O Canada

Donald Trump could have avoided a lot of frustration and embarrassment if he had asked me about Canadians. In the early to mid-seventies, while pursuing doctoral studies in Scotland, I knew a number of Canadians who were also studying there. In fact, my wife and I shared living accommodations with one Canadian couple, and I played on a basketball team with another Canadian. In both cases, I quickly learned what makes Canadians angry.

The biggest faux pas US citizens commit against Canadians is to assume, when first meeting Canadians, that they are, in fact, fellow US citizens. The Canadian English accent, as opposed to the French Canadian accent, can sound similar to people from the northern-tier states of our country, which leads to Canadians needing to say over and over again, “No, I’m Canadian.”

The second common mistake occurs when US citizens introduce themselves as “Americans.” Expect a Canadian to turn red in the face as he or she says, “Canada is as much part of North America as the US is.” A Canadian might add, “Stop assuming you’re the only American here.” In sharp contrast, how often has someone asked you, “Are you Canadian?”

But there is a further issue that most of us in the US don’t understand. It isn’t just a mistake of geography to mistake a Canadian for a US citizen. Canadians I have known chafe at being associated with the stereotype of US citizens as arrogant, pushy, and loud. Worse yet, if a Canadian were to confront a US citizen about these traits, he knows that he might hear in response, “You Canadians are so touchy. You must be jealous of us.”

I would recommend that every US citizen live outside our country for a spell. I don’t mean visiting other countries as a tourist, but rather living, working, or studying abroad. There is nothing like that experience to dispel one of the misconceptions that many of us grew up with.

The misconception I am talking about is the claim that everybody in the world would rather live in the United States. That was the assumption when was in school, and I never heard it challenged until I lived abroad. Yet, even in Scotland, I met another American student who continued to make that exact claim. Not only did he believe everyone wants to live in the US, but he went on to say that everyone, if they are honest with themselves, wants to live in Boston, Massachusetts. When I told him that I had no desire to live in Boston, he smiled as he said “Yes, you do.” I hope he never tried that out on a Canadian.

Clearly there are many people in developing countries or in countries dealing with war and famine who would prefer to live in the US, but the Canadians, Scots, and other Europeans whom I’ve met have no desire to live here and were not shy in telling me that. For some it is the violence of our society; for others it is the lack of basic health care as a right; and still for others it is our country’s racist past and present.

What Trump has yet to grasp is that there is nothing in a Canadian’s DNA that aspires to be a citizen of a 51st US state. When Trump raises that possibility, as he did recently with the new Canadian Prime Minister, I can almost hear Canadians grating their teeth. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear them add, “Over my dead body.”