Teaching aim: To show the fragility of a nation such as Canada as a result of its spatial, historical and political dimensions. Special emphasis is given to the problems of regional disparities, the Quebec question, the Natives and the neighboring United States. Keywords: Regional disparities, development programs, regional incentives, French Canada, Quiet Revolution, separatism, referendum, native land claims, compensation, self determination, self awareness, interrelationship with the US

For what is an exceedingly prosperous and fortunate land within the world, Canada is a difficult country to understand and to govern. We will examine three deep-seated problems that have persisted for many years: (1) various sections of the country have special economic needs; (2) two cultural groups, the French Canadians and the Native peoples, feel very strongly that they have not attained an adequate well being and cultural fulfillment within the larger Canadian federation and society; and (3) always to the south is a friendly but culturally potentially overwhelming neighbour, the United States, strongly affecting numerous aspects of Canadian life.

Disparities - Many regional disparities developed because of the consistently strong economies in some sections of Canada and persistently weak economies in others, with resulting different levels of average incomes [1] and rates of unemployment [2]. These disparities have been long apparent. Numerous attempts have been made to reduce the differences and ensure that approximately the same scale of living is attainable in all parts of Canada, at least in public services available to citizens. In the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, special measures were adopted by the federal government as circumstances required to try and alleviate specific economic difficulties encountered in poorer sections of Canada, for example by subsidizing the high costs of transport connections to the Maritimes, or combating the hardships of drought and depression in the 1930s in the Prairie provinces. But more systematic and sustained re-distribution policies were required, and these were soon implemented.

After World War II, during the last half of the twentieth century, broad state-financed social welfare measures began to be introduced into Canada for the whole population, on the model of some European countries. In the same period, beginning in 1957, formal arrangements were made by the federal government to transfer funds to the poorer provinces on a systematic basis so that they could attain approximately the same level of public services for their populations as existed in the more prosperous of Canada. In effect this means that through the federal government the richer provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario subsidize the other relatively poorer provinces in providing specific basic social and economic services. These equalization payments, as they are called, have been fully entrenched in the Canadian economy. They are explicitly recognized in Canada's Constitution, and the poorer provinces count on them for the direct benefit of their citizens in their annual budgets .

Quebec - Quebec presents a different kind of problem within Canada. Since the early seventeenth century, as we have discussed, a Francophone community has lived on the St. Lawrence, and has blossomed into a large, mature society. Quebec, just like the other provinces, has considerable governmental powers within the Canadian federation, and beyond that also has a distinctive civil legal code, separate school systems serving the needs of Roman Catholic (mainly Francophone) and Protestant (mainly Anglophone) pupils, has designated French as the single official language, and has passed special legislation protecting the French language and promoting its use. For a long period, from the time of the Conquest in the mid-eighteenth century until the mid-twentieth century, French Canadians adopted a highly defensive yet effective approach to protect and preserve their culture within Canada. In accomplishing this the Roman Catholic church played a central role. Finally, however, during the 1960s, in what has been called the Quiet Revolution, the French Canadian population of Quebec became much more assertive in defining and maintaining its identity within Quebec and Canada, and in gaining greater ownership and managerial control of the Quebec economy. But the aspirations of many QuŽbŽcois went beyond that. Over the many years, a sizable proportion of the French Canadian population has persistently felt that they are a people, a nation, that should seek to form a state on the territory of Quebec, independent of Canada. In 1976, a secessionist party, the Parti QuŽbŽcois (PQ), won the provincial election and governed Quebec until 1985 when it was defeated. The PQ assumed power again in the election of 1994, and is in power in 1997 as this is being written. The PQ government in Quebec has presented two referenda to the Quebec population concerning secession. In 1980, a referendum proposing to form a new state, that would, however, be associated with Canada in what was called sovereignty-association, was decisively defeated by the Quebec electorate, and this set back slowed the movement toward secession for some years. In 1995, when the PQ was back in power in the province, a second referendum proposing that Quebec separate from Canada and form a new state was very narrowly defeated. In 1998 the PQ were elected again but on the basis that a new referendum would be held only once winning conditions for independence exists in Canada. Thus the continuation of present-day Canada, both in territory and composition of population, remains in jeopardy, although the federal government is struggling to come up with suitable assurances to Quebec, which must also be acceptable to the other provinces, that will convince the majority of the Quebec population to remain in Canada in any future referendum.

If Canada is to hold together there has to be a will on the part of a distinctive group of people, such as the French Canadians to be part of a larger Canadian community.

Native Peoples - A further serious problem in Canada is the extremely difficult life of many Native people, pushed to the margins of Canadian society. As so often happens in such communities, there are high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, problems with breaking the law, and other characteristics of a dysfunctional life. Clearly, fundamental reforms are needed. Among a Royal Commission's Report on Aboriginals in 1996 many recommendations suggested that Native peoples should have their own self-chosen government within Canada, i.e. an administrative structure different from the current federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal levels of administration. A second set of recommendations proposed that adequate funds be made available to Natives to enable them to develop a good resource base and a self sustaining economy. These funds would have to be very large to be effective, but in the long run the intent is to get the Natives out of their current welfare dependency on the federal government. Closely related to this economic issue are the land claims negotiations that different groups of Native peoples are having with the federal government. In these negotiations Native peoples hope to obtain proper compensation in land and money for the territories taken from them long ago under coercive circumstances for pitiful sums. Just what will be done in implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples [3] remains to be seen.

United States - It is impossible to live anywhere in the world without being aware of the United States. This is especially true of Canada because of its close spatial connections with the U.S. and the common language of English, spoken by almost all Americans and a large proportion of the Canadian population. The ever present contrast with the United States on many matters heightens Canada's sense of self awareness. The interrelationship is a subtle phenomenon. On one hand, it is advantageous for Canada to be right next to the United States and be able to take advantage of its dynamic culture, especially through the mass media, but also the sports leagues, and in winter the genial climate of the southern U.S. On the other hand, there is apprehension that the U.S. way of life inundates Canada and stifles the development of a strong distinctive Canadian culture, especially in English-speaking Canada. Actually, it can be argued, that the very proximity of the U.S. may stiffen Canadian individuality rather than quell it. An unattractive, automatic, anti-Americanism is expressed by some Canadians, but on the whole Canadians feel secure in their own way of life, because there has been and is a greater involvement of government in the lives of people, both broadly during the development of the country in supporting expensive transportation and energy infrastructures, and at present in an everyday way by organizing the delivery of vital social services.

Canadians know there are great and never ending tasks of reconciling regional differences, of living with two dominating cultures (English and French) and many others in Canada, of trying to bring justice to Native peoples and of interacting with the big neighbour to the south. It was not easy, imaginatively, physically, and administratively, to create a huge country across the vast geographic space of North America. The demanding sustained endeavour, the common exhilarating experience, and the profound sense of accomplishment involved in building the country by many people, are essential foundations of feelings of Canadian nationhood. Moreover, there is great geographical momentum in making such a large diverse geographic country work on an everyday basis.