Re: CHAT: University Advice (was Re: A bit of advice)

John Cowan wrote:
>
> Robert Hailman wrote:
>
> > >From the modern Canadian perspective, the War of 1812 was merely a
> > (rather unprovoked) invasion from the U.S.
>
> Indeed.
>
And I'd imagine from Canadian perspective at the time. The invasion had
more to do with things going on inside the U.S., and the U.S.'s relation
with Britian than anything else

> > It only cemented our ties with Britain, and pretty much killed any
> > desire to join the US that Canadians may have harboured prior to that.
>
> Just so.  After all, Halifax sent a representative to the First Continental
> Congress in 1775, but the city remained firmly in British hands throughout
> the war (and a good thing too, because it was the only deep-water harbour
> in North America at the time).
>
And it was a good idea to send a representative to the Continental
Congress. But I'm inclined to think that it was similar to the two
representatives that Newfoundland sent to the Charlottetown Conference,
the year of which eludes me, when the idea of Canada's independance was
discussed at length, and the colonies decided it was in their best
interest. Newfoundland had no intention of joining Confederation, but
felt it was necessary to send a representative to ensure that they had
made the right choice.

> So it is not unreasonable to think of 1812 as Canada's definitive act of
> separation from the U.S.  Canadian nationalism has two faces, a weaker
> one against Britain and a stronger one against the U.S.
It made it certain, for sure, that it would never happen if Canada could
hekp it. Canadian nationalism, is, as you seem to imply, is different
from U.S. nationalism because it's based on a precieved need to avoid
being like other places, rather than being based on national pride or
anything like that. When people are asked to identify Canada's national
identity, usually they come up with something about not being Americans.
That kind of opinion doesn't lend itself well to nationalism on the
scale that exists elsewhere in the world, but it doesn't make it
impossible, either.

--
Robert