[lrt's friend]

I always wondered about a former co-worker. And the subject came up this past summer when I spoke to his wife, also a former American. Although, he technically was not a draft dodger, as they immigrated to Canada before he got his draft notice, he effectively was. The story of draft dodgers was well known to the Canadian public at the time, and because Canada was not supportive of the Vietnam war, Canadian policy was very supportive of them as they entered the country.

I should also point out that immigration across Canadian-American border has become much tighter only in recent years. I know of a number of relatives who simply crossed the border to seek employment. Some later returned to Canada, while others remained for the rest of their lives. America was the land of opportunity even for Canadians until around the time of the race riots in 1967. That changed everything.

As a child in the 1960s, it was very apparent that Canadians were poor cousins of Americans. There was a change that occurred around the time of race riots that corresponded with Centennial year and Canadians started developing more pride in their country and began establishing a significantly different course than Americans. Up until that time during the post war era, Canada was very much like the United States except poorer.