The Church in Canada prospered and relations between the French and Indians were very friendly, much more so than in Protestant New England and even Catholic New Spain. In 1759, during the Seven Years War, after the famous but fatal victory of General Wolfe, New France was conquered by the British and ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Catholics had good cause to worry, but with the Quebec Act of 1774 Britain's King George III granted tolerance toward the Catholics of Canada. Although most would hate to admit it, given the subsequent history of France, it was probably for the best that Britain conquered New France and saved them from the effects of the French Revolution, or possibly even sale to the United States along with Louisianna by Napoleon.
Canada, America's great northern neighbor with a slight identity crisis, is often identified by the United States in terms of the long history of peace across the vast U.S.-Canadian border. It makes sense that America would want to emphasize our peaceful relations with Canada since in the past, when relations were not so friendly, is was due to American aggression and the subsequent embarassment of the United States launching two failed invasions of Canada, once in the American War for Independence, and once during the War of 1812. Were it not for the tenacity of Sir Guy Carleton, Canada would have become the "14th Colony" of the American Revolution, and likewise in the War of 1812, only the great skill and courage of the relative handful of men under Sir Isaac Brock saved Canada from becoming an American territory. Naturally, the U.S. would rather forget two such aggressive failures.
Canada and the American Revolution are very important to each other. It was the granting of religious tolerance to Canadian Catholics by King George III which prompted, in part, the desire of the American colonists to revolt. French Canada may have been well disposed to the revolutionaries, but any good will was lost by the conduct of the Continental soldiers in Canada. Furthermore, after the war, Canada was a great refuge for the 40,000+ exiled American loyalists who relocated to Canada when Britain recognized U.S. independence. These new settlers or "United Empire Loyalists" saw in Canada all of the benefits they had enjoyed in the 13 colonies, with all of the freedoms (in fact even moreso than in Britain for Catholic loyalists) as well as the added bonus of not being attacked and persecuted for their loyalty to the British Crown and mother country.
The fact that Canada seemed to so many to be the ideal colony makes it all the more ironic that modern Canadian liberals have been pushing a concerted campaign of paranoia against Great Britain. To this Texan, it seems an absolutely absurd attampt and blatant bait & switch tactics that used-car salesmen have been using for years. In order to take attention off of their own power-grabbing, the liberal politicians try and make an issue where none exists. In order to change the system so that, not only the positions of power, but the positions of highest honor go to themselves, they are trying to make Canadians ashamed of their own history and ancestry. The result is that liberals purposely cause hard feelings in Canada against the country whose ancestors are the same ancestors as the Canadians, the country whose soldiers defended Canada from the Americans in 1775 and 1812, which willingly granted full Canadian independence with the British North America Act and Statute of Westminster, and the country whose soldiers fought side by side with the Canadians on battlefields throughout World Wars I and II.
The degeneration of almost the entire English-speaking world into a fussy mass of self-hating liberals is a problem everywhere, however, what makes it even more ironic for Canada is the equally strong anti-American sentiment being pushed at the same time, even by those who want Canada to follow the American example and replace the monarchy with a republic. The same people who hate the United States, want to effectively make Canada America's 51st state. Canada has already, and always at the pressing of the liberals, become quite a bit like the United States, trying to become a multi-cultural "melting pot", constantly removing all reminders of their British ancestry, such as the royal anthem, the Canadian Red Ensign and any reference to the fact that Canada is a monarchy. The only real difference I see is that Americans have far too much pride to ever even think of changing their flag or altering their form of government.
The Church in Canada today, as with the rest of the world, seems to have a lot of work to do. However, I would hope that Canadians have the good sense to retain their monarchy, which at least has Catholic roots and is based on sovereignty dei gratia rather than following the American example of installing a totally secular republic which is focused on man, rather than God. Although I am the only member of my family to have never had the pleasure of visiting our great northern neighbor, I am pleased to know it's there, and has always provided a haven for loyalists, Confederates and others dear to my heart when things got a little crazy down here with our American neighbors.
Coniuncti
