I am back where I began, in Toronto the Good, Tory Toronto, Hog Town, Muddy York, now incredibly in a have-not province where wealth and political power have moved west. An important issue here is how manufacturing is to cope with the value of the dollar which has risen vastly against the US$ because of the demand for natural resources, specially by the Chinese. The Keystone Pipeline from Alberta through to the American south is being resisted by the Obama administration and may yet be one of the decisive matters in the US election.
But what was extraordinary to me has been the absence of any really historical memory of the War of 1812 (which lasted till 1814 and ended with the Battle of New Orleans which was fought in 1815). You would think if there were a Canadian identity, this is what would be identified. Here the British/Canadians (United Empire Loyalists all!!) with our Indian allies pushed the American invaders back across the Niagara. I have been asking my young cousins, products of the Canadian education system, what they know, starting with my Dad’s favourite, when was the War of 1812, which he would match with who’s buried in Grant’s tomb? Being Canadians, they are much more likely to know the second than the first. And of the first, they seemed to know nothing of all, not even who Laura Secord was! Not to know Laura Secord for a Canadian of my vintage is to know none of the fine patriotic detail from our past. She is now a brand of chocolates and ice cream, no more distinguished than Laura Ashley.
Just for the record, one of the little known facts about that distant war was that Washington was burned down by the British in 1814 because the Americans had burned down Fort York in 1813. Only fair, I say. Fort York, however, is an actual dinkum frontier fort that was once on the waterfront before about half a mile of land fill was added to the edge of the city. No one goes there, even though it is an actual frontier fort, rebuilt after 1813, and if anyone cared about their history would be as significant as the citadel in Quebec or the Eureka Stockade.
I was in Ottawa two days ago, Steve. There were posters everywhere commemorating 1812.
Abu Chowdah
17 Jun 12 at 2:07 am
perhaps the British could be persuaded to burn down Washington again? Hardly any Americans would get upset.
Eyrie
17 Jun 12 at 8:02 am
When I lived in Canada about a decade ago my friends would lecture me constantly about the War of 1812. I was quite surprised by how patriotic young Canadians were. But then I guess we count as middle-aged now.
Toronto is a great and very underrated world city with fantastic energy and a neighbourhood for almost every ethnicity in the world. Damn cold there in winter though, when everyone hibernates for months on end; I’m not sure if I could have survived a third one.
south
17 Jun 12 at 8:40 am
@Eyrie: given the insults inflicted on the UK since 2009 by Obama and his State Department, I’m sure many in Britain would love to do just that.
south
17 Jun 12 at 8:42 am
who doesn’t love Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture played with the sounds of muskets cannons and the bells, absolutely thrilling.
candy
17 Jun 12 at 9:00 am
What about the seven years war 1756-1763 when the French were driven out of Canada? The key was Wolfe’s capture of Quebeck by a sea-born force that made its way up the St Lawrence River to surprise the French by storming the “heights”. And who was the hydrographer and navivator who went first to chart the river?
The Seven Years War has been described as the first global conflict or world war.
Poor Old Rafe
17 Jun 12 at 9:14 am
the yanks do not like to be reminded of their capital being sacked and burned.
Jim Rose
17 Jun 12 at 9:30 am
Hey, at least it gave us our national anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE&fmt=18
sdog
17 Jun 12 at 9:56 am
Hmmmm….. so the suggestion is that this is another one of Kates’ empiricism free zones?
Les Majesty
17 Jun 12 at 11:18 am
I’m pretty sure that Tchaikovsky wasn’t thinking of the War of 1812 when he wrote it.
Les Majesty
17 Jun 12 at 11:19 am
He was actually thinking of William F. Buckley’s hatred of Franco.
C.L.
17 Jun 12 at 11:25 am
The War of 1812 is only the start of US armed incursions, official and otherwise, into the Great White North. How many these days know of the Fenian invasions, which Washington found expedient not to notice, as that would would have alienated Irish-American voters?
One of the most interesting developments of all this was the birth of the modern submarine, the world’s practical submarine having been designed and built by the Irish genius, John Phillip Holland, in New York in the 1880′s. The Fenian Ram (still on display in New Jersey) was the first craft to solve all the problems of buoyancy and control and its principles have guided every submarine ever since. The New York Irish planned to unleash the Ram on British warships in Canadian waters, but fell to feuding amongst themselves and never quite managed to fire its pneumatic torpedo in anger.
A lot of detail on US-Canada frictions here, including the Irish invasions.
areff
17 Jun 12 at 12:45 pm
Ottawa is to Toronto as Canberra is to Sydney.
In other words, that’s not my suggestion, Tillman.
Abu Chowdah
17 Jun 12 at 1:29 pm
I’ve never visited Toronto but have been to “nearby” Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake. I was impressed with the Ontario names used in that area.
There were the 4 dukes York, Clarence, Kent and Sussex and in Toronto, Bathurst, Liverpool, Goulburn.
Reminded me of another city which was fleshed out from 1810 to 1820.
Michael
17 Jun 12 at 11:30 pm
When I worked in Manitoba and Quebec in the late 1960s and early 1970s (and visited Toronto regularly), the War of 1812 (and the Fenian raids) was/were well known; at least among the engineers I worked with in the mining industry. I suspect that you are being “down” on your countrymen and -women unjustly. Or things have changed in 50 years
John McDougall
18 Jun 12 at 9:05 am
Great article on the War of 1812 in The American Interest. A summary of the war and the dilemmas for the US who was trying to negotiate a peace with the super-power that they picked a fight with.
Token
24 Jun 12 at 10:17 pm