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Most Canadians were born and raised in Canada and dont think of themselves as British. Sure there is some history and we have the queens face on our money but thats about it,Most Canadians dont give any thought to Britain. So how British is Canada? IMO not very.
Most Canadians were born and raised in Canada and dont think of themselves as British. Sure there is some history and we have the queens face on our money but thats about it,Most Canadians dont give any thought to Britain. So how British is Canada? IMO not very.
Canada in most ways, it doesn't feel much different than the U.S. of course, however, Canada certainly has a little more British influence/feel than the U.S. (it didn't completely cut the final ties with the UK until 1982) in history and culture until more recently. It does have much more British sounding names than most of the US outside of the 13 colonies as well. You do not have much in the way of the British names in the Western U.S. like you do in Western Canada. I'd imagine though, the day to day influence of British culture in Canada has dropped significantly in the last 50 years and will continue to drop as Canada's ties are closer/growing now with Asia and the U.S. than the UK and as the younger generations which have more ties to North American life and a Canadian identity than the Commonwealth Realm become a bigger part of society. Also, large amount of immigrants to Canada, just like to the U.S., are now from non European countries which will also likely lessen the influence British culture has in Canada.
Canada in most ways, it doesn't feel much different than the U.S. of course, however, Canada certainly has a little more British influence/feel than the U.S. (it didn't completely cut the final ties with the UK until 1982)
We still have ties, like the Queen as head of state, and membership in the Commonwealth.
We still have ties, like the Queen as head of state, and membership in the Commonwealth.
True, but as I've read IIRC, the Queen's role as the Queen of Canada is now completely separate from her role as the Queen of England. The 1982 Canada Act eliminated all needs for Canada to go through the British Parliament for adding certain amendments to the Constitution and for allowing them to pass laws that for Canada if requested as well, giving Canada complete sovereignty over itself.
True, but as I've read IIRC, the Queen's role as the Queen of Canada is now completely separate from her role as the Queen of England. The 1982 Canada Act eliminated all needs for Canada to go through the British Parliament for adding certain amendments to the Constitution and for allowing them to pass laws that for Canada if requested as well, giving Canada complete sovereignty over itself.
Yes, Queen Elizabeth II in her role with respect to Canada is the Queen of Canada, not the Queen of England. She is also considered "Canadian" for the purposes of the law.
She still lives in London UK though, and has never lived in Canada.
Canada in most ways, it doesn't feel much different than the U.S. of course, however, Canada certainly has a little more British influence/feel than the U.S. (it didn't completely cut the final ties with the UK until 1982) in history and culture until more recently. It does have much more British sounding names than most of the US outside of the 13 colonies as well. You do not have much in the way of the British names in the Western U.S. like you do in Western Canada. I'd imagine though, the day to day influence of British culture in Canada has dropped significantly in the last 50 years and will continue to drop as Canada's ties are closer/growing now with Asia and the U.S. than the UK and as the younger generations which have more ties to North American life and a Canadian identity than the Commonwealth Realm become a bigger part of society. Also, large amount of immigrants to Canada, just like to the U.S., are now from non European countries which will also likely lessen the influence British culture has in Canada.
Try Quebec and or Newfoundland/Labrador. I'd find Mississippi and Alabama completely foreign to anything in Canada as well.
I agree in the last 50 years it has dropped and the feeling one has towards things British depend a lot on age and location.
I grew up in the 1960's in British Columbia, with Victoria City as my capital, with a portrait of the Queen in my classroom. New Westminster and Surrey didn't sound " foreign " or " British " since they were suburbs of Vancouver. In my world I never questioned it.
Most of the public schools in Vancouver are named to this day, after Lords and places in England. Like Hastings, Lord Roberts, Lord Byng, Lord Strathcona, Queen Alexandra, and on and on.
My mother who was French Canadian, still made roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for Sunday dinners.
But, here's the thing. Even though all those influences were British, I never thought they weren't Canadian also. I knew perfectly well that having a portrait of the Queen in my classroom didn't mean I was British. ( that said, my grandparents would of been British Subjects at one time, before there was Canadian citizenship )
Try Quebec and or Newfoundland/Labrador. I'd find Mississippi and Alabama completely foreign to anything in Canada as well.
I agree in the last 50 years it has dropped and the feeling one has towards things British depend a lot on age and location.
I grew up in the 1960's in British Columbia, with Victoria City as my capital, with a portrait of the Queen in my classroom. New Westminster and Surrey didn't sound " foreign " or " British " since they were suburbs of Vancouver. In my world I never questioned it.
Most of the public schools in Vancouver are named to this day, after Lords and places in England. Like Hastings, Lord Roberts, Lord Byng, Lord Strathcona, Queen Alexandra, and on and on.
My mother who was French Canadian, still made roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for Sunday dinners.
But, here's the thing. Even though all those influences were British, I never thought they weren't Canadian also. I knew perfectly well that having a portrait of the Queen in my classroom didn't mean I was British. ( that said, my grandparents would of been British Subjects at one time, before there was Canadian citizenship )
To be fair, most Americans not from the South would find Mississippi and Alabama pretty different from where they live as well. . I do find it interesting how many in Canada used to adopt many British things to be Canadian as well while the U.S. rejected a lot of British customs and food after independence.
By the metrics many here would like to use, Canada was never British at all. Back in the Victorian-Edwardian era, when Toronto was described by a Scottish writer as being "the most ultra British city on earth", Britishness was basically meant as a general sense of loyalty to the British Empire as a community and the Crown specifically. It was all institutional, Canadians of that period would go to see American vaudeville acts over touring British music hall or theater troupes, they preferred baseball to cricket and were going about changing rugby to more resemble American football even while entire towns were crowding into halls to mourn Queen Victoria. Canada was less of a destination for British migrants after World War 2 than Australia and New Zealand, where they were basically begging people to come over, so many of the cultural and familial bonds that arose in the second half of the 20th century were missed by Canada... but not all. Canada would be more British in terms of foodstuffs and popular culture than the United States, on the whole... Canada is a country where they show Coronation Street for all the English grannies, America is a country where nobody or their grandmother even knows what Coronation Street is. That's something, I suppose.
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Originally Posted by Acajack
For the record, most French-speaking Canadians wouldn't really care if Anglo-Canadians had an enhanced Britishness to their culture and character. Just as long as it was not imposed on them (us).
Your stereotypical Quebecois nationalist would even ascribe such an attitude to Anglo-Canadians... see Samedi de rire portraying Anglophone newscasters in the 80's ending every sentence with "God save the Queen". Or Pierre Trudeau's contention during the flag debates of the 1960's that Francophone Canadians didn't really care either way as long as the fluer de lys flew in Quebec itself.
Last edited by brodie734; 09-12-2016 at 11:06 AM..
Your stereotypical Quebecois nationalist would even ascribe such an attitude to Anglo-Canadians... see Samedi de rire portraying Anglophone newscasters in the 80's ending every sentence with "God save the Queen". Or Pierre Trudeau's contention during the flag debates of the 1960's that Francophone Canadians didn't really care either way as long as the fluer de lys flew in Quebec itself.
Yeah, knowledge of and interest in Anglo-Canada in Quebec tends to be pretty slim, and suppositions from the less sophisticated generally range from rabid Queen-lovers (hence the God Save the Queen references on that comedy show) to a quick dismissal that they're exactly the same as Americans...
By the metrics many here would like to use, Canada was never British at all. Back in the Victorian-Edwardian era, when Toronto was described by a Scottish writer as being "the most ultra British city on earth", Britishness was basically meant as a general sense of loyalty to the British Empire as a community and the Crown specifically. It was all institutional, Canadians of that period would go to see American vaudeville acts over touring British music hall or theater troupes, they preferred baseball to cricket and were going about changing rugby to more resemble American football even while entire towns were crowding into halls to mourn Queen Victoria. Canada was less of a destination for British migrants after World War 2 than Australia and New Zealand, where they were basically begging people to come over, so many of the cultural and familial bonds that arose in the second half of the 20th century were missed by Canada... but not all. Canada would be more British in terms of foodstuffs and popular culture than the United States, on the whole... Canada is a country where they show Coronation Street for all the English grannies, America is a country where nobody or their grandmother even knows what Coronation Street is. That's something, I suppose.
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This is actually a pretty good explanation. Let's not forget that in several parts of Canada (incl. Ontario and the Maritimes), the first "anglo" people to settle there generally came north from the United States.
While Revolution-era "Americans" would still have had a lot of British traits, an identity and culture forged on the new world (America) had already begun to take root. By and large they weren't exactly the same as people who just got of the boat from the UK.
These people were not that great in numbers, and were soon overwhelmed by people actually from the British Isles. But the Loyalists nonetheless laid the foundations of English-speaking Canada, which is one of the reasons it has a lot of Americanity in its traditions, culture, etc.
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. I do find it interesting how many in Canada used to adopt many British things to be Canadian as well while the U.S. rejected a lot of British customs and food after independence.
