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Yes, that's about when Canada started changing from my perspective. I don't remember this sort of self-conscious self-awareness before then. We just were Canadians. We were happy enough to be Canadians. I don't recall it ever being talked about.
Anecdote about Canada's 150th: a neighbour's kid must be very lonely at the age of 18 because he has taken to dropping by a lot lately. He is the grandchild of immigrants and his grandparents' English is barely understandable. He was telling me how he had spent Canada Day in Winnipeg. And he said it was all terrible, everything was about the "Indians" and nothing was about "how great we had made it." And more in that vein. Making it sound like the greatest country in the world. And I said (gently) that I wasn't that much into nationalism and that my people had come as refugees because Canada was the only country that would take them.
He stared at me for a minute and then said, "Well, my people came for more land, money and power."
I wasn't sure whether I felt like laughing or not. There were too many ways to spin that. Would one rather have grateful refugees or immgrants who come for money and power?
I think Gen X Canadians were probably the first generation to feel that way and to be a bit cocky about Canada.
When I've discussed the topic with people from my parents' generation (in their 70s and 80s now) the general sentiment was more that Canada was a bit sub-par and that the U.S. was the place to be.
Obviously, this isn't everyone. I am sure there were people in the 60s who thought Canada was awesome (better than the U.S.) and there are millennials today who think Canada sucks.
Certainly in my generation (Gen Xers) there were some people who were enamoured with the U.S., but they were definitely a small minority.
Oh there is definitely a lingering bitter feeling among many Canadians that the country doesn't receive sufficient credit abroad (especially in the US but also beyond) given the tremendously successful country that it is.
Posts on here that deny this fall into the No True Scotsman file.
Bitter? I find that weird. When I encounter someone who is ignorant of Canada and I'm answering their questions, the US inevitably comes up. Some think we are the US, some think that somehow the laws are the same. Some have rosy views of Canada and the US.
If people around the world were more aware of how great Canada is, maybe more of them would choose to come here and not the US.
Again, no. Not in my experience. What you might be touching on is in relation to how many foreigners view the US. The ones who see it as utopia through TV and movies and the ones that see it as hell on earth, again from TV, movies and news reports.
When someone assumes, and a lot of people do, that Canada is a carbon copy of the US, real or imagined, telling them the positives and negatives of the REALITY is something I would do.
Assuming you're talking about Canadian young people, I think you're right that they often think Canada's the cat's meow. But this had already started in my youth, which was in the late 80s to mid 90s. (Spent mostly in Ontario, and a bit in the Maritimes, BTW.)
The vast majority of kids I knew thought Canada was absolutely fantastic, and that we had built a better America with almost all of the good stuff in the U.S. with almost none of the bad. These happened to be particular rough years in the U.S., with serious abandonment and violence in almost all of their major cities. Even NYC wasn't really that impressive the first time I went: there was grandeur for sure but most of it appeared to be from another era and the city felt run-down and sketchy.
When you get to travel abroad a bit, as I often mention you get the "yay Canada you guys are great! but I'm admittedly slim on the details" thing from the vast majority of people you encounter. This I take it is what you mean by people thinking Canada's profile is bigger than some people think.
I've honestly never had a bad experience abroad resulting from my nationality or the passport I carry. But with young people usually the conversation would quickly go from "you're Canadian so we know you're gonna be cool, so feel free to tag along!" followed by "so... have you ever seen Michael Jordan play live?" or "have you ever attended a taping of the David Letterman Show?"
Stuff like that.
Someone slap them down and set them straight. Canada is nothing but a pale copy of the US ( not Quebec of course it's brilliant !! ). How dare they show any patriotism and love of country. I mean, who do they think they are? Americans ?
Someone slap them down and set them straight. Canada is nothing but a pale copy of the US ( not Quebec of course it's brilliant !! ). How dare they show any patriotism and love of country. I mean, who do they think they are? Americans ?
Well, I actually think that the way I saw Canadians as being what they were without paying much attention to this is what Zoiste was saying she observed in her area. I don't recall anyone being envious of the U.S. at all but of course Mennonites have always viewed the state at arm's length. I think a combination of television which linked this country with the world made Canadians far more aware of the differences between themselves and Americans. And if anything, that increasing awareness created a lack of envy of Americans, at least hereabouts.
And I think what Natnasci points out is that with self-awareness came an increasing sense of pride, which is not necessarily a bad thing. And probably to be expected with a country coming into adulthood.
Simple, US is much larger in population and geographic diversity, so it's more attractive than Canada. Many decisions come down to career/education options.
Yes, that's about when Canada started changing from my perspective. I don't remember this sort of self-conscious self-awareness before then. We just were Canadians. We were happy enough to be Canadians. I don't recall it ever being talked about.
Anecdote about Canada's 150th: a neighbour's kid must be very lonely at the age of 18 because he has taken to dropping by a lot lately. He is the grandchild of immigrants and his grandparents' English is barely understandable. He was telling me how he had spent Canada Day in Winnipeg. And he said it was all terrible, everything was about the "Indians" and nothing was about "how great we had made it." And more in that vein. Making it sound like the greatest country in the world. And I said (gently) that I wasn't that much into nationalism and that my people had come as refugees because Canada was the only country that would take them.
He stared at me for a minute and then said, "Well, my people came for more land, money and power."
I wasn't sure whether I felt like laughing or not. There were too many ways to spin that. Would one rather have grateful refugees or immgrants who come for money and power?
This attitude is very common for the Generation Z in the US too. They are sick of being shamed for being regular kids while forced to embrace things they don't relate to. I think both countries are going to make a swing right as this generation matures. In my lifetime, I don't remember any group of young adults leaning conservative, but these kids seem to be. The Millenials are so far out in left field, it's gotta be hard to want to emulate that.
This attitude is very common for the Generation Z in the US too. They are sick of being shamed for being regular kids while forced to embrace things they don't relate to. I think both countries are going to make a swing right as this generation matures. In my lifetime, I don't remember any group of young adults leaning conservative, but these kids seem to be. The Millenials are so far out in left field, it's gotta be hard to want to emulate that.
I am not really up-to-date on what letters or names different generations have and what they are supposed to represent. It seems more letters are creeping into the generations all the time. What do you mean by "shamed for being regular kids" and "forced to embrace things they don't relate to?"
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