Essay Database

ESCAPING EXTINCTION Much has been written, and even more said, about what constitutes the Canadian character, what identifies the quintessential Canadian. Two features clearly emerge as dominant elements in the make-up of both English and French-speaking members of our family: Canadians are constantly brooding over who we are, what gives us our Canadian character, and what makes us different from other nations. Most other nations never think about such things, or take the answers for …

…neighbours that the distinctiveness of Canada will, to all intents and purposes, vanish. As in so many other areas, the prime ingredient in the escape from extinction is to recognize the problem realistically and then to have the will to act upon it. Ironically, whether Canadians have these qualities, whether Canadians can muster the force needed to defend ourselves effectively, depends on the extent to which we have already become Americanized, or, the 51st state.