Canadians spend a lot of time ridiculing Americans for how little they know about our country. Almost everyone has heard the story of the Yankee who believes we huddle in igloos in a nation of ice and snow.
We laugh at stories like that, wondering how anyone could possibly be so stupid about a country so close to their own. We self-righteously scoff at Americans for their ignorance and take comfort in our own superiority.
But when it comes right down to it, it seems a lot of Canadians don’t know the first thing about the Great White North either.
A recent survey revealed that many of us are woefully ignorant of some basic facts. Only 63 per cent of the 1,350 adults surveyed could recite the first two lines of the national anthem, and less than half could come up with the name “Confederation” as the event that created Canada.
Thirty-five per cent of respondents couldn’t name the three oceans that border the country. When asked what part of the Constitution protects Canadians’ rights and freedoms, one-third didn’t know it was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Only 55 per cent passed the test overall.
Rudyard Griffiths, the director of the institute that sponsored the survey, commented that the results show “our democratic culture here in Canada is firing on anything but all cylinders.” No kidding.
What makes the situation all the more embarrassing is the fact that some Americans are starting to pay more attention to Canada. On the same day the survey results were released, a U.S. history professor wrote in the Ottawa Citizen that American intellectuals are taking more interest in Canadian society.
All of which seems to demonstrate that we need to shape up. After all, thanks to television, most of us probably know plenty about the U.S. But we draw a blank when it comes to things closer to home.
One might be tempted to blame the educational system for failing to teach our children about Canada, but let’s be honest. Most of this stuff can be picked up just by paying attention to the world around us. (Try listening to the words of “O Canada” when you’re at that hockey or baseball game.)
So the next time you scoff at Yankee ignorance, stop and ask yourself if you can name Canada’s head of state. (Hint: it’s not the prime minister.) And if you can’t, don’t be too self-righteous about other people’s ignorance about Canada. Remember that adage about people who live in glass houses . . .?
— Crystal Kingwell, Sweena Rai