Canada is almost unimaginably
vast. It stretches from the Atlantic
to the Pacific and from the latitude
of Rome to beyond the Magnetic North
Pole. Its archetypal landscapes are
the Rocky Mountain lakes and peaks,
the endless forests and the prairie
wheatfields, but Canada holds
landscapes that defy expectations:
rainforest and desert lie close
together in the southwest corner of
the country, while in the east a
short drive can take you from fjords
to lush orchards. What's more, great
tracts of Canada are completely
unspoiled - ninety percent of the
country's 28.5 million population
lives within 100 miles of the US
border.
Like its neighbor to the south,
Canada is a spectrum of cultures, a
hotchpotch of immigrant groups who
supplanted the continent's many
native peoples. There's a crucial
difference, though. Whereas citizens
of the United States are encouraged
to perceive themselves as Americans
above all else, Canada's concertedly
multicultural approach has done more
to acknowledge the origins of its
people, creating an ethnic mosaic as
opposed to America's
"melting-pot". Alongside
the French and British majorities
live a host of communities who
maintain the traditions of their
homelands - Chinese, Ukrainians,
Portuguese, Indians, Dutch, Polish,
Greek and Spanish, to name just the
most numerous. For the visitor, the
mix that results from the country's
exemplary tolerance is an
exhilarating experience, offering
such widely differing environments
as Vancouver's huge Chinatown and
the austere religious enclaves of
Manitoba. Canadians themselves,
however, are often troubled by the
lack of a clear self-image, tending
to emphasize the ways in which they
are different from the US as a means
of self-description. The question
"What is a Canadian?" has
acquired a new immediacy with the
interminable and acrimonious debate
over Quebec and its possible
secession, but ultimately there can
be no simple characterization of a
people whose country is not so much
a single nation as a committee on a
continental scale. Pierre Berton,
one of Canada's finest writers,
wisely ducked the issue; Canadians,
he quipped, are "people who
know how to make love in a
canoe".
The typical Canadian might be an
elusive concept, but you'll find
there's a distinctive feel to the
country. Some towns might seem a
touch too well-regulated and
unspontaneous, but against this
there's the overwhelming sense of
Canadian pride in their history and
pleasure in the beauty of their
land. Canada embraces its own clich้s
with an energy that's irresistible,
promoting everything from the
Calgary Stampede to maple-syrup
festivals and lumberjacking contests
with an extraordinary zeal and
openness. As John Buchan, writer and
Governor-General of Canada, said,
"You have to know a man awfully
well in Canada to know his
surname."
