In 1940: The Relations of Canada and the U.S.

Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

There’s a long arm of history reaching across the world’s longest border dating back to the late 1800’ when French Canadians began a migration that would continue into the twentieth century. They left in growing numbers reaching to a million in search of work in the U.S. This is not just a story of economics, though it is easy to understand that as being a motivating factor to leave the homeland.

All these years later, currently up to a million so-called “Lost Canadians”, or as some have called it the French Canadian “diaspora”, have applied for a certificate of citizenship to claim what our ancestors left behind. Once they had settled into “Little Canadas” in the U.S., the return was no longer an option for them. If Robert Frost meant what he said about fences and neighbors, Canadians in America had to jump that fence, but getting back over it was nearly impossible for most.

Up until today, the fence has been invisible to most Franco-Americans like me steeped in a culture rich in language, food, and for some, at least, faith of the homeland. We feel less like neighbors across a border and more like friends because we are family!

I, like so many others on both sides are scratching our heads today when it comes to punishing tactics that will not serve to fortify long-term relationships between us. How will we maintain our friendship that means so much to so many when we bet the dairy farm on an unnecessary trade war with trading partners over the fence? Even the cows know, it makes no sense, no cents at all!

By the time this thing gets settled, I will be back across the fence in my own backyard after a summer in a friendly neighborhood full of music and goodness of life on every corner. When I return next time it will be as a Canadian citizen “by descent”. It will be like coming home.

A bientot, Québec!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sAZOsf8m4PrBlYkZrZAp1HrC0FTgh5sc/view?usp=drivesdk

Something’s Rotten in Denmark!

Sound the alarms! Call Greta Thunberg, Nordic world climate activist to rally her followers to go to Greenland ASAP! Nobody in the whole world should look the other way while a global emergency unfolds before our very eyes. Look up everyone!

It’s one thing to turn our heads when violent wars destroy landscapes and lives—innocent bystanders—-watching the world powers play games with nuclear threats day in and day out—-threats making hostages of the whole world. We all know this feeling of helplessness at the hands of power-wielding governments. We stand in solidarity against them waving flags and written cardboard signs. Stop IT! We say.

Looking the other way is exactly what an imminent threat is meant to do.

Threats can be loud like a missile or quiet like a tug boat pulling up in the dark of night on the coast of Greenland. That’s exactly what happened while we in the Northern hemisphere slept a few nights ago, resting on our laurels while the greedy ones made their move. Wake up everyone!

After months of threats to “take Greenland”, the world must sit up and take notice. Do not look the other way as barges bring oil-drilling equipment from Texas under the auspices of a newly-formed oil company called—Greenland—not an idle threat—-a strategic move to take something without permission that does not belong to them. Some children never learn, do they? It is up to us to teach them by sending a loud and unequivocal— Hell NO! Later will be too late to save something. Whatever you do—DO NOT sit idly by.

Here is the information on the company named GREENLAND—not to be mistaken with the country:

Board Members and Affiliations

• Larry Swets Jr.: Chairman and major shareholder. [1]

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• Carol Craig: Class I Director, audit committee member, and CEO/founder of Sidus Space. [1]

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• Roderick McIllree: Board member appointed with the board-level title of Managing Director to oversee Greenland regulatory and permitting relations. [1, 2]

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• Melanie Furlan: Board Director. [1]

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• Phil "Dr. Phil" McGraw: Retained by the company to produce a documentary series capturing the exploration project, though not listed as a formal board director.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/08/greenland-iwarning-trump-linked-oil-firm-prepares-drill?CMP=share_btn_url

The 49th Parallel

It took six weeks, but it finally happened. I was walking along in the neighborhood where I have been enjoying summertime, when I witnessed the following scene:

A man of about 80 years saying, “Welcome to Quebec. Are you from New York?

A man in his car smiling said: “Brooklyn”.

A third man wearing a chapeau and sipping coffee at the sidewalk cafe said: “We don’t like your President. In fact, we hate him”.

I stopped for a moment noticing the yellow New York license plate wondering what might happen next. This spontaneous exchange took me by surprise because in every interaction I have had both this summer and last, Canadians have kept their thoughts and feelings about those from below the 49th Parallel to themselves.

Clearly, these sentiments have been simmering and coming to the boiling point. It’s only natural when someone feels threatened to strike back. The latest tariff threats on Canadian goods may be the tipping point. The expansion bridge across the Detroit River meant to unite two countries by easing the transfer of people and goods saw only a one-sided ribbon -cutting here above the 49th Parallel.

I come from a long line of Quebecers, and the one thing I know is that we value heritage: language, foods, faith that bind together a culture that sticks together in solidarity. When my grandparents joined the mass exodus in the early twentieth century from Quebec to New England they settled together in “Little Canada”. They were not looking to be Americanized, they were looking for work.

They never gave up their Canadian citizenship while doing the most difficult work of America’s Industrial Revolution. My mother at age 15, dropped out of school and worked twelve-hour days as “mill girl” standing at the wool and cotton looms that pushed out products the country needed to thrive. She, on the other hand, turned over her weekly pay to her family trying to survive which was the case with millions of immigrants. Theirs was not an easy life.

What sustained them was their way of life within a way of life that was foreign and would always be until grandchildren and great-grandchildren, me and my children, all American -born turned the tide. They tolerated our Americanized ways outside the house, but at home and particularly at our grandparents’ home, we were French Canadians first—Franco-Americans. I wore both proudly without ever knowing how the elders had suffered when leaving a homeland they loved while wanting most of all to preserve it for their growing families.

I would say they are more entitled than most to say: “We do not like your President. In fact, we hate him”. Yet, they stop there without lumping all Americans with the politicians. Where this goes is anybody’s guess, but I know there is a kinship between both sides of the 49th Parallel that will always be shared

WorldAtlas.com

1908 - A treaty between the two nations is signed, establishing a joint commission tasked with surveying and delineating

the border between the two neighbours.