The Canadians

By Gary Tomlin

Yukon Territory — The current antagonism between our northern neighbors and our Titan Capitalists has escalated so fast I’m concerned that in our lust for their real estate and tax base, we might forget who are the Canadians, and who they have been to us. Let’s take a trip down there AlCan Highway, from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and look at the beauty, our commonality, and that which separates us.

The first leg, from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, shares the vast northern forest, and the watershed of the mighty Yukon River. The Mountain Range presents the highest peaks in North America. It all looks the same, and except for two sets of crabby border guards, you can’t tell when you are in Canada and when you are in Alaska.

The sharpest contrast is in air quality. According to Guinness Records, Whitehorse has the cleanest air of any city in the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Fairbanks’ air is among the foulest.

The rich environment of Whitehorse, doesn’t just happen without the community focused on its carbon footprint. Whitehorse, dating back to the Klondike gold rush and through today, has a natural hipness. There are hiking trails along the Yukon River, and the site of the first salmon ladder that was built to help the sojourning fish bypass a hydroelectric dam and return to their spawning waters. 

South of town, in the headwaters of the mighty Yukon River, Marsh Lake is something of a bed and breakfast for waterfowl. Thousands of trumpeter swans bunk there every spring for a couple of weeks on their northern migration to the Arctic breeding grounds.

Another sharp contrast is in the Bilingual state: 

A  half of the Continental United States was initially explored and claimed by Spain, whose holdings we bought, or took through war. The Spanish-speaking people who stayed are treated as second-class citizens whose language is not acceptable to countrymen who can’t be burdened with dialing one.

When the French Canadian population started to demand equal treatment, the government responded with bilingual education, bilingual signage in all public places, and bilingual transcripts of all government documents.

We will come on upon Laird River Bison Herd grazing, free-range, along the highway. The Laird River Hot Springs Provincial Park is a tropical wonder that offers a therapeutical soak and is a mandatory stop.

From there, the highway treks down the the spine of the Rocky Mountains and offers a concentration of wildlife: bears, mountain sheep, elk, porcupines and such, and generally great photography. 

Another sharp contrast can be found in the marijuana laws.

When the Canadian national government recognized that there is no scientific or medical justification to continue prosecuting people for the consumption of marijuana, they simply decided that possession would be legal across the country. They left it up to the Provinces to determine how each would regulate and tax its sale locally. End of argument!

When some American States recognized the same thing, thanks to the effective and on-going lobbying by the privately owned and operated prisons, and the drug cartels, our federal government said, too bad, the laws are on the books, and there they will stay. The prosecutors and jail cells are in place and will not be made obsolete. Congress, without scientific or medical justification, divides the States on a recreational practice.

As you wind down the east slope you come into the juggernaut trucks of mining, logging and oil exploration and the highway gets real bitchy until the AlCan comes to its welcomed end at the City of Dawson Creek. 

At one point in my distant past, I hung out with Canadians from these oil fields. If they friend you, they became solid, reliable friends, in a, “Have another beer. Eh?” sort of way.

A defining difference between them and us is Pretension. We have it. They don’t.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:  Pretension; 1: an allegation of doubtful value;  . . ., 3: a claim or right to attention or honor because of merit.

 The social media posts from the greatest country in the world are lousy with pretense.

Canadians to the person, seem to know who they are and calmly accept it without show or facade.

Before people start demanding that I move if I love Canada so much, it’s not an option. They don’t allow immigration of elderly people who they believe are just coming to mooch off their highly effective national healthcare system.

Want to make America great again, then Make America Canadian.  MAC! 

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