although I did it mainly for career reasons -- I got a job whose description read as though it had been written precisely for my rather quirky background and interests -- at the time I found it gratifying to joke that I was leaving the United States because of George W. Bush. It felt fine to think of myself as someone who was actually going to make good on the standard election-year threat to leave the country. Also, I had spent years of my life feeling like I wasn't a typical American and wishing I could be Canadian. I wanted to live in a country that was not a superpower, a country I believe to have made the right choices about fairness, human rights and the social compact.

So I could certainly identify with the disappointed John Kerry supporters who started fantasizing about moving to Canada after Nov. 2. But after nearly four years as an American in the Great White North, I've learned it's not all beer and doughnuts. If you're thinking about coming to Canada, let me give you some advice: Don't.


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Although I enjoy my work and have made good friends here, I've found life as an American expatriate in Canada difficult, frustrating and even painful in ways that have surprised me. As attractive as living here may be in theory, the reality's something else. For me, it's been one of almost daily confrontation with a powerful anti-Americanism that pervades many aspects of life. When I've mentioned this phenomenon to Canadian friends, they've furrowed their brows sympathetically and said, "Yes, Canadian anti-Americanism can be very subtle." My response is, there's nothing subtle about it.

The anti-Americanism I experience generally takes this form: Canadians bring up "the States" or "Americans" to make comparisons or evaluations that mix a kind of smug contempt with a wariness that alternates between the paranoid and the absurd.

Thus, Canadian media discussion of President Bush's upcoming official visit on Tuesday focuses on the snub implied by his not having visited earlier. It's reported that when he does come, he will not speak to a Parliament that's so hostile it can't be trusted to receive him politely. Coverage of a Canadian athlete caught doping devolves into complaints about how Americans always get away with cheating. The "Blame Canada" song from the "South Park" movie is taken as documentary evidence of Americans' real attitudes toward this country. The ongoing U.S. ban on importing Canadian cattle (after a case of mad cow disease was traced to Alberta) is interpreted as a form of political persecution. A six o'clock news show introduces a group of parents and children who are convinced that the reason Canadian textbooks give short shrift to America's failed attempts to invade the Canadian territories in the War of 1812 is to avoid antagonizing the Americans -- who are just waiting for an excuse to give it another try.

My noisy neighbors revel in Canada's two hockey golds at the 2002 Olympics because "We beat the Americans in America!" The first gay couple to wed in Ontario tells the press, before they say anything else, that they are glad they don't live in the United States. A PR person at the hospital where I work, who has been eager to talk to me about a book I've published, puts down her pen when she learns that I'm American and that the book is nearly devoid of "Canadian content."

More seriously, in the wake of 9/11, after the initial shock wore off, it was common to hear some Canadians voice the opinion that Americans had finally gotten what they deserved. The attacks were just deserts for years of interventionist U.S. foreign policy, the increasing inequality between the world's poorest nations and the wealthiest one on earth, and a generalized arrogance. I heard similar views expressed after Nov. 2, when Americans were perceived to have revealed their true selves and thus to "deserve" a second Bush term.

Canadians often use three metaphors to portray their relationship with the United States. They describe Canada as "sleeping with an elephant." Even when the elephant is at rest, they worry that it may suddenly roll over and crush them. They refer to the U.S.-Canadian border as "the longest one-way mirror in the world" -- Canadians peer closely at Americans, trying to make sense of their every move, while the United States sees only its own reflection. Finally, they liken Canada to a gawky teenage girl with a hopeless crush on the handsome and popular boy next door. You know, the one who doesn't even know she exists.

The self-image conveyed in these metaphors is timid and accommodating. Perhaps this is how Canadians see themselves (or would like to be seen), but my experience is that they are extremely aggressive (if somewhat passively so) when it comes to demonstrating their deep ambivalence toward Americans. Take the popular TV show "Talking to Americans," which simultaneously showcases Americans' ignorance about Canada and mocks Canadians' unhealthy preoccupation with what Americans really think of them. Of course, there's often something of the stalker in that gawky teenage girl, isn't there?

Part of what's irksome about Canadian anti-Americanism and the obsession with the United States is that it seems so corrosive to Canada. Any country that defines itself through a negative ("Canada: We're not the United States") is doomed to an endless and repetitive cycle of hand-wringing and angst. For example, Canadians often point to their system of universal health care as the best example of what it means to be Canadian (because the United States doesn't provide it), but this means that any effort to adjust or reform that system (which is not perfect) precipitates a national identity crisis: To wit, instituting co-payments or private MRI clinics will make Canada too much like the United States.

The rush to make comparisons sometimes prevents meaningful examination of the very real problems that Canada faces. (For me, it has become the punch line of a private joke that whenever anything bad happens here, the first response is a chagrined cry of "But we're Canadian!" -- the "not American" can be inferred.) As a Canadian social advocate once told me, when her compatriots look at their own societal problems, they are often satisfied once they can reassure themselves that they're better off than the United States. As long as there's still more homelessness, racism and income inequality to the south, Canadians can continue to rest easy in their moral superiority.

Many Canadians have American relatives or travel frequently to the United States, but a large number are pretty naive about their neighbors to the south. A university student confidently told me that there had been "no dissent" in the United States during the run-up to the Iraq war. Toronto boosters argue that American cities lack the ethnic diversity found in Canada's largest metropolis. The author of a popular book on the differences between the Canadian and American characters (a topic of undying interest here) promotes the view that Americans are all authority-loving conformists.

Ultimately, Canadian anti-Americanism says more about Canada than it does about the United States. Because some 80 to 90 percent of this country's trade is with the United States, the reality is that Canadians need Americans to sustain their economy and thus the quality of life they value. Such dependence breeds resentment. In "officially multicultural Canada," hostility toward Americans is the last socially acceptable expression of bigotry and xenophobia. It would be impossible to say the things about any other nationality that Canadians routinely say -- both publicly and privately -- about Americans. On a human level, it can be rude and hurtful. (As it was on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, when an acquaintance angrily told me that she would now have to curtail her travel plans because she was afraid she might be mistaken for an American.) And there's no way to argue against it. An American who attempts to correct a misconception or express even the mildest approval for the policies of U.S. institutions is likely to be dismissed as thin-skinned or offensive, and as demonstrating those scary nationalistic tendencies that threaten the world.

I felt a strong tug toward America when the borders shut for several hours on the afternoon of 9/11, and again after the election this month. Canadian friends were honestly shocked when I, a caricature of a bluestocking blue-stater (I've spent most of my life in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Wisconsin, with short stays in Washington state and the bluest part of Colorado), said that I would in many ways prefer to live in the United States, and not just because it's home. They assume that it's better, more comfortable, to be in a place seemingly more in tune with one's own political and philosophical leanings. Right after the election, many asked me if I would now apply for Canadian citizenship.

I don't intend to do that, because experiencing the anti-Americanism I've described has been instructive: Living here and coping with it has forced me to confront my own feelings about America. And it's helped me discover what I do value about it: its contradictions, its eccentricities, its expansive spirit, all the intensity and opportunity of a deeply flawed, widely inconsistent, but always interesting country. Perhaps I am a typical American, after all.




Nora Jacobson is an American medical sociologist living in Toronto.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15638-2004Nov26.html

[Roch]

I lived in most of the most well-known cities in Canada and was physically attacked or insulted for being from the U.S. in all of them. Charlottetown, Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver, and Victoria stand out as particularly bad places for people from the U.S. to live in or visit.

Nora's essay is right on. What do the Canadians that use this board think about it?

All of the American citizens I met overseas agree with me that it is the average Canadian who's loud, boorish, arrogant, and overly nationalistic.

[PaperTiger]

Before you flee to Canada, can we talk? Yeah, you should know there's more Cannucks in Korea than in Canada. Subtely isn't exactly an outstanding Canadian trait, especially among self-righteous, rabidly nationalistic, recent uni grads. After meeting them, you will no longer wonder why Quebec wants to succeed from this nation of obstreperous douchebags.

Hey, if it's so great...why are so many of you HERE???

[ddeubel]

And people in other countries AREN"T unfriendly to Americans?????? O My God! Only in Canada you say????

Poor woman, so difficult your life, so hard to be an American boo hoo.....This is all so damn melodramatic, really it is............

The real question is Why should Americans want others to like them?????

Personally I don't give a damn if a person is American or Guyanese. I make friends, have friends based on what they believe and how they carry themselves. If they are American and don't match muster, I tell them so. Same as anyone else.......

The other point is, most Canadians are Americans. No difference and whatever veneer there was, has been rapidly disappearing. So all the yattayatta of Ms. Jacobson is fluff.......This just proves my point........

[ajgeddes]

After reading that, I can definitely understand some of her complaints. On the other hand, some of the things she has said I have never heard before.

She sounds like some of the people on here who come to Korea, and blame everything Korean on them not having a good time.

It's fun to watch all the Americans in this thread just wait for their moment to jump in and dump on Canada/Canadians.

[Zyzyfer]

[flotsam]

In Canada you got the Canadians hatin' on us, in France you got the French, in Korea you got the Koreans and in America you got the Republicans.

Catch-22.

What I have learned from this thread, something I never realized before, is that...

...lean in close...



...closer...















...even closer....
















...is that sometimes, in some places....people are dicks without reason.

MEGA-

[khyber]

There are a LOT of canadians who dislike America. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. I just don't like it when my country folk start prattling on and on to Americans about how much their country sucks. Seriously? What's the point? It makes you look like a complete tard so why do you do that?

[SweetBear]

[SweetBear]

DD wrote:

The real question is Why should Americans want others to like them?????





No, maybe a question is, why would this American want others to like her.
In the real world people want to be liked?

[Satori]

Dont know much, but it sounds like a situation that both countries have played a part in creating. Pretty that anti americanism doesnt just come out of thin air. Likewise the reverse. Dont think it will change quickly in the near future. A lot of it has to do with stuff on a political level that normal people have no control over. So the thing that I never understand is why so many normal people, both canadian and american, want to talk about it and make it a big issue. I find that quite boring.

There is a mildly similar antagonistic relationship between Australia and New Zealand. But much less severe. When a kiwi meets an aussie in a bar, very little, if any of the conversation turns to politics and the differences between the two countries. We`re more likely to argue over who`s going to win the next rugby or cricket game, or the kiwi will berate the aussie over the under arm incident, which seems to remain lodged in the public consciousness permanantly...dull

[RACETRAITOR]

I see exactly where the author is going with this. After coming here, I've found it hard to get along with a lot of other Canadians who seem too concerned with shoving their nationality in other people's faces. At Skunk Hell we've had more problems to date with Canadian English teachers than with American soldiers. I think the difference is the soldiers are afraid.)

Recently I was playing a game with a friend of mine where we tried to liken every country to a type of girl in a bar. He said Japan was the tramp who demanded more respect than she deserved, and Korea was the girl who'd been slapped around until she finally went nuts (keep in mind he's a Canadian expat living in Japan). He said Canada is the beautiful ice queen. I disagreed and said "Canada is the great, friendly, funny girl who turns into a psycho hosebeast whenever America enters the room."

Canadians have a right to take issue with the US, the same way Korea has a right to complain to China about yellow dust and pollution. We certainly get our flak from the US. Recently I heard someone ask "Why would anyone burn the Canadian flag?" The only time I can remember ever seeing something like that was on the news about some Americans protesting something we were doing.

[ajgeddes]

[SweetBear]

I'm hardly going nuts, simply pointing something out.
Two posts ? Americans jumping in?
Save the drama.

[ajgeddes]

damn double post