We seem to be a nation in defiance. Defying the hard geography and climate of our land. Defying being likened to Americans. It’s exhausting and we’d rather relax but then we suddenly must explain to our friend of 150 years that we’re not for sale because we’re our own thing.

We know we’re not the same as Americans. That’s the conclusion journalist Pierre Burton came to in his book Why We Act Like Canadians. We’re embarrassed to love our country, he wrote in 1982, “yet it may well be that love of country that is what really holds us together. For we are learning to love it perhaps because for the first time we see its future threatened.”

So, what is a Canadian? Writer Mavis Gallant quipped it was “someone with a logical reason to think he may be one.” A beer ad from 2000 declared it’s someone who thinks highly of the beaver, says “zed” and knows what a chesterfield is. Naturally. But what else? We asked UM community members to weigh in. Sorry it took so long to get to this point.

UM Today: What’s a moment from your life that stands out as being very Canadian?
 

Wilkinson: I was sitting in a hospital waiting room in Winnipeg and a man’s phone rang and it played the Canadian national anthem, which I thought was interesting because it says a lot about the person. And then he proceeded to take the call in Mandarin.

Sam-King: I enrolled in a course called living in rural communities where I spent a week and a half living with farmers, Hutterite colonies and my Indigenous brothers and sisters. To this day it helps me understand what it means to be Canadian no matter your walk of life.

McArthur: Once, in Montreal, I was out at 2 a.m. and I was starving. I went to Monsieur Falafel to get something to eat. I was relieved there was only one person ahead of me in line—but then I heard him order 12 falafels! I was furious. Then he turned around, and it was Leonard Cohen. He looked at me and said: “Sorry.”

Sharma (who moved to Canada from India at age 9): When I was 13, my dad and I were driving in our Toyota Corolla and there was this huge truck that could not move in the snow. And I remember us—all the people behind us, too—working to push it out. We used every bit of equipment we had. I used a window scraper as a shovel.
 

UM Today: What does it mean to you to be Canadian?
 

Levy: A sense of gentleness, community and caring [about] the diversity of its peoples, its landscapes. It’s hard to explain but there is an inner connection to us all…. When I was deeply involved in creating the Canadian Museum for Human Rights we gathered support from ordinary Canadians to create this one-of-its-kind museum in the world. This would not happen anywhere else.

Highway: Beauty. Beauty and kindness and humility and “think always of others first before you think of yourself” and all those wonderful things. That’s what will help us pull through. Always.

McArthur: What I love about Canada is our ability to realize our values in our institutions. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Medicare, the CBC, official bilingualism. We may not always live up to our ideals, but at our best, we have shown we can realise our vision of an inclusive and equal society in concrete ways.
 

UM Today: When President Trump said Canada should become a US state, what went through your mind?
 

Highway: As a full-blooded Cree Indian from northern Manitoba whose roots on this land go back millennia, it is an honour to have had the privilege of giving refuge and a home to so illustrious an immigrant as Donald Trunk, as we have to so many other poor, starving rejects, the dregs of their own home countries. We received them kindly into our midst, onto this land of 2 million lakes, into this, the most beautiful garden the world has ever known. Now [expletive] well behave yourself, michisk.

(“Trunk,” by the way, is the Cree pronunciation of Trump.)

Wilkinson: Can I swear? Oh, my mom is going to kill me but I have to say it. My first response was ‘[expletive] you.’ You don’t have to print that, but who does the Trump Administration think they are? Clearly they perceive us to be weak…. But they also must see us an important so my second thought was, what do they want from us?

McArthur: No… but we might take Alaska or Minnesota if they asked.
 

UM Today: What is our identity?
 

Wilkinson: There is no definition, and I see that as good. It doesn’t matter what your name is, your skin colour, your religion, your sexual identity. If you speak English or French with an accent…. That is what makes Canadian identity pretty awesome. You don’t have to be anything specific. There are some people who think otherwise, but they are aging out of the system.

Sam-King: We have a strong national identity! However the last few years we have been reflecting on our imperfect pasts and laying foundation to be better. When I arrived as a refugee I didn’t know how my family and I would become “Canadian.” That journey doesn’t look the same for everyone.
 

UM Today: Do you have a belonging that reminds you of Canada or makes you feel proud to be Canadian?
 

Sam-King: One of my best friends, Jerome Blake, just won an Olympic Gold Medal in the 4 x 100-metre relay at the Paris 2024 Olympics. He gave me some gear. They were not supposed to win or even medal but in true Canadian fashion they rose to the occasion and punched above their weight and won. I’m beyond proud!

Sharma: I have a Canadian flag I got during my citizenship ceremony I keep on my desk and every single day it reminds me of Canada…. I still stay in touch with the Canadian Citizenship Judge who swore me in. She is a Métis woman and her name is Suzanne Carrière [BA/99]—and we talked multiple times about what it means to be Canadian.
 

UM Today: Have you ever travelled somewhere and had something happen to you that made you think about your Canadian identity?
 

McArthur: When I was living in the US, my friends and I listened to an episode of [the podcast] This American Life called The Canadians Among Us. It was about people Americans don’t realize are Canadian. Monty Hall [BSc/46, LLD/87] was probably the one who shocked people the most. What could be more American than Let’s Make a Deal?

Sharma: On my recent trip to Mexico, I was going through a town wearing my Toronto Blue Jays jersey, the night before the big hockey face-off game between the United States and Canada. Every Canadian who saw me made a point of saying “Go Jays,” “Go Toronto” or “Go Canada” to me. The Team Canada spirit makes me proud to be Canadian!
 

UM Today: Why do we apologize so much?
 

Levy: It’s just that we try to set ourselves apart by being super nice.

Wilkinson: We’re only polite on the surface. Saying “sorry” is an opening salvo to “I didn’t mean offence,” or “I’m not a threat.” But I don’t think we’re so good on following through on the actions of actually being sorry—at least on the big stuff.
 

UM Today: What makes doing business in Canada different?
 

Levy: We are not as aggressive. Canadians need to be more aggressive in creating greater innovation opportunities as it generates investment and growth.

Sharma: We’re a young nation where young people are valued and I think that really differentiates us…. I’m embarking on a new project we’re hoping to launch in March [of 2025] called the Young Chamber of Commerce. We’re going to bring politicians, including federal and provincial ministers, to join Team Canada and make sure we’re advocating for all Canadians, including young entrepreneurs.
 

UM Today: What does this new US administration mean for your field?
 

Wilkinson: The war on immigrants has been going on for decades, but now it’s okay for politicians to be overtly xenophobic. You have the Canadian federal government blaming international students and immigrants for the housing crisis, the shortage in health care, the economy—and none of that is based on fact. Yet, it’s okay to say these things…. My work is always busy but now it’s going to be even more so: educating our government about anti-racism and xenophobia, and trying to give people a good playbook for how they can resist and challenge these ideas.

Sharma: I talk to a lot of students every day and we’re all concerned about prices going up, and so many mention Trump and tariffs. My degree is in global political economy—so the US administration is very relevant. And normally we get all these readings and textbook work but right now, in the classes that I’m taking, the world is essentially our textbook because we get to apply what we are learning to real-life, real-world scenarios.
 

UM is a diverse community with 1,127 full-time teaching staff guiding 24,565 Canadian students and 6,675 international students on our campuses. Add to that the 220,000 alumni at the centre of change in 134 countries around the world, and well, we could only fit six Bisons from this immense herd into this piece. Again, sorry.

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