"My First Day in Canada"

I’m a teacher, and my subject is English. During university years, I aspired to teach literature. I wanted to be admired for my eloquence and knowledge. Well, I was pursuing that self-important goal during grad school when I began to feel a growing sense of disappointment. “What’s the use of all this?” I can remember thinking. “There is better stuff written about every poet that I care to read.” I had the mental image that my contribution to literary criticism did as much good as throwing a pebble on top of a mountain.

Now, a few years later, it’s my privilege to teach English to newcomers to Canada. I don’t care so much to be admired; I love what I do because it’s intensely practical. On one day, my students come to class not knowing a thing about the passive voice, and they leave able to write it and use it in conversation. Not only is the teaching practical, but it also connects me with wonderful people. As I hear their stories during lunch and break times, I come to admire their courage and perseverance. That’s why I want to take this week and next to share two stories of people who have come to Canada and made it. This first story is written by Emilia from Romania:

I remember my first day in Canada and I will never forget. It was on June 18, 2003, a sunny day. My daughter, my husband and I arrived at 13:55 at the International Toronto Airport. We were very tired after 13 hours of flying and very nervous.

Our first impression was how big the airport was and how many people were travelling in this airport. In our native country the airport is very small.

Disembarking at Pearson International Airport

The big impact was the language, because we did not speak English well, and when the officer from emigration started talking with us and when he started asking questions about our legal documents, I started crying. I did not understand anything and I felt lost. My first reaction was looking at my husband and asking him, “What are we doing here? These people speak a different language than us and we can never understand and talk with them.”

But now after nine years we are still here. I am taking ESL English classes, my English is improving every day, I can make conversation with my co workers, and many other things.

That was my first day in Canada. It was very confusing, but I will never regret choosing Canada. Now we are Canadians and we live in a free country with free people.

1812 in Retrospect

"The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent."

So said Thomas Jefferson in a letter of 1812. His confidence came from knowledge that the area known as Upper Canada, now Ontario, was thinly populated with former residents of the new United States. Some were Loyalists, who found themselves in bad company during the Revolutionary War and moved north to find less hostile neighbors. Many others had immigrated on their own accord in the decades that followed. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1812, three out of five settlers in Upper Canada had arrived in recent years. Knowing this, the American government felt confident that their planned foray onto Canadian soil would receive--some resistance, to be sure--but also support from relieved American settlers.

Instead of blustering with indignance, the average resident of Upper Canada mostly agreed with Jefferson's assessment. They felt a sense of futility. How could their militia, some British regular soldiers, and a shaky alliance with the First Nations hold the border against 30,000 Americans? To add to the problem, British attention was preoccupied with fighting Napoleon in Europe. Compared to that, the tiny colony in North America was very small beans indeed. Isaac Brock, the commander charged with defending Upper Canada, wrestled with this problem:

My situation is most critical, not from any thing the enemy can do, but from the disposition of the people—the population [of Upper Canada], believe me, is essentially bad—A full belief possesses them that this Province must inevitably succumb. This prepossession is fatal to every exertion—Legislators, Magistrates, Militia, Officers, all, have imbibed the idea… Most of the people have lost all confidence—I however speak loud and look big. (Conrad)

Isn't that great? I just love the last line. I also like how Brock brushes off "any thing the enemy can do" as nothing of concern. Undaunted by the odds, Brock set his face to rally the defence of the colony.

                And he did more than speak loud. In the early stages of the War, Brock led three successive victories that changed the people's defeatism into confidence. First, he captured Fort Michilimackinac -- which is hard to pronounce, much less conquer. With that gateway to the fur trade secure, he led his troops in the capture of Detroit. When I say "led," I don't mean he planned the attack and then watched through binoculars, chardonnay in hand. I mean he planned the attack and then actually marched in front of his troops, stared down by two 24-pound cannon. Sadly, the same practice led to his death at Queenston Heights. Though the battle was successful, Brock was shot in the chest as he led his troops from the front. Though he was removed from the war, the memory of his bravery, and the victories he led, gave lasting hope to the Canadian people.

                The War of 1812, for all of its waste and bloodshed, had the effect of galvanizing the residents of Upper Canada into Canadians. At the outset of the war, the province was inhabited by former residents of the United States. Although some were loyal to Great Britain, everyone saw defeat as a likely prospect. After Brock's successful campaigns of the first year, the people were inspired with new hope in a victorious Canada. And as wars are wont to do, the following years of conflict deepened divisions across the border. Though sympathetic to "their counterpart among the enemy" (Wunker), the average Canadian came to a settled opposition against American values and institutions. Thus, the seeds of Canadian nationalism were planted. Sir John A. Macdonald expressed much the same feeling when he brought an 1891 audience to a standing ovation with his famous words: "A British subject I was born; a British subject I will die."

Bibliography

The Canadian Encyclopedia. “Sir Isaac Brock”

http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/sir-isaac-brock

Encyclopedia Brittanica. “Sir John Macdonald”

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/354128/Sir-John-Macdonald

"9 U.S. President’s Quotes About Canada"

http://canadaonline.about.com/od/canadausrelations/a/uspresquotescan.htm

Pierre Berton. Flames Across the Border: 1813-1814.

Margaret Conrad and Alvin Finkel. History of the Canadian Peoples: Beginnings to 1867.

Russ Wunker. Vengeance across the Border: Some Aspects of Retaliation in the War of 1812.

Laura Secord - Canada's Marathon Hero

The scene takes place in 490 BC. Pehidippides, Athenian runner and soldier, has just entered Athens with news of victory at Marathon. He is exhausted from the 40-kilometer run, but his heart thrills within him. He bursts into the hall of government where the magistrates are waiting in suspense. Above the murmur of the hall, he is heard to cry out "Joy to you, we've won," and breathes his last.

More than two millenia later, a young loyalist housewife sets out on her own journey in Upper Canada. Like her Athenian counterpart, her distance is long, and her purpose urgent. There are 500 hundred American soldiers preparing to ambush the headquarters of Colonel James FitzGibbon at Beaver Dams, and she must warn them.

As their stories pass into legend, Pehidippides will inspire countless millions to recreate his journey for personal fitness; the name of Laura Secord, courtesy of the fancy chocolate company, will inspire millions to add to their waist line. Nevertheless! It has been a pleasure to read up on her life and her journey. According to one author, "No brighter name shines forth in Canadian annals than that of the heroine of Queenston Heights and Beaver Dams--this young Canadian woman" (1).

As the story goes, on June 21,1813, a group of American officers had come to the Secord house for dinner. Their home in Queenston was occupied territory, and billeting arrangements like this were common. During their meal, they spoke openly of the planned assault on Beaver Dams. George Bryce gives a dramatic recreation of Laura's thought process in that tense moment:

The danger was imminent. Her country would be under the foot of the invader. Her blood boiled at the thought. But what could she do? Her husband was severely maimed. He could never entirely recover. He four children needed her care. 

But her patriotism urged her to action (2).

She set off early the next morning. The main roads offered a direct route, but Laura feared the American sentries. So she took an indirect path through the fields and woods. Early summer rains had made her way difficult; she likely had to stumble over rotted trees and through tangled undergrowth, her path made more challenging by streams, swamps, and ferocious tigers. No, I made that up. But creativity is not out of character with many of the accounts. One story has her take a cow-decoy with her. In another, she does the journey mostly barefoot. Close to the end of her journey, she stumbled upon an aboriginal encampment. In her own words, "they all arose with one of their war yells, which, indeed, awed me. You may imagine what my feelings were to behold so many savages" (3). She controlled her fear, explained her purpose, and asked one of the war chiefs to accompany her to James FitzGibbon.

With the intelligence, FitzGibbon posted 400 aboriginals to ambush the Americans en route to their target. On June 24, 1813, the Americans under Colonel Charles Boerstler found themselves under sudden attack. FitzGibbon showed up on the scene with a white flag in hand. In the following parley, he tricked them to believe that his own force of 50 men was, in fact, the vanguard of a much larger surrounding army. FitzGibbon's 50 men found themselves newly in charge of 462 American prisoners.

In the following generations, Laura's story was taken up by widely different groups for different purposes. First wave feminists held her as an example of what an "ordinary housewife" can do. To some, she was a symbol of Canadian nationalism; to others, she supported arguments for preserving ties with Britain. No matter how we interpret the evidence, one must conclude that Laura was a woman of strong conviction with admirable courage, perseverance, and humility. According to her grandson, she saw her journey as fulfillment of duty and would not speak of it unless asked. In the words of George Bryce,  "However much we may deprecate war -- a hateful thing and a blot on our civilization -- yet we cannot fail to see that it is a great school for [...] bringing out many of the brightest virtues of humanity" (3).

For a foot-stompin' account of Laura's journey, see "Secord's Warning" by Tanglefoot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcdKd6Ax-dI

1 George Bryce. Laura Secord: A Study in Canadian Patriotism (1907)
2 ibid.
3 From the preface to Laura Secord, the heroine of 1812. - A Drama. And Other Poems.
4 George Bryce