ILLUMINATION
Dear Canada
A love letter
I still remember my first time in Canada. It was 1991, and I was a young graduate student on my way to the Canadian Arctic. My initial impression of Montreal was that, despite some language differences (many in Quebec speak French), everyone and everything seemed surprisingly familiar. It felt to me very much a reflection, or perhaps it was a reverberation, of my own country. This was a nation foreign to my own, and yet it seemed strangely like home.
Those first early trips left a lasting impression on me. I was actually in a tent in northern Labrador when we heard the news, from a distant colleague over a single-sideband radio, that the Soviet Union was collapsing. I also recall a time-bending experience of spending a morning at a kitchen table in the remote Arctic community of Kangiqsualujjuaq, and later that evening, following a long plane flight in between, watching the Montreal Expos baseball team play the San Diego Padres at Olympic Stadium.
I couldn’t possibly have known it at the time, but I would go on to spend much of the next thirty-five years in a close relationship with Canada. During my professional career as a geologist, three separate companies headquartered in Canada have employed me. I once held a Canadian work permit, roughly equivalent to the H-1B Visa in the U.S. I even held a licence to practice my profession in Nova Scotia. During my adult life, I have probably spent more cumulative time in the province of British Columbia than I have in my own native state of California. For more than twenty years I called the U.S. border state of Alaska my home. During my travels, I have been to seven of the ten Canadian provinces, and all three of its territories. Sorry, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Prince Edward Island, I do promise to visit someday.
None of this is to boast. This is just context for what follows.
I feel like I know Canada like a brother.
The United States and Canada share a lot in common. That sounds like a big understatement just saying it. We share the same historical roots and a similar history. Both nations are federal democracies. Both nations share similar legal systems. Our cultural overlap often seems borderless; American pop stars date Canadian politicians and Canadian sports legends marry American actresses. We share three major sports leagues. We share a common language (mostly).
The United States and Canada also share the world’s longest international border. Pressed right up against that border are seven of Canada’s provinces, one Canadian territory, and thirteen American states. I don’t think many Americans or Canadians truly appreciate just how remarkable this is. It is often referred to as an “undefended” border, but I think that is inaccurate. More on that later.
The economic relationship between our two countries is unparalleled. The cumulative economic trade between the United States and Canada over the past century is measured in tens of trillions of dollars. Depending on the data source, our mutual annual trade currently sits somewhere in the vicinity of one trillion dollars.
Think about that. There is no example that I can find of a pair of nations that have ever traded as much total goods and services across their borders. Ever. I don’t think it’s even close. Our relationship represents the single largest bilateral trading partnership in the history of the world.
But this relationship is about a lot more than just exchanging goods. We’ve been to war together. As allies. As brothers. The United States and Canada have fought together, and have died together, through five major wars. During every global conflict since World War I, Canada has been right there, alongside the United States.
We operate NORAD together.
We have been to Space together.
Get Nick Enos’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
In fact, if one looks back across the entire arc of human history, it is difficult to find another pair of nations that have peacefully shared so much, for so long.
And yet…
The sound of booing the American national anthem at sports events in Canada is more than just a trend. For the past two years, few events have avoided this unmistakable sound. NHL games, NBA games, World Cup matches; if an event is in Canada, it is now almost expected. Make no mistake about it, this is not the sound of sports rivalry. This is different. This is the sound of people who have been betrayed. This is the sound of a nation that feels as if its very existence has been threatened because it has.
And that “undefended” border? These days when I cross, in either direction, I feel a tension that I don’t recall from before.
When I was a young kid growing up in California, there were these grassy hills adjacent to our blue-collar suburban neighborhood. My friends and I would sometimes roam them looking for frogs and lizards. Inevitably, there would be a barbed wire fence to cross. More often than not, I would snag my shirt trying to crawl through the fence. That’s how crossing the border feels to me now.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There are no long-simmering ethnic or religious disputes between our nations. There are no major territorial disputes. There are no major ideological differences. No, this is simply the result of our hubris.
I am no expert in geopolitics, and I’m certainly no expert in trade policies. And as my friends and family would attest, I would make a terrible politician. But it doesn’t take an expert to recognize that our current relationship with Canada is damaged. The trust has been broken. No matter what angle I look at it from, our current relationship with Canada looks like a deep diplomatic disaster. This is not just a spat between lovers; this feels like we’re heading for divorce.
But why? I fail to understand what we have actually achieved as a nation in sabotaging our most important friendship. I know friends from across the entire American political spectrum, from those that lean staunchly Republican, to those of the most liberal flavor of Democrat. Some are moderate. Some are anything but. Some are non-partisan. However, I have yet to meet a single one that has anything actually negative to say about Canada or Canadians. Sure, I’ve heard those policy arguments about “trade-imbalances” and “porous borders”. But these are not the kinds of issues that get grown adults yelling at each other. These seem like nuances to be hammered out in trade agreements. These seem like the kinds of issues that could be worked out through some patient diplomacy between friendly nations. We will always have our disagreements — every worthwhile relationship does.
So to my fellow Americans, let’s rebuild this relationship. We need it. It will not be easy. You may not have even noticed, but the damage is serious. It doesn’t matter what your politics are, what ideology you may have, who you voted for in the last election, or even who you plan on voting for in the next. Let’s all agree that our future success as a nation, and the success of our northern neighbor, are dependent on each other. Our success is their success. The inverse is also true.
And to my Canadian friends, here goes…
Dear Canada,
I know you are angry. I know you feel hurt. I know that we will have to work very hard to regain your trust. Words matter, but actions matter more. I also know that we’re better together than we are apart. Neither of us can really know what new challenges lie ahead. But what I do know is this: I will always have your back.
With love,
Your American brother
Originally published at https://nickspresso.substack.com.
