Canadian Friendliness – An Unscientific Opinion

Jan 12
08:27

2011

Martin Stellar

Martin Stellar

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If you ever wondered why Canadians have such a great reputation for being friendly, here are some ideas about how that came to be.

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Have you ever wondered what gave Canadians the reputation they have for being friendly? You’ll probably have heard it many times: “Canadians are just so nice! Everybody is just so friendly in Canada!”

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. There must be an explanation of some sorts,Canadian Friendliness – An Unscientific Opinion Articles right? Well, my theory has to do with the very nature of Canada’s history and formation. Let’s consider this a thought experiment, and please let’s not take it too seriously, eh? A Canadian wouldn’t so let’s just try to be cool and open, like I imagine they would.

In 1608, a Frenchman by the name of Samuel de Champlain sailed to Canadian territory, and seeing it as a fit colony for the French King, he went on to plant a cross at what later become Quebec, and that started an enduring influx of French culture into Canadian soil.

Now, we all know that the French know how to live life and enjoy it. After all, they invented the phrase ‘laissez-faire’ and not just because it sounds nice. If you spend any amount of time around French people, you’ll notice that the attitude is very much part of French culture.

You’ll probably admit: a culture based on a nation that takes things easy and avoids getting fired up about things too much should make for a pretty relaxed population, right?

Now, this is where things get interesting. Some 160 years after the French colonized Canada, they ended up battling the British for domination and in the end, in 1763, France had no other choice but to cede Canada to the British.

And one of the most culturally astonishing things happened. Honestly, if you would propose to anyone that you could build a nice friendly society by mixing French people with Brits, you’d probably get laughed at and some joker would probably start drawing theoretical war maps.

But in reality, this is exactly what happened. After the French culture had had 1.5 century to establish itself in Canada, ownership suddenly switched and a stream of British immigrants and culture started flooding the culture.

It must have been a fairly shocking type of reboot to the French living in Canada at first, but as time went by, the two cultures integrated rather nicely, giving birth to ‘The Canadian’ as we know him or her today.

It’s easy to picture at this point a plaid-wearing, axe-wielding semi-civilized colonist but in reality, Canada is quite a civilized kind of culture.

My theory is that the British culture over many many years, fed into Canada the renowned British politeness and that. That attitude, paired with the French easy going attitude, makes a lot of sense.

What puzzles me though, is that Canadian French has such a strong position even to this day. After all, Canada is officially under British reign, so it’s quite curious that Canada is officially bilingual. Laws even give every citizen or visitor the right to be dealt with in French whether it is in education, business, politics or hospitals.

When cultures integrate, they will always combine the best (and sometimes worst) of both worlds, and it seems that the mix of British and French origins was, as unlikely as it may seem, a very lucky coincidence.

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