Why do Canadians act like they do?

One of the books that I enjoyed reading and which helped me quite a bit to articulate the differences between Canadians and Americans is Pierre Berton’s little book called Why We Act Like Canadians. It is a little dated in that events have obviously moved on since the early 80’s but the core is still very relevant. Each of the chapters is a letter written to a person named Sam who is supposed to be an American. Obviously the reference is to Uncle Sam. Each of the letters outlines a particular difference between the two peoples. It is helpful because Americans often have difficulty understanding that Canadians are different with some very different values.

In the first two chapters Berton takes us on a long tour of the North West Mounted Police which in time would come to be known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. For Berton, it seems hard to overstate the place the RCMP has in the mythology of the Canadian psyche. In fact they mark the main difference between the Wild West of the United States and the peaceful West of Canada. He argues that in fact there was nothing wild about the West in Canada because of the NWMP who kept the peace. In fact, they were really a military unit disguised as police in order not to offend the Americans. But their purpose was to keep the Americans in line.  There is a great story he tells in which there is a famous gunslinger in Western town who is carrying a gun which was illegal. A NWM Policeman approached him and asked for the gun. The gunslinger replied “no man alive has ever taken my gun.” To which the mountie replied that may well be, but I am taking it. It was then that Berton tells us the gunslinger realized that he was no longer in the States. The point for Burton is that whereas for Americans the central virtues are freedom and liberty, for Canadians these are subordinated to a passion for “peace, order and strong government.” This is not to say that freedom and liberty are not values for Canadians but rather they are only valuable in a peaceful context. He writes, “the respect for authority, the hunger for security, the yearning for peace, order and good, strong government, the rejection of the permissive and the ‘libertine’ – are national qualities that unite us all.”

The third letter explores the theme of loyalism and the early Canadian reaction to the Americans. One of the things that has struck me as I have read various histories is the fact that for years Americans just could not understand why the Canadians did not want to join the United States. The assumption at the time of the American Revolution and the War of 1812 is that the Canadians would jump right in. Berton argues that there are two reasons for this. First, there was a strong trust and loyalty to the institutions of church and crown even if there was not always a love. He writes about his own father who close to the present time that he was, “loyal to the Church of England, which he saw as a bulwark against radical and un-British nonconformist; loyal to the British connection – life the others, he called himself a United Empire Loyalist; and loyal to the Conservative party, which we Canadians still dub the Tory party.” The other aspect was a horror at the American way of life which was seen as chaotic, irreligious and materialistic. It was common to see the Americans as caring for nothing but money. (This is still a common view!) Berton has a humorous theory for this. In the War of 1812 he writes that for the first time the Canadians saw a different kind of American: “These were not the easy-going farmers who lived as neighbours… These were Southerners – Indian fighters, backwoodsmen, brawlers and eye-gougers – individuals all… Thus, in the years that followed, when Canadians heard the word “British,” they could not help seeing a line of disciplined men, uniformed, marching in perfect order. But the word “American” conjured up a different vision: a horde of ragged frontiersmen, slipping like phantoms through the trees, squirrel rifles at the alert, each acting on his own – a mob of wild men, perfectly prepared to take a scalp or burn a house in defiance of orders.” There has always been a wariness of the Americans partly because there were so many of them and their economy so large, and in the Canadian mind there has always been a vigilance against the encroaching influence. One of the interesting parts of Berton’s book which is obviously dated is his assumption that Canadians “have shunned commercialism in our culture.” Unfortunately, I don’t think that one could say this today.

The next letter is about the difference in which Canadians think about ethnic diversity. Rather than being an American melting pot, the Canadians talk about a mosaic in which the ethnic groups who settled were encouraged to keep their own cultures and identities (Aboriginals obviously excepted). He argues that Canada is the richer for it. The point here is multi-culturalism. However, it was not born of idealism but by the harsh realities of history. Canada as a country started out as two different nations, one French and one English. (Again, the Aboriginal nations don’t really make it into Berton’s book.)  Accommodation had to be made for the two groups to live together. Then the government wanted “proper-thinking Brits” to settle here but got Slavic peasants instead. So he writes, the made a virtue of ethnicity. What came out of all of this was something very interesting: a much different way of thinking about national identity.

The final letters are about the geography of Canada. One cannot stress enough how the geography of Canada has affected the history. Canada is vast; the distances are mind boggling. It is also a northern country in which the weather can be brutally harsh. As well there is a huge sheet of un-farmable rock that spans the majority of the country called the Canadian Shield. To connect the country the railroad had to blast through parts of it. It is a very dramatic story.

I enjoyed this book very much. I almost wish that it were current. I would enjoy his impressions of Canadian society almost thirty years later. Would he still see Canadian identity as strong as it was, or has it become more Americanized through commercialism and common cultural tastes?