What place is closest to being a microcosm of Canada?
 

All the talk about the Ottawa suburb of Orleans has made me think that its population is the closest thing to a microcosm of Canada's population in a single location.

Consider this about Orleans:

Rougly 25% is francophone.

Between a fifth and a quarter are visible minorities.

Between a fifth and a quarter are immigrants.

All of the immigrant groups who traditionally congregate in Anglo-Canada (Asia, South Asia, Anglo-Caribbean, etc.) are well represented, as are the immigrant groups that are present in French Canada (Arab, Haitian, francophone Africa, etc.)

Older European origin immigrant groups are also represented (Italian, Greek, etc.)

About 5% of the population is aboriginal, with no particular nation or people standing out, it's more of a cross-section of people from across the country.

I've always thought Montreal was the closest thing to a perfect microcosm of what "traditional / southern " Canada is all about. For obvious demographic, historical and economic reasons.

I've always thought Fort McMurray would be a good example simply because there are Canadians from across Canada living and working there.

The National Capital Region.

Predominantly anglophone with a significant francophone minority. Mostly white, but you can see how Canada is slowly changing as a result of immigration - look at the number of shawarma places or how Vanier has changed in the past few decades.

Orderly and pleasant, but relatively bland. The city itself could be an analogy of most of the upsides of living in Canada with few of the downsides. Close to nature (Gatineau park, the Outaouais), but somehow removed from it at the same time.

Politically neither left or right wing. Has a strong centrist tendency.

Not preoccupied with pie-in-the-sky ideas. Pragmatism runs deep.

Moncton

- Roughly 2/3rds anglophone, 1/3rd francophone
- About 48% bilingual
- Crazy about hockey (go Wildcats go!!)
- Canadian football (AUS) played at Mount Allison (great game last night - Mounties lost 32-31 in OT to Bishops).
- More Tim Horton's per capita than anywhere else in Canada (38 for 150,000 people)
- The city actually owns a sugar bush and sells it's own maple syrup.
- Tonnes of snow in the winter.

'nuff said........

Moncton was on my short list for this too.

As was the broader Ottawa-Gatineau.

But for such a small place Orléans is really striking in how it mirrors Canada.

38 Tims in a city of 150,000? That is insanity!

Actually now that I think of it Cobourg has 4 at a population of 20,000, proportionally not too far behind.

Ontario is Canada. The rest of the provinces are, more or less, distinct regions that happen to be located in the country of Canada.

The traditional symbols of Canada are Quebec's, not Ontario's, though.

See how for example at the time Montreal's coat of arms was designed, the rose was the symbol for the English Montrealers, and the beaver was the symbol for the Canadiens. Same thing with the maple as the national tree. Nowadays, no one would say these symbols don't also represent Anglo-Canadians (and all other Canadians, regardless of origin), but that wasn't always the case.

I always thought the "Canada Belt" ran from somewhere in New Brunswick to somewhere in Southern Ontario. Saint John and Toronto are on the margins, while Fredericton and Ottawa are firmly within this region. All of the southern parts of Quebec are included.

This "drift" of where the real Canada is (and of its symbols) reminds me of the fight over the name Macedonia! :haha:

I believe JHikka's post was made tongue in cheek and sarcastically, given the center of the universe stereotypes. That said, the symbols you allude to are really a superficial part of the Canadian experience in most of Canada and wouldn't alter anyone's way of life should the beaver be replaced with the grey wolf and the maple leaf with the trillium flower. Kind of like how Australia peddles Aboriginee symbols when Abo culture has next to no relevance to the modern Australian cultural experience in most of that country. The old First Nations and Quebec symbols exist because Canadians don't seem to be in a hurry to bury historical precedents. Just look at the Ontario and Manitoba flags, outside the Niagara region, how many people in this 14 million+ province get teary eyed at the Union Jack and Trillium? Even the Federal flag, people respect it because it is the existing chosen symbol of our way of life, our families (that live here) and social programs. Our flag could be that of a green donkey in a tootoo and people would still show it respect.

I don't dispute that a lot of people feel that way but it sounds more like a business or contractual arrangement than a country or a nation.

Why would those in Niagara region get teary eyed about the Union Jack and Trillium?

I'd say Moncton except it's a little too homogenous. It's very 'white'.

That's changed quite a bit in recent years.

Yes and no.

Some of it was sarcastic, of course - Ontario being the end-all, be-all for many regarding Canadian culture. Going to the cottage in the summer, playing hockey in the winter, etc. Media, entertainment, whatever else. I joke that, coming from the Maritimes, I sometimes feel like a temporary foreign worker in Ontario at times. It's tongue-in-cheek, obviously, but I don't think it's too far from the truth.

Maybe i'm just stubborn because Canada doesn't, and never will, fall neatly into some sort of nation-state definition, but for the longest time i've always felt as if the Maritimes were my Canada and all the rest of Canada was inherently different. The Maritimes fit that definition much better than the country as a whole does, as does Newfoundland, Quebec, and to a lesser extent the western provinces. We can probably conjure up some things that we can find regardless of where we live in Canada (Tim Hortons, hockey, arenas with Rogers or Scotiabank sponsorship) but beyond that, ethnically, culturally, linguistically...much of Canada is vastly different from its other parts.

The way that I look at this thread is: If a tourist from some far away country visited Canada for a week and could only go to one place, what place would best represent the country as a whole? I don't really have an answer to that question. Visiting Montreal is neat but the rest of the country isn't exactly like it. Same with Toronto, Vancouver, St. John's, or any other place. It's tremendously difficult to try and pin down what a Canadian microcosm really is. For some people it's Muskoka cottage country in July, for others it's Whistler in January.

Much of this thread is focusing on the linguistics of Canada which I think is a bit of a far reach. There are things in this country far more important than that to focus on.

How is this thread focused on linguistics?

Have you driven around the Niagara region lately? :P

I've seen more Union Jacks there than I ever did in London. Granted they were on the old Canadian flag (red ensign), which is more prevalent than the red and white maple leaf variety. Particularly in the area around Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Do you get teary eyed, goosebumps, and develop an urge to fight for your motherland every time you look at a particular flag? Whether it's the Maple Leaf flag or Quebec fleur de lils flag? I consider myself a loyal and proud Canadian but it's the lifestyle, the people and land which inspires me, not the flag, a particular nomenclature, or beavers or maple bloody syrup.