 Canada
is almost unimaginably vast. It stretches from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and from the latitude of Rome to beyond the Magnetic North Pole.
Its archetypal landscapes are the Rocky Mountain lakes and peaks, the
endless forests and the prairie wheatfields, but Canada holds landscapes
that defy expectations: rainforest and desert lie close together in the
southwest corner of the country, while in the east a short drive can
take you from fjords to lush orchards. What's more, great tracts of
Canada are, completely unspoiled - ninety percent of the country's 28.5
million population lives within 100 miles of the US border.
Like its neighbour to the south, Canada is a spectrum of cultures, a
hotchpotch of immigrant groups who supplanted the continent's many
native peoples. There's a crucial difference, though. Whereas citizens
of the United States are encouraged to perceive themselves as Americans
above all else, Canada's concertedly multicultural approach has done
more to acknowledge the origins of its people, creating an ethnic mosaic
as opposed to America's "melting-pot". Alongside the French and British
majorities live a host of communities who maintain the traditions of
their homelands - Chinese, Ukrainians, Portuguese, Indians, Dutch,
Polish, Greek and Spanish, to name just the most numerous. For the
visitor, the mix that results from the country's exemplary tolerance is
an exhilarating experience, offering such widely differing environments
as Vancouver's huge Chinatown and the austere religious enclaves of
Manitoba. Canadians themselves, however, are often troubled by the lack
of a clear self-image, tending to emphasize the ways in which they are
different from the US as a means of self-description. The question "What
is a Canadian?" has acquired a new immediacy with the interminable and
acrimonious debate over Quιbec and its possible secession, but
ultimately there can be no simple characterization of a people whose
country is not so much a single nation as a committee on a continental
scale. Pierre Berton, one of Canada's finest writers, wisely ducked the
issue; Canadians, he quipped, are "people who know how to make love in a
canoe".
The typical Canadian might be an elusive concept, but you'll find
there's a distinctive feel to the country. Some towns might seem a touch
too well-regulated and unspontaneous, but against this there's the
overwhelming sense of Canadian pride in their history and pleasure in
the beauty of their land. Canada embraces its own clichιs with an energy
that's irresistible, promoting everything from the Calgary Stampede to
maple-syrup festivals and lumberjacking contests with an extraordinary
zeal and openness. As John Buchan, writer and Governor-General of Canada,
said, "You have to know a man awfully well in Canada to know his surname."
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