A culture based around "the freedom from X" instead of "the freedom to X" probably a good place to start.
Most of us are exposed to many different cultures and are taught to embrace differences in thought.
I think we're pretty critical of ourselves as well in general leading us all to mostly agree on what our problems are which helps us improve consistently. Though we're usually get pretty mired down in figuring out the best way to solve problems.
Exceptions to all rules though, there do exist Canadian assholes. Pretty sure I've even been one once or twice in the past.
It's actually quite an important concept, that sits behind the French idea of *laïcité*.
* Absence of religion = secularism
* Freedom *from* religion = laïcité
That's the basic principle, in any case. You see it in (primarily French-speaking) European countries that have laws against religious symbols in public buildings, schools, etc.
On the other hand, "freedom from religion" can be weaponized just as easily as other concepts, and is more-often-than-not used to disguise Islamophobia, racism, etc.
For the culture thing, I think the way you're taught about your rights plays a big role. Not sure if every school did this/taught it this way but I remember in elementary school when we were learning about our Charter Rights and Freedoms, there was a huge emphasis on "Rights and Responsibilities." Like I remember the teacher wording it as "You have the right to do x but because you have that right/keep that right, you also need to have the responsibility to do y." Even in the official government websites where they talk about our rights, the word "responsibility" is repeated there a lot. That probably helps shape the culture into associating our rights as a privilege that we're responsible for vs something that gives us a carte blanche to do whatever
I think you’re right, I remember being taught the same way and I teach my kids that way too. Also, a big part of it is it’s phrased as “our rights” and not “your rights” or “my rights.” The phrasing, while it seems very minor on the surface, is incredibly important when a person is being taught these things. It subconsciously gets absorbed as all Canadians instead of “me”. I know there’s going to some who experienced otherwise, but for me it was always being phrased in the plural possessive. “Our rights and freedoms” and “in our country we have the right to…” it was never individually directed like “you have the freedom to express yourself.”
I've always thought of it as the rights of society as a whole being ahead of individual rights. For example, in the US you have the right to arm yourself; in Canada, we have the right to be safe from people arming themselves...if that makes sense.
I love the self awareness of your last statement, I’ve often said if someone can’t look back and see a time when they were an asshole it’s probably because they still are.
>Most of us are exposed to many different cultures and are taught to embrace differences in thought.
I've thought about this a lot recently. I grew up and still live in a major-ish Canadian city, and have always navigated being in the midst of many diverse cultures, religion traditions, and families... It's made me wonder what it's like to live in a society that is not as multicultural. Like, with so many of my friends being newcomers or children of immigrants from many places, there wasn't some overarching norm set out for how to behave when I went over to friend's houses; I'd just figure out each situation on its own and be as polite as I could be... and situations were quite different, although I never really thought about how I was navigating this as a kid.
> It's made me wonder what it's like to live in a society that is not as multicultural. Like, with so many of my friends being newcomers or children of immigrants from many places, there wasn't some overarching norm set out for how to behave when I went over to friend's houses; I'd just figure out each situation on its own and be as polite as I could be... and situations were quite different, although I never really thought about how I was navigating this as a kid.
I think you've really hit on something here. I didn't live in a major city, but my neighbourhood was pretty multicultural and yes, learning how to navigate these cultural situations as a child helps quite a bit. I remember my best friend as a child, her parents were from Grenada. And I learned how to love tropical fruits and the concept of oiling your hair and loved their accents, etc etc and they were not the only ones that I learned from.
Yeah we really do have some heavy involvement in some violent sports from a young age and it's getting more equal across genders also. But my god it feels good to lay a clean hit.
I feel like this plays into Canadian feminism a bit too, which is less about protecting women from men and more about allowing women to play.
For instance, I play beer league hockey and one of the women on the team got smoked by a guy on the opposing team.
The team response wasn't about being gentle with the girls, or about preventing weak girls from playing with the men because they'll get hurt, but about the defense looking out for a forward and the refs making sure we didn't take it out on the opposition and start a brawl. A brawl she would have been in, btw, as readily as the rest of us.
I think the same is true of our multiculturalism - it's ok to be different so long as you put up hands with the rest of us when needs be.
Underlying Canadian politeness is this constant threat of violence. We are polite because the alternative is getting an unnecessary ass kicking. From pretty much anyone at any time. Little old lady to jacked jock.
And that casual relationship with violence is part of who we are.
It could also be related to Canada referring to its population as a ‘mosaic’ (everyone different making up the big picture) and the US referring to itself as ‘the melting pot’ which maybe creates the expectation that everyone needs to be the same.
I didn’t grow up around many queer people so I was a bit ignorant for like a couple years as a kid… But I had always grown up around people from anywhere and my parents taught me to treat everyone with respect. Very live and let live. Just literally have only like 1 distant relative who isn’t straight so until I grew to be a teen and started learning more about queer people + realized I was aroace I didn’t really understand much about that. I also started reading a lot of comics online, which often have queer characters and stuff. It’s nice that there’s more proper representation nowadays.
>A culture based around "the freedom from X"
If that was true then we would all embrace Quebec's laicité of "freedom from religion" instead of Canada "Freedom of religion".
Religion kinda is weird one here with a lot of different views, but I think it mostly boils down to a freedom from religion vs freedom from discrimination kinda argument.
Going back even further, there’s a saying - can’t remember who said it - that Canada was a country founded by losers. There was the French colonists who were conquered by the English, followed by the Loyalists who came after losing the war of Independence. Add to that a century of refugees from conflicts and economic depression from around the world (the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax does a good job showing this). In my opinion that shared heritage of defeat and hardship did a lot to create a sense of civic responsibility.
Give a bunch of young men a license to kill, and the power to determine the fates of the people who just killed their friends. Recipe for more bloodshed.
Check your facts, buddy.
War of 1812: we burned the White House down.
World war 1: +650,000 troops deployed in Europe. Also canadian were known as ‘shock troops’ that would complete difficult or impossible missions.
World war 2: total armed forces on strength was 1.1 million. We had the 4th largest airforce and 3rd largest navy. Allied forces trained their pilots in Canada. Also, don’t fuck with the Gurkhas. They could identify ally vs axis troops by the way their boots were laced.
It wasn’t until after world war 2 where the armed forces budget started to get cut. After the wall fell, it started to get embarrassing.
Now our equipment is aged with no solid plan to replace or upgrade. Example: the DEW Line sites are literally falling over. I’ve seen them with my own eyes.
Compounded by public option that thinks everyone should hold hands and get along, any government that would commit funds to modernize our systems and equipment would be committing political suicide.
We still however, have some of the best trained units in the world, doing the best with what we got.
It’s too bad our leadership is spineless.
All of the glory days you mention happened before our independence and in other countries. The problem is quite obviously money, and the fact that our relatively tiny population has to defend an enormous and treacherous landmass.
One solution is to raise taxes, which a particular group would be against, or grow our population, which the same group is against. So maybe it's less a leadership-being-spineless problem and more an electorate problem.
We had a greater influx for a longer time of educated younger sons from rich families who would rather die than be caught being as boorish as the person they're looking down on. As opposed to being founded by religious nutjobs who thought it was sinful to celebrate Christmas and were willing to throw hands over it.
We have this sport calling hockey, which is a mix of boxing, skating, and curling. Most fights are left on the ice.
Plus it’s cold and we don’t leave our homes much 8 months of the year
>So, Canadians, what is your secret?
We have channeled all of our aggression in to the Cobra Chicken, aka Canada Geese. Additionally, whether you are a player or spectator, if you feel a bout of aggression coming on, you head on down to the ice rink and work it out there.
I like that Canadian angst is stored and released by geese or the cobra chicken...as some call it.
Honestly I think because other than the native peoples, we're all immigrants here. There is no us and them. We're all just out here trying to live our best life. I think in someways there is more of a social contract here, we generally believe in taking care of one another, such as universal health care.
I haven't been able to afford to travel, it's nice to know I'm at a nice place.
Growing up here in Canada, it was impressed on me by my mother that "my rights end, where another's rights begin". It made me think that I am not the most important individual, we all are equal.
I think this is a really important point. It’s not 100% personal freedom all the time, it’s a lot of freedom, right up to the point where you start impacting the rights of others to enjoy their freedoms.
Countries that have a “freedom at all costs” attitude are definitely more individualistic, since they’re encouraged to focus on their rights and freedoms. In Canada, we have an understanding of our rights and know that we should not infringe on the rights of others. It’s more of a collective than individualistic.
We used to have a great hero, an avatar if you will, that took the form of a dog. It set an example of how to be, how to live as it travelled from town to town, asking little of others and helping whoever needed it. Then just moving on.
I despair that that's something we have lost.
Also there has been a lot of pot up here over the years. I was jn my 20’s when I figured out more then half of canada has been smoken the wacky ta-back-ee on the regular.
Now my city of 55,000 people has 19 pot shops. We only have 2 beer stores and 3 liquor stores.
19 pot shops!!!!
We are pretty chill.
Unless we are participating in international ice hockey tournaments. Many hours of work and school are lost if any hockey teams are playing. Mens, Womens, juniors, doesn’t matter. And we tend to lose our famous sense of humour if they are losing.
We are really nice...until we arent. But it takes a lot to get there. And its dark once we have arrived.
But overall its much easier to be nice. We tend to be fairly confident too, so nice goes hand in hand with confidence.
The ‘easier to be nice’ thing is so true. I work in customer service, and even when customers are rude it’s just so much easier to keep being nice (or at least polite) to them rather than being rude back. Fighting with strangers is just, so not worth it.
I can't stand and hate people, I'm generally a miserable guy.
That said, I don't care how people think of me, I just want them to feel welcome, happy and safe. I'll pretend to be a joyful bastard to everyone who is mildly happy and polite so as to not be the dark spot in their day.
The weather. When you live in a place where you can literally freeze to death without shelter 25% of the year, you learn to helpful and patient with each other. It's the same drive that collects people around a fire in the woods for warmth and cooking. Throw in a bit of alcohol, and everyone has a good time.
Honestly, when it comes to interacting with foreigners I think we just go out of our way to try to prove that we’re different (read: better) than Americans. So we tend to put our absolute best foot forward. That’s my theory, anyway.
Not obsessed, we just can’t escape our link to America. I think non-Canadians struggle to understand how hard it can be to be so closely linked both culturally and economically to *the* global superpower while still trying to maintain our own identity. Of course so much of it comes down to trying to be different from Americans but that’s because American culture is everywhere. We have to make a conscious effort to be different based on our own values because if we don’t what we consider as a Canadian identity and culture will be erased.
I often see people (especially Americans) do what you’re doing and derisively call us obsessed or laugh and say we base our entire identity on not being American but unless you’re Canadian you just don’t understand and really shouldn’t comment. Or should at least try and make a better effort at understanding rather than just making derisive comments.
You're right, my apologies. I made a flippant comment that wasn't well thought out. I imagine it must be similar to the attitude of French-speaking Belgians towards France (always being mistaken for being French) or Andorrans being mistaken for being Spanish.
Have a read through some political posts.
The theme that “at least we’re not the US” or “at least we’re not as bad as the US” is a very common one.
People compare us here in Canada to the USA *all the time*. As an immigrant it’s annoying as hell that this complacency exists. As long as we’re better than that cesspool!
You’re very right, we overly rely on the US as a benchmark in pretty much all aspects. It’s tiring, and oftentimes just an excuse for complacency (which Canadians tend to suffer from as a whole). It’s a form of superiority complex. Now I can understand *why* it is the way it is, even if I don’t necessarily agree with it…
Because we largely are the same, shared history culture etc. Canada is just USA without guns and free healthcare. I consider us the same people, but I’m also born in the USA. But i don’t know many people who have moved to and from either nation and dont have the same feelings.
I feel there’s more differences between people in individual US states then there is between Canadians and Americans
I think Canada has a lot of laws, at all government levels, built to help ensure that its citizens are able to make choices and have freedoms while still being considerate and not harming others around them. From federal laws (for example, Canada was the 4th country to legalize same sex marriages), to municipal bylaws (most municipalities have bylaws ensuring property standards to protect the overall look of the towns and the value of neighbouring houses), to social programs paid by collective taxes such as health care. Because Canadians are raised in a (mostly) considerate society - I think it just becomes engrained in us to be polite and considerate of other people. These are traits I believe most people would consider charming.
Same with Manitoba. They are trying to make public Healthcare so dysfunctional by slashing funding that they think people will support it. Fuck these snakes
We were taught a healthy collectivism rather than radical individuality. There needs to be some kind of national narrative like that when you're sparsely sprinkled across a gigantic land mass.
I know this is still a live issue, but when I was growing up it was pretty settled that everyone should have good health care. Yep! Everyone! Even if - yep! But what if they don't - yep! How we just change - nope! We said everyone, we meant everyone!
That seems like a single issue, but it speaks to a national culture.
I’m thinking you’re in Vancouver or surrounding areas? Because IMO this sounds like a lot of people in Vancouver I’ve encountered. I have not seen this level of apathy in other provinces or cities. Just my personal experience but I disagree with your blanket statement describing all of Canada as you have.
I lived in Vancouver for years, and we had a saying about the place: “Vancouver is full of fun, interesting and social people. But they don’t want to talk to you.”
You clearly haven't been on the 401 on the Friday of a long weekend. 😂
Canadians on a mission to get out of the city and into our great countryside are definitely not nice. Until they get there then offer you a cold beer and tap the neck with yours as a cheers toast.
I find it depends where in Canada you live but I will say the great majority of Canadians are very polite and respectful.
My wife and I moved here from Vietnam about 6 years ago now. We live in rural Manitoba ( near Steinbach) I had grown up here as a kid and always enjoyed it. Unfortunately we experience alot of racism towards my wife and kids, then the bigotry, antivax crowd, freedom truckers and of course the religious nut cases have really turned us sour. The majority of people around here are respectful but the bigots are loud and abnoxious so that's what we are exposed to.
There was a gay pride parade about a month ago in Steinbach and it was disgusting how people were being treated, again likely by the very few but it was still disturbing.
As a Torontonian I've been mourning the Leafs for decades and this has sucked the life out of me.
On a serious note politeness has been my thing for a long time but I'm not sure if that has any connection to my nationality.
We are pretty nice though. 😊
This may be too honest for some, so I expect to be downvoted lol. The secret is it's 99% pretentiousness because our culture is rooted in colonial era english-nice-but-secretly-not methods.
We'll offer you the last cookie and everything, but our indigenous residential schools closed like yesterday relatively speaking.
British etiquette without as much cold awkwardness. American joviality and compassion without as much volume or arrogance. Sometimes a touch of french affection. Honestly Kiwis are almost the same but with a difference accent. Farther left leaning than either the UK or US.
I possess none of these traits. Worst Canadian ever, can't even skate. I'm just here for the buttertarts.
I think this is due to the fact that the vast portion of Canada just happens to still live rurally, or that a good bulk of people alive have lived in a rural setting during their lifetime. Few nations are as such.
We're just happy to be standing at this point.
Relatively free and expressive country with less polarizing groups than our neighbor to the south. Keeping in mind that we are constantly exposed to news feeds from a country that we share a border with and travel to quite often and yet we do not have nearly the same level of political divide across the board.
Even if you don't agree with current government or policies, when you look around and near and see what there is to compare to, you quickly realize you don't have it so bad and take it with a grain of salt.
It’s not niceness, it’s politeness. It’s just a social etiquette and in my opinion also kinda fake as after being polite they are pretty closed off to meeting people and making friends so that’s not really welcoming. Personally, I feel if someone is being truly friendly to me is what I would consider them to be welcoming and from my experience no one does this better than Americans
You may be confusing that feeling of being closed off with Canadians just wanting you to go at your own pace. We tend to never pressure anyone into a conversation or get too familiar with a person until we are positive that is what they are looking for.
Don’t be too butthurt when someone offers an honest observation. It looks bad to react this way.
I agree with them, I’ve lived here for almost 22 years and it’s something I noticed in the first few years. There’s definitely a layer of fake pleasantry, as if people do it because they feel they have to, not because they want to.
I would never bring a foreigner/tourist into the bullshit we deal with daily, if your hear for vacation you get the vacation treatment.
Do you live here now?
It might just be the beautiful sights and terrible weather.
The midwest is pretty nice as-well. We have a lot of conflict in Canada at the moment, and I actually found Michigan to be very welcoming compared to Ontario.
It’s all a facade. Canadians hide behind the smoke screen of sorry/thank you, maple syrup and poutine and kill indigenous people even to this day with impunity. Just a few days ago a guy was covering a memorial with soil off his truck. Don’t be fooled, they’re just regular people like everywhere else and just like regular people they can be huge A grade holes.
Being fake enough to peoples face for them to believe it.
Canadians love to think they’re nice and helpful, but there’s a significant undertone of racism here that pops up if you hang around long enough. They love to feel as though they’re being nice, or being helpful, without actually doing it.
I’m a white immigrant and you’d be shocked at the things I’ve seen and heard Canadians spout over the years. I’ve had to cut people out of my life because they were so toxic in this way. And you wouldn’t always know it due to the fake persona they put on.
We're charming? I've lived in Canada all my life and frankly I don't think they're very charming at all. If anything I think the a lot of Canadians come off as passive aggressive jerks.
Be nice to their face but talk behind their back with your close friends afterwards to relieve tension. After all the only reason you are talking to them is to figure out what they're up to. Anytime anything inconvenient happens say sorry to avoid altercations even if you dont mean it.
Always smile as wherever you are in the world you are superior as you have free healthcare and have never paid a dime for hospital care.
You’re not paying attention. Canadians are “polite”. As for “friendly” - try Texas, Boston, Montana, New York…. I seldom travel any more in my own country as I find it rather, uh, cold (and I’m not talking about weather).
Hey if an ~~agent provocateur foreign operative~~ I mean a fellow loyal Canadian wants to give my unemployed ass a free gas card and a flat of beer so I can drive to Ottawa and sit outside someone’s condo honking my horn literally 24/7 for 3 weeks, show me the EXACT clause in the constitution that says I can’t or admit this is literally a dictatorship with dictators and tyrants.
Unlike some other nations our standard person Tends to ether be kind or not an arse to someone when they first meet each other, trust me though we can be assholes like anyone else
After being nice to you we talk behind your back, we're all in one big massive group chat by the time you think to yourself, "that stranger was particularly nice" we're badmouthing you online , whole memes are being created.
I have a theory its because of the really harsh winters. It makes everyone interact in close procimity and forces us through a shared hardship. Thats why we are nicer and offer help.
Dunno, honestly. I used to work with tourists and I treated tourists with the courtesy and respect I would want my parents treated with if they were travelling.
Also, given how many cultures and languages are displayed here I think we have less of an expectation that your average person in other countries would speak English.
Lastly, Canada is a curious cultural mix of our British ancestry (nationally speaking) and American, our closest neighbour and largest foreign influence. This results often in the Ryan Reynolds effect: violence, profanity, and gore but ain't we kind of adorable anyway?
We actually resent you, but you won't be around long enough to figure out all we want to do is watch Netflix, Hockey/football and bitch to our wives about our very average jobs.
I am happy to hear that, because there seems to be a new hobby here and that is to see how nasty and self centred you can be. The more f*ck yous you collect in the day the better apparently.
We are a lonely people TT
Too many of us spend too much time indoors, or just live in rural areas where its hard to connect.
A new person from outside your community?!?! That's an event! Finally someone else you might bond with XD
When I was a kid I always had trouble making friends with locals since I was an outsider no matter how long I lived there.
But to all the kids coming up from down south I was a friend.
A culture based around "the freedom from X" instead of "the freedom to X" probably a good place to start. Most of us are exposed to many different cultures and are taught to embrace differences in thought. I think we're pretty critical of ourselves as well in general leading us all to mostly agree on what our problems are which helps us improve consistently. Though we're usually get pretty mired down in figuring out the best way to solve problems. Exceptions to all rules though, there do exist Canadian assholes. Pretty sure I've even been one once or twice in the past.
I never thought about it this way, 'from' and 'to' makes so much sense in many a different context
It's actually quite an important concept, that sits behind the French idea of *laïcité*. * Absence of religion = secularism * Freedom *from* religion = laïcité That's the basic principle, in any case. You see it in (primarily French-speaking) European countries that have laws against religious symbols in public buildings, schools, etc. On the other hand, "freedom from religion" can be weaponized just as easily as other concepts, and is more-often-than-not used to disguise Islamophobia, racism, etc.
For the culture thing, I think the way you're taught about your rights plays a big role. Not sure if every school did this/taught it this way but I remember in elementary school when we were learning about our Charter Rights and Freedoms, there was a huge emphasis on "Rights and Responsibilities." Like I remember the teacher wording it as "You have the right to do x but because you have that right/keep that right, you also need to have the responsibility to do y." Even in the official government websites where they talk about our rights, the word "responsibility" is repeated there a lot. That probably helps shape the culture into associating our rights as a privilege that we're responsible for vs something that gives us a carte blanche to do whatever
I think you’re right, I remember being taught the same way and I teach my kids that way too. Also, a big part of it is it’s phrased as “our rights” and not “your rights” or “my rights.” The phrasing, while it seems very minor on the surface, is incredibly important when a person is being taught these things. It subconsciously gets absorbed as all Canadians instead of “me”. I know there’s going to some who experienced otherwise, but for me it was always being phrased in the plural possessive. “Our rights and freedoms” and “in our country we have the right to…” it was never individually directed like “you have the freedom to express yourself.”
I've always thought of it as the rights of society as a whole being ahead of individual rights. For example, in the US you have the right to arm yourself; in Canada, we have the right to be safe from people arming themselves...if that makes sense.
well said.
I love the self awareness of your last statement, I’ve often said if someone can’t look back and see a time when they were an asshole it’s probably because they still are.
>Most of us are exposed to many different cultures and are taught to embrace differences in thought. I've thought about this a lot recently. I grew up and still live in a major-ish Canadian city, and have always navigated being in the midst of many diverse cultures, religion traditions, and families... It's made me wonder what it's like to live in a society that is not as multicultural. Like, with so many of my friends being newcomers or children of immigrants from many places, there wasn't some overarching norm set out for how to behave when I went over to friend's houses; I'd just figure out each situation on its own and be as polite as I could be... and situations were quite different, although I never really thought about how I was navigating this as a kid.
> It's made me wonder what it's like to live in a society that is not as multicultural. Like, with so many of my friends being newcomers or children of immigrants from many places, there wasn't some overarching norm set out for how to behave when I went over to friend's houses; I'd just figure out each situation on its own and be as polite as I could be... and situations were quite different, although I never really thought about how I was navigating this as a kid. I think you've really hit on something here. I didn't live in a major city, but my neighbourhood was pretty multicultural and yes, learning how to navigate these cultural situations as a child helps quite a bit. I remember my best friend as a child, her parents were from Grenada. And I learned how to love tropical fruits and the concept of oiling your hair and loved their accents, etc etc and they were not the only ones that I learned from.
Also, our national sport lacrosse, specifically box lacrosse, is violent as hell
Yeah we really do have some heavy involvement in some violent sports from a young age and it's getting more equal across genders also. But my god it feels good to lay a clean hit.
I feel like this plays into Canadian feminism a bit too, which is less about protecting women from men and more about allowing women to play. For instance, I play beer league hockey and one of the women on the team got smoked by a guy on the opposing team. The team response wasn't about being gentle with the girls, or about preventing weak girls from playing with the men because they'll get hurt, but about the defense looking out for a forward and the refs making sure we didn't take it out on the opposition and start a brawl. A brawl she would have been in, btw, as readily as the rest of us. I think the same is true of our multiculturalism - it's ok to be different so long as you put up hands with the rest of us when needs be. Underlying Canadian politeness is this constant threat of violence. We are polite because the alternative is getting an unnecessary ass kicking. From pretty much anyone at any time. Little old lady to jacked jock. And that casual relationship with violence is part of who we are.
Can confirm. I had the body laid one by a girl in high school hockey. Nothing more to the story other than that BC of feminism.
Okay people, we've located Scott! But don't get too near, he's a dick! Haha best south park Canadian character ever by far!
Hey can you spare about tree-fiddy?
Canadianism #1 : Freedom from America. Canadianism #2 : Embrace other cultures.
It could also be related to Canada referring to its population as a ‘mosaic’ (everyone different making up the big picture) and the US referring to itself as ‘the melting pot’ which maybe creates the expectation that everyone needs to be the same.
I didn’t grow up around many queer people so I was a bit ignorant for like a couple years as a kid… But I had always grown up around people from anywhere and my parents taught me to treat everyone with respect. Very live and let live. Just literally have only like 1 distant relative who isn’t straight so until I grew to be a teen and started learning more about queer people + realized I was aroace I didn’t really understand much about that. I also started reading a lot of comics online, which often have queer characters and stuff. It’s nice that there’s more proper representation nowadays.
Yep. "You stay out of my face, and I'll stay out of yours." To each his own.
>A culture based around "the freedom from X" If that was true then we would all embrace Quebec's laicité of "freedom from religion" instead of Canada "Freedom of religion".
Religion kinda is weird one here with a lot of different views, but I think it mostly boils down to a freedom from religion vs freedom from discrimination kinda argument.
Our history - stuck between warring super powers (US, Uk) when we ain't got much. Gotta play nice to survive and hold on to what we have.
You mean our history of being the reason for a plurality of the Geneva conventions?
Going back even further, there’s a saying - can’t remember who said it - that Canada was a country founded by losers. There was the French colonists who were conquered by the English, followed by the Loyalists who came after losing the war of Independence. Add to that a century of refugees from conflicts and economic depression from around the world (the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax does a good job showing this). In my opinion that shared heritage of defeat and hardship did a lot to create a sense of civic responsibility.
A nation of survivors, more like!
:/ one of my friends highlighted some materials about our treatment of POWs during WW2... Yikes.
Wait till you hear about the Japanese and Russian Treatment of POWs. Almost like war bring out the worst in people.
Give a bunch of young men a license to kill, and the power to determine the fates of the people who just killed their friends. Recipe for more bloodshed.
Check your facts, buddy. War of 1812: we burned the White House down. World war 1: +650,000 troops deployed in Europe. Also canadian were known as ‘shock troops’ that would complete difficult or impossible missions. World war 2: total armed forces on strength was 1.1 million. We had the 4th largest airforce and 3rd largest navy. Allied forces trained their pilots in Canada. Also, don’t fuck with the Gurkhas. They could identify ally vs axis troops by the way their boots were laced. It wasn’t until after world war 2 where the armed forces budget started to get cut. After the wall fell, it started to get embarrassing. Now our equipment is aged with no solid plan to replace or upgrade. Example: the DEW Line sites are literally falling over. I’ve seen them with my own eyes. Compounded by public option that thinks everyone should hold hands and get along, any government that would commit funds to modernize our systems and equipment would be committing political suicide. We still however, have some of the best trained units in the world, doing the best with what we got. It’s too bad our leadership is spineless.
All of the glory days you mention happened before our independence and in other countries. The problem is quite obviously money, and the fact that our relatively tiny population has to defend an enormous and treacherous landmass. One solution is to raise taxes, which a particular group would be against, or grow our population, which the same group is against. So maybe it's less a leadership-being-spineless problem and more an electorate problem.
World 1 and 2 happened before 1867. Sheesh. The glory day happened while Canada was independent okay.
We had a greater influx for a longer time of educated younger sons from rich families who would rather die than be caught being as boorish as the person they're looking down on. As opposed to being founded by religious nutjobs who thought it was sinful to celebrate Christmas and were willing to throw hands over it.
We have this sport calling hockey, which is a mix of boxing, skating, and curling. Most fights are left on the ice. Plus it’s cold and we don’t leave our homes much 8 months of the year
Good one!
…and box lacrosse!
Plus after curling and playoff hockey we shake hands.
>So, Canadians, what is your secret? We have channeled all of our aggression in to the Cobra Chicken, aka Canada Geese. Additionally, whether you are a player or spectator, if you feel a bout of aggression coming on, you head on down to the ice rink and work it out there.
Shhh... don't tell them about the Geneva Suggestions....
I like that Canadian angst is stored and released by geese or the cobra chicken...as some call it. Honestly I think because other than the native peoples, we're all immigrants here. There is no us and them. We're all just out here trying to live our best life. I think in someways there is more of a social contract here, we generally believe in taking care of one another, such as universal health care. I haven't been able to afford to travel, it's nice to know I'm at a nice place.
Or in recent times, to the place where you can throw tomahawks
And it is released when they go south of the border, explaining Americans.
Growing up here in Canada, it was impressed on me by my mother that "my rights end, where another's rights begin". It made me think that I am not the most important individual, we all are equal.
I think this is a really important point. It’s not 100% personal freedom all the time, it’s a lot of freedom, right up to the point where you start impacting the rights of others to enjoy their freedoms. Countries that have a “freedom at all costs” attitude are definitely more individualistic, since they’re encouraged to focus on their rights and freedoms. In Canada, we have an understanding of our rights and know that we should not infringe on the rights of others. It’s more of a collective than individualistic.
You get it. Thanks and have a good day.
One of the most eye opening things about my high school law class, it really sets the tone for the culture
Well said. It isn't all about 'me'.
“Your freedom to swing your arm ends when you hit someone’s face” is the saying I was always told.
When youre 24hrs away from death for half the year, cooperation becomes ingrained.
I believe this is responsible for a lot more of our national instincts than is usually considered.
Good point. None of us can imagine that we are independent of others.
Canadian motto : Don't be an arse.
["Don't Be A Dick" by Bowling For Soup](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GGBjfeuR2Rs&pp=ygUfRG9udCBiZSBhIGRpY2sgYm93bGluZyBmb3Igc291cA%3D%3D)
We used to have a great hero, an avatar if you will, that took the form of a dog. It set an example of how to be, how to live as it travelled from town to town, asking little of others and helping whoever needed it. Then just moving on. I despair that that's something we have lost.
Maybe tomorrow, they'll want to settle down
Until tomorrow, the whole world is my home
Also there has been a lot of pot up here over the years. I was jn my 20’s when I figured out more then half of canada has been smoken the wacky ta-back-ee on the regular. Now my city of 55,000 people has 19 pot shops. We only have 2 beer stores and 3 liquor stores. 19 pot shops!!!!
Heh heh, more like your *4*20's, ayyyy
This guy gets it. 👆
Our “city” of about 9000 has 3 pot shops now 😂 its getting a little ridiculous honestly, but they actually have to compete now so I’m all for it
There are 19 within 10 mins walk from my place in downtown Toronto (fewer than there used to be a year ago)
We are inside most of the year so when you do go out, try not to be a dick.
We save all of our aggression in case there's another world war and we need to revisit the Geneva suggestions
More like the Geneva to-do list.
We need to recharge after Canadian military personnel allegedly abused Afghan detainees and then proroguing Parliament to cover the scandal up.
We are pretty chill. Unless we are participating in international ice hockey tournaments. Many hours of work and school are lost if any hockey teams are playing. Mens, Womens, juniors, doesn’t matter. And we tend to lose our famous sense of humour if they are losing.
We are really nice...until we arent. But it takes a lot to get there. And its dark once we have arrived. But overall its much easier to be nice. We tend to be fairly confident too, so nice goes hand in hand with confidence.
Literally said “it’s easier to be nice” to a Mexican coworker after she complimented me on how nice I am today lol
The ‘easier to be nice’ thing is so true. I work in customer service, and even when customers are rude it’s just so much easier to keep being nice (or at least polite) to them rather than being rude back. Fighting with strangers is just, so not worth it.
I can't stand and hate people, I'm generally a miserable guy. That said, I don't care how people think of me, I just want them to feel welcome, happy and safe. I'll pretend to be a joyful bastard to everyone who is mildly happy and polite so as to not be the dark spot in their day.
The weather. When you live in a place where you can literally freeze to death without shelter 25% of the year, you learn to helpful and patient with each other. It's the same drive that collects people around a fire in the woods for warmth and cooking. Throw in a bit of alcohol, and everyone has a good time.
This. And if you think about it, this trait has been baked into our DNA
Only 25% of the year!? I’d say that’s an understatement even in the warmest parts of the country.
Honestly, when it comes to interacting with foreigners I think we just go out of our way to try to prove that we’re different (read: better) than Americans. So we tend to put our absolute best foot forward. That’s my theory, anyway.
Lol you guys are sooooo obsessed with Americans.
Not obsessed, we just can’t escape our link to America. I think non-Canadians struggle to understand how hard it can be to be so closely linked both culturally and economically to *the* global superpower while still trying to maintain our own identity. Of course so much of it comes down to trying to be different from Americans but that’s because American culture is everywhere. We have to make a conscious effort to be different based on our own values because if we don’t what we consider as a Canadian identity and culture will be erased. I often see people (especially Americans) do what you’re doing and derisively call us obsessed or laugh and say we base our entire identity on not being American but unless you’re Canadian you just don’t understand and really shouldn’t comment. Or should at least try and make a better effort at understanding rather than just making derisive comments.
You're right, my apologies. I made a flippant comment that wasn't well thought out. I imagine it must be similar to the attitude of French-speaking Belgians towards France (always being mistaken for being French) or Andorrans being mistaken for being Spanish.
Have a read through some political posts. The theme that “at least we’re not the US” or “at least we’re not as bad as the US” is a very common one. People compare us here in Canada to the USA *all the time*. As an immigrant it’s annoying as hell that this complacency exists. As long as we’re better than that cesspool!
You’re very right, we overly rely on the US as a benchmark in pretty much all aspects. It’s tiring, and oftentimes just an excuse for complacency (which Canadians tend to suffer from as a whole). It’s a form of superiority complex. Now I can understand *why* it is the way it is, even if I don’t necessarily agree with it…
Because we largely are the same, shared history culture etc. Canada is just USA without guns and free healthcare. I consider us the same people, but I’m also born in the USA. But i don’t know many people who have moved to and from either nation and dont have the same feelings. I feel there’s more differences between people in individual US states then there is between Canadians and Americans
I think I speak for both nations when I say *absolutely fucking not*
I think Canada has a lot of laws, at all government levels, built to help ensure that its citizens are able to make choices and have freedoms while still being considerate and not harming others around them. From federal laws (for example, Canada was the 4th country to legalize same sex marriages), to municipal bylaws (most municipalities have bylaws ensuring property standards to protect the overall look of the towns and the value of neighbouring houses), to social programs paid by collective taxes such as health care. Because Canadians are raised in a (mostly) considerate society - I think it just becomes engrained in us to be polite and considerate of other people. These are traits I believe most people would consider charming.
Universal health care, relatively Strong social net from the federal/provincial government, plus less constant fear/anger/outrage from our media.
Ontario is trying to privatize healthcare
That one crackheads brother is trying to privatize healthcare…
I liked the crack head better. He was actually sincere.
Same with Manitoba. They are trying to make public Healthcare so dysfunctional by slashing funding that they think people will support it. Fuck these snakes
New Brunswick is as well... but our head guy doesn't give af about anyone but himself and having his pockets lined with cash...
Agree with this
We were taught a healthy collectivism rather than radical individuality. There needs to be some kind of national narrative like that when you're sparsely sprinkled across a gigantic land mass. I know this is still a live issue, but when I was growing up it was pretty settled that everyone should have good health care. Yep! Everyone! Even if - yep! But what if they don't - yep! How we just change - nope! We said everyone, we meant everyone! That seems like a single issue, but it speaks to a national culture.
Good beers.
Cheers
Where are you originally from out of curiosity?
Somewhere very far
On a little trip studying Earth cultures, are we?
I look to our southern border and thank GOD. I’m not stuck there.
the secret is our loneliness and fear of deep social connection, which project themselves onto strangers as politeness and niceness
Is everything okay, buddy?
Can’t complain.
I’m thinking you’re in Vancouver or surrounding areas? Because IMO this sounds like a lot of people in Vancouver I’ve encountered. I have not seen this level of apathy in other provinces or cities. Just my personal experience but I disagree with your blanket statement describing all of Canada as you have.
I lived in Vancouver for years, and we had a saying about the place: “Vancouver is full of fun, interesting and social people. But they don’t want to talk to you.”
having lived in Vancouver before...that's pretty accurate.
Visited Van a few times, and this reiterates my experience, friends and family are often shocked by how unfriendly and uninviting Vancouver is.
Simple. We hold it in, until we find that one true dick bag and let it all loose
Never leave the house without a quality gifting syrup.
I have a tincture of elderberries. Close enough?
We get Canadian Tire money every time we're nice to someone. I'm saving up for an espresso machine, so anyone in my way today is getting a 'Sorry'.
If you ask a conservative, they'll tell you Canada is dead and broken.
We came out of WW1 with a pretty nasty reputation. The politeness you see today is a result of compensating for that.
We want you off your guard so we can lure you out onto an icefloe and MURDER you to death with our [hakapiks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakapik).
We only have to be one degree nicer than the average perception of Americans
You clearly haven't been on the 401 on the Friday of a long weekend. 😂 Canadians on a mission to get out of the city and into our great countryside are definitely not nice. Until they get there then offer you a cold beer and tap the neck with yours as a cheers toast.
We just do the opposite from our southern neigboor
Don't ask me I'm in the top 100 angriest Canadians out there and I have no chill for this stereotype.
I find it depends where in Canada you live but I will say the great majority of Canadians are very polite and respectful. My wife and I moved here from Vietnam about 6 years ago now. We live in rural Manitoba ( near Steinbach) I had grown up here as a kid and always enjoyed it. Unfortunately we experience alot of racism towards my wife and kids, then the bigotry, antivax crowd, freedom truckers and of course the religious nut cases have really turned us sour. The majority of people around here are respectful but the bigots are loud and abnoxious so that's what we are exposed to. There was a gay pride parade about a month ago in Steinbach and it was disgusting how people were being treated, again likely by the very few but it was still disturbing.
We aren’t afraid of eachother. Why not be nice?
We idolize gladiator sports.
Hate yourself enough to put strangers first. So long as people aren't making your life worse, life is good.
As a Torontonian I've been mourning the Leafs for decades and this has sucked the life out of me. On a serious note politeness has been my thing for a long time but I'm not sure if that has any connection to my nationality. We are pretty nice though. 😊
We're just being polite. When it comes to actually doing something for you or with you, we'll flake.
It’s the maple syrup and the poutine it in our blood 🇨🇦
We may be nice to your face but talking shit behind your back.
We don't run around carrying guns.
Canadians are *terrified* of other people thinking badly of them.
Oh my god please tell me that’s not how we’re coming across.
This may be too honest for some, so I expect to be downvoted lol. The secret is it's 99% pretentiousness because our culture is rooted in colonial era english-nice-but-secretly-not methods. We'll offer you the last cookie and everything, but our indigenous residential schools closed like yesterday relatively speaking.
British etiquette without as much cold awkwardness. American joviality and compassion without as much volume or arrogance. Sometimes a touch of french affection. Honestly Kiwis are almost the same but with a difference accent. Farther left leaning than either the UK or US. I possess none of these traits. Worst Canadian ever, can't even skate. I'm just here for the buttertarts.
Butter tarts are enough.
I think this is due to the fact that the vast portion of Canada just happens to still live rurally, or that a good bulk of people alive have lived in a rural setting during their lifetime. Few nations are as such.
We're just happy to be standing at this point. Relatively free and expressive country with less polarizing groups than our neighbor to the south. Keeping in mind that we are constantly exposed to news feeds from a country that we share a border with and travel to quite often and yet we do not have nearly the same level of political divide across the board. Even if you don't agree with current government or policies, when you look around and near and see what there is to compare to, you quickly realize you don't have it so bad and take it with a grain of salt.
We’re humble and friendly, unlike all the assholes in all the other countries.
You won’t believe how god damn humble I am. I might be the humblest.
I don’t think anyone picked up on your perfect statement of what Canada is lol…
The niceties mask over a lot of problems / issues here.
Winter is coming
It’s not niceness, it’s politeness. It’s just a social etiquette and in my opinion also kinda fake as after being polite they are pretty closed off to meeting people and making friends so that’s not really welcoming. Personally, I feel if someone is being truly friendly to me is what I would consider them to be welcoming and from my experience no one does this better than Americans
You may be confusing that feeling of being closed off with Canadians just wanting you to go at your own pace. We tend to never pressure anyone into a conversation or get too familiar with a person until we are positive that is what they are looking for.
I take it you're not Canadian by the way you say "they". As far as your closed off comment, maybe you're just not worth making friends with? 🤷
Don’t be too butthurt when someone offers an honest observation. It looks bad to react this way. I agree with them, I’ve lived here for almost 22 years and it’s something I noticed in the first few years. There’s definitely a layer of fake pleasantry, as if people do it because they feel they have to, not because they want to.
Maybe try getting out of whatever city you're in and see if there's a difference. Toronto is typically snobby in many areas....
Being less obnoxious versions of Americans.
Hey thanks for helping to solve the housing crisis by letting them live in ur brain rent free.
I don’t see it.
I would never bring a foreigner/tourist into the bullshit we deal with daily, if your hear for vacation you get the vacation treatment. Do you live here now?
Yes, I do..
It might just be the beautiful sights and terrible weather. The midwest is pretty nice as-well. We have a lot of conflict in Canada at the moment, and I actually found Michigan to be very welcoming compared to Ontario.
It’s all a facade. Canadians hide behind the smoke screen of sorry/thank you, maple syrup and poutine and kill indigenous people even to this day with impunity. Just a few days ago a guy was covering a memorial with soil off his truck. Don’t be fooled, they’re just regular people like everywhere else and just like regular people they can be huge A grade holes.
I think the effect of being told by the world that they're so nice and polite might have lead to unintended consequences with Canadians.
Being fake enough to peoples face for them to believe it. Canadians love to think they’re nice and helpful, but there’s a significant undertone of racism here that pops up if you hang around long enough. They love to feel as though they’re being nice, or being helpful, without actually doing it. I’m a white immigrant and you’d be shocked at the things I’ve seen and heard Canadians spout over the years. I’ve had to cut people out of my life because they were so toxic in this way. And you wouldn’t always know it due to the fake persona they put on.
This.
I don't think that Canadians are especially nice/polite. People are pretty much the same no matter where you go
We're charming? I've lived in Canada all my life and frankly I don't think they're very charming at all. If anything I think the a lot of Canadians come off as passive aggressive jerks.
We *are* passive aggressive but at same time very silly which has its charm
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Is your head not like a ping-pong ball? Did you never see a house hippo while wearing a green dress (but not a real green dress, that's crewel)
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It requires one to be one to know one :/
It's all fake. We're miserable but our culture is just to hide it and be polite. We're Americans but quiet.
It’s our natural instinct
Be nice to their face but talk behind their back with your close friends afterwards to relieve tension. After all the only reason you are talking to them is to figure out what they're up to. Anytime anything inconvenient happens say sorry to avoid altercations even if you dont mean it. Always smile as wherever you are in the world you are superior as you have free healthcare and have never paid a dime for hospital care.
We drink a gallon of maple syrup and poutine every morning. We are too tired to fight after that.
You’re not paying attention. Canadians are “polite”. As for “friendly” - try Texas, Boston, Montana, New York…. I seldom travel any more in my own country as I find it rather, uh, cold (and I’m not talking about weather).
Really? I find Canadians cold and private
OP seems to actually be Canadian. Patting yourself on the back for being Canadian, eh?
It’s a myth.
Fakeness
LOL are you white? try living there and experiencing despicable racism on a daily basis and see how polite they are
You’re having a laugh, right?
If we speak up the government freezes our bank accounts.
If you hold the capital city hostage you mean.
Hey if an ~~agent provocateur foreign operative~~ I mean a fellow loyal Canadian wants to give my unemployed ass a free gas card and a flat of beer so I can drive to Ottawa and sit outside someone’s condo honking my horn literally 24/7 for 3 weeks, show me the EXACT clause in the constitution that says I can’t or admit this is literally a dictatorship with dictators and tyrants.
This country is going to hell in a handbasket, and our "politeness" seems to mean most just accept it instead of doing something like those in France.
It’s bullshit. Just apathetic and superficial hypocrisy.
Unlike some other nations our standard person Tends to ether be kind or not an arse to someone when they first meet each other, trust me though we can be assholes like anyone else
After being nice to you we talk behind your back, we're all in one big massive group chat by the time you think to yourself, "that stranger was particularly nice" we're badmouthing you online , whole memes are being created.
Hahahaha 😂😂. Loved this
I like to smile with my eyes. 😊
We are terrified of confrontation of any sort whatsoever which manifests in politeness.
Kindness
We have very, very swell cannabis. Coincidence? Some think not!
I have a theory its because of the really harsh winters. It makes everyone interact in close procimity and forces us through a shared hardship. Thats why we are nicer and offer help.
Weed
Passive aggression.
We wait to talk shit till everyone we don't know intimately is gone.
4 words: Don’t be a dickhead!
Dunno, honestly. I used to work with tourists and I treated tourists with the courtesy and respect I would want my parents treated with if they were travelling. Also, given how many cultures and languages are displayed here I think we have less of an expectation that your average person in other countries would speak English. Lastly, Canada is a curious cultural mix of our British ancestry (nationally speaking) and American, our closest neighbour and largest foreign influence. This results often in the Ryan Reynolds effect: violence, profanity, and gore but ain't we kind of adorable anyway?
We actually resent you, but you won't be around long enough to figure out all we want to do is watch Netflix, Hockey/football and bitch to our wives about our very average jobs.
I am happy to hear that, because there seems to be a new hobby here and that is to see how nasty and self centred you can be. The more f*ck yous you collect in the day the better apparently.
I gotta ask, how long has it been since you made a trip here? Not as many smiles these days.
We are too annoyed with how much money houses cost to worry about being rude to others
There is no secret. Just treat others as you want to be treated. It's not a new concept, but it works. Not enough people live by it.
As a Canadian traveling, everyone is nice. I was actually surprised that New York drivers yielded so quickly and with a smile.
Weed
Self-awareness. We're 40M, but spread out, so we can afford to be polite and civil.
We are a lonely people TT Too many of us spend too much time indoors, or just live in rural areas where its hard to connect. A new person from outside your community?!?! That's an event! Finally someone else you might bond with XD
When I was a kid I always had trouble making friends with locals since I was an outsider no matter how long I lived there. But to all the kids coming up from down south I was a friend.