...I hope to live the rest of my life in Canada, but I still have my US citizenship. Someone (was it Christine) recently asked, why Canada? and, what are some differences? Well, for Christine and anybody else who wants to know, here's a bit about me.

We moved to Canada in September, 2000, when Tom was asked to be the pastor of a Baptist church here. We moved from NY state; before that we had lived in Texas, Ohio, and Georgia, with some in-between-moves camping out times in Pennsylvania.

We started the process of applying for permanent visas in February, 2001. We suspect that Sept. 11 has slowed things down for us a bit, but then again, you know government red tape! Our papers are all in some office in Rockefeller Center, Manhattan Island, NYC.

We are currently expecting baby #7, our first Canadian baby. If we don't have our visas by the time of the birth, this baby should pretty much guarantee them for us:o)

In stating some differences, I must please ask that you remember that I am stating generalities. Canadians are NOT all alike, any more than Americans. We are in a different country here; this is NOT an extension of the US. Some Canadians don't care for Americans, other Canadians have married them. There is a sense of rivalry between the two nations, something like sibling rivalry.

We pay an extremely high sales tax here--I have paid as much as 15% when you put Goods and Services Tax and Provincial Sales Tax together. I bought an item the other day marked $6.97 and ended up paying $8.02. "Essential" items are not taxed, but guess who gets to decide what's "essential"?!

Rubber bands are "elastics", clothespins are "clothes pegs", and passing gas is called "tooting". We pay for stuff by the liter instead of by the gallon, and by the kilogram rather than by the pound.

Canadians are a bit scornful of the "American Way" of suing everybody for everything. Wal-Mart exhorts everyone to "Buy Canadian".

A drive through this part of Canada (east Ontario) is a lot like a drive through the dairy regions of NY, PA, and OH. We go aroond and aboot and doon rather than around and about and down.

These are some of the minor differences. There are other more serious differences, in which hurt and hardened feelings run deep and last long, from the Tory ancestors who lost land and property during the American Revolution and had to flee to Canada, to the President's failure to mention Canada in his speech immediately after Sept. 11.

We all like Canada. I have yet to meet a Canadian I didn't like. They are friendly people, unless you're an anglophone "trespassing" into Quebec....

-- Cathy N. (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), February 28, 2002

Answers

Cathy,

From a Canadian point of view, I think you've nailed it fairly well! Well, maybe except for the "aroond, aboot, and doon". LOL I've always liked to kid my Detroit cousins about "hackey and pap" (hockey and pop). Yes, my aunt married an American. I was born in MI since my Canadian dad went into the US Navy in the early '60's. Boy, the ties run deep.

Glad you like it here, and happy to have you stay.

Rheba in northern (really central) Ontar-i-o

-- Rheba (rb@notmymail.notcom), February 28, 2002.

It was me that asked, and thanks for answering. I'm hoping to visit there in the next few years, I hope they don't think I'm trespassing!

I do know (from one of the guys I went to college with) that Canadian students in school are required to study American history, where American students rarely hear much about Canada. They even had to memorize our states and state capitols, and I am hard-pressed to name three provinces (I know, I was challenged to it!)!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), February 28, 2002.

Christine, an AMERICAN is more than welcome in Quebec...just not anglophone Canadians.

Maybe they study American history because they have no Canadian history books. I know that sounds mean, but I have had an extremely difficult time finding Canadian history books for our homeschool. I actually resorted to using "The Idiot's Guide to Canadian History"!!

-- Cathy N. (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), February 28, 2002.

When we looked into moving to Nova Scotia about 4 years ago and becomming Canadian citizens, we were told that we would have to pay $3000 each for a Port of Entry Fee which would be non-refundable if denied application for citizenship..eek...have you run into that at all? My grandmother and several other relatives were all from Nova Scotia...great-grandmother's father was a Magistrate there in the middle 1800s, and his wife's family had been there already for 100 years! Anyway, our only choice was to purchase property in Canada, retain our USA citizenship, and "have the best of both worlds"....for us, we feel it is not right to live in a country without trying to become a citizen..just our beliefs, not judging anyone else...so we gave up the idea. When I lived in Northern Maine many years ago (Madawaska)..I did not find any antipathy between USA and Canadian folks at all.....perhaps it was because we were all so young, and in the 60s..we loved everyone..hee hee hee.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), February 28, 2002.

Leslie, we did not pay anything coming across. We had to declare all our possessions, and would have had to pay duty on our van if it had been less than 15 years old. The cost for us came later in filing all the visa paperwork. We crossed the border as "temporary visitors", were given a permit good for one year (which we renewed for free last August), got settled, and started the application process. Our church had to give them a letter stating that they would be our sole source of support, and we were forbidden to seek any other source of income in Canada. Once we are permanent, we could get jobs here if we wanted/needed to. We kept our US citizenship as a safety measure; if times get bad, and we need to come back for whatever reason, it is easier to do so if we still have our citizenship.

-- Cathy N. (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), March 01, 2002.

About 10 years ago I took my dream vacation to Scotland. Everyone there kept asking me if I was Canadian. Part of it may have been my accent, I was born and raised in Michigan and can aroond and aboot with the best of them. :) When I asked why they thought I was Canadian, the reply was that I was much too well-mannered to be an American.

-- Sherri C in Central Indiana (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), March 01, 2002.

Just a tip for anyone who visits us in Canada: Save all of your receipts from any purchases you make. We have GST (Good and Services Tax) of 7 % nationally, and each province has it's own provincial sales tax (Ontario 8%). There is a form you can get to have the Canadian government refund the sales tax you paid while visiting. I believe you can get the form through Canadian customs offices.

Just think, if you come up, spend $1000 Cdn ($623 US today) while here, you'd get back about $130 Cdn.

-- Rheba (rb@notmymail.notcom), March 01, 2002.

Is it true that french Canadians hold a grudge at the Americans because we inpregnated many of the French women after we liberated france from the Germans in World War II, beside all the other reasons.

-- Martz (droinds@hotmail.com), August 14, 2002.