Learn About Canada

By: Canadian Ms. Dominico

“I’ll Teach you!”

The song playing is by a very popular Canadian Band

The Tragically Hip He is singing about falling in love at an ice hockey game

Does Canada Have a Culture?

History and Conflict:

Canada is a ‘new world’ country. It’s landmass was first inhabited by the First Nations People. Then, it was “discovered” and colonised by French, English, Dutch, Irish, and United States’ “Americans”.

Because of this history of many cultures, Canadians sometimes felt like they did not have a distinct culture.

There’s a few other reasons Canadians felt they did not have their own culture.

1. Other landmasses “re-discovered” by Britain had unique differences: America was founded by a war with Britain; India had it’s own language and religion before Europeans arrived; Australia was separated by distance and a large population of like-minded people.

Those “other” reasons:

2. Canada was not formed all at once. Certain areas did not decide to become a part of the 1867 Confederation of the Dominion of Canada until they were ‘good and ready’. This meant that there were settlements which had established their own communities and identities. Because of the joining of Canada was essentially an act of parliament (and not an act of war, or a joining of culture) Canada never really created a culture that suited everyone’s culture.

We didn’t even all have the same language to share. That’s actually why Canada is bilingual:

French and English are our main languages because we had a large populace of both (and no one wanted to give up their language!)

SO Canadians often felt like they didn’t have a “Canadian” Culture.

There were a number of intellectuals discussing this; many people said our history was uninspiring and because we didn’t have a united culture, we didn’t have a culture!

Many people said, “NO!”, we do have a culture. And they tried to articulate it. Poets Margaret Atwood and Robert Frost wrote about ‘snow’ and the Group of Seven painted our landscapes.

I once took a university

course that debated this topic all year.

It was so

boring.

But, it didn’t unite us all…

In 1980 and 1997, Quebec held a Referendum, to vote on whether or not Quebec should be a part of Canada anymore. Many of the French speakers in Quebec felt their French culture would do better outside of Canada. It was a very sad weekend for many Canadians.

The votes were tallied. It was decided! Quebec would stay a part of Canada!

But this decision only came through in a marginal percentage. Because the votes were so even (50.58% "No" to 49.42% "Yes“) there was still a strong sentiment of dislike for English-Canada from French Canada. English Canada was mostly glad that they were staying (there are many natural resources in Quebec!)

Overall, the Referendums left a “bad taste” in the mouths of many Canadians.

Managing to promote French and English culture in Canada at the same time, has been a source of great tension ever since both cultures immigrated in the late 1700s.

To Ease the tensions:

•We do things like have instructions on all products in French AND English!

•And, all of the signs in Quebec are in French ONLY. (This really upsets many English speakers).

•All Canadians learn French and English in school (but mostly English). I was taught 20 minutes of French a day from Grade 2 – Grade 8. And I had to take French in Grade 9. I stopped after Grade 10.

That was really stupid.

But all of that Changed, when Canada found something they had in Common!

Beer!

This is the Molson Canadian Beer Company Advertisement that identified Canadians’ Culture in the most agreeable way!

After “Joe’s Speech” Things Changed in Canada:

•People started getting Canadian Maple Leaf Tattoos!

•Everyone began sewing Canadian Flags onto their backpacks!

•And we all ran to the top of the obesity statistics from drinking too much beer!

Just kidding. (Kind of)

Things Canadians are Proud of:

•Our Maple Syrup is the best (taste some!)

•Our hockey players are the best (the best NHLers all come from Canada) Eg. Wayne Gretzky, Sydney…

•We have the best skiing (Rocky Mountains in Calgary and British Columbia)

•We can snow-shoe to neighbours’ dinner parties.

•We have ski-dooing highways.

•We have Neil Young, Sarah McLaghlin AND Anne Murray!

•Our National Anthem is one of the world’s most patriotic!

•Mr. Wilms told me we produced some of the best ’80s bands!

O’ Canada Advance Australia Fair

Funny Things about Canada:

•Apparently Canadians eat a lot of cheese.

•Eggs

•Melted ‘cheese on bagel’

•‘French fries’ to make yummy poutine! (You can try some at “Lord of the Fries” in the CBD.)

•Pasta

•We call products by their most popular brand name.

•a ‘tissue’ = a ‘Kleenex’

•‘Cling wrap’ = ‘Saran wrap’

It’s true, we put cheese on everything!

•We became famous for the beaver (the rich pelt made fashionable French hats in the 17th-18th Century). The beaver has become a national icon. We eat “Beaver Tails” (not the animals’—it’s more of a syrupy doughnut.)

Canadian Phrases and Slang:

•“How’s it going?” or “How are you doing?” = “How are you going?” (in Aussie…which doesn’t make a lot of sense…)

•“Garbage” = “bin” (A bin for Canadians is like a plastic bin, not for garbage!)

•“Grades” = “Years” (eg. Grade 11 = Year 11)

•it’s McDonalds – not MacDonalds!

•Pop = soda; soft drink

•Markers = “textas”

•More Canadian and Aussie slang you might be interested in: http://www.aussieslang.com/directory/canada.asp

This is an outdoor public ice rink for skating and playing pick-up hockey in winter.

These are snowshoes.

A Canadian Cat

So, What Have You Learned about Canada?

Let’s have a chat by commenting (underneath the post that contains this presentation)!

Let’s discuss the following ideas:

•What did you previously know about Canada?

•What didn’t you know about Canada?

•What interests you about Canada?

•What would you still like to know about Canada?

•In what ways is your own country similar to Canada?