While the mounting trade war with the U.S. hurts Canadians, so does the damaged relationship with our neighbours to the south. Many Canadians are feeling betrayed.
This is a transcript from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s speech on February 1st, 2025.
” As President John F. Kennedy said many years ago, geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends, economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies.
That rang true for many decades prior to President Kennedy’s time in office, and in the decades since, from the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours during the Iranian hostage crisis. Those 444 days, we worked around the clock from our embassy to get your innocent compatriots home.
During the summer of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged your great city of New Orleans, or mere weeks ago when we sent water bombers to tackle the wildfires in California. During the day, the world stood still, Sept. 11, 2001, when we provided refuge to stranded passengers and planes. We were always there, standing with you, grieving with you. The American people.
Together, we’ve built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen. A relationship that has been the envy of the world.
Yes, we’ve had our differences in the past, but we’ve always found a way to get past them. As I’ve said before, if President Trump wants to usher in a new golden age for the United States, the better path is to partner with Canada, not to punish us.”
Our friend, Craig Baird, of Canadian History Ehx, posted an amazing series of photographs to social media documenting the relationship between our countries. This is so bittersweet.
- Canadian soldiers with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry talk with American soldiers from the Second US Armored Division in France on Aug. 27, 1944. Photo Courtesy: LAC 3397189
- Canada’s Abby Hoffman with Americans Doris Brown and Madeline Manning at the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg. Photo Courtesy: LAC 4814173
- Canadian welder James O. Lambert shakes hands with American Jean Lilly as the two ends of a Canada-U.S.A. oil pipeline are brought together. Photo Courtesy: LAC 3195989
- Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife Mila, sing with President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy at the “Shamrock Summit” in March 1985. Photo Courtesy: CBC
- An American parade float at the Alberta Provincial Exhibition Parade in Calgary in 1909. Photo Courtesy: Glenbow Archives CU1116682
- Canadian Vickers shipyard workers greet American sailors during the launch of the U.S.S. Danville. Photo Courtesy: LAC 3626747
- Prime Minister John Diefenbaker sitting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the House of Commons in July 1958. Photo Courtesy: LAC 3626747
- Americans showing their appreciation to Canada for sheltering and rescuing American diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis in 1980. Photo Courtesy: United States State Department
- President Lyndon Johnson attends USA Day at Expo 67 in Montreal in 1967. Photo Courtesy: LAC 4947933
- Over 100 longshoremen and harbour office workers in Toronto attend a mass on Nov. 25, 1963 to honour President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated days earlier. Photo Courtesy: Eddy Roworth
- American Dolores La Chapelle, Sylvia Lash of British Columbia, and R. Sarka Spinkova of Toronto before a climb in British Columbia in the 1950s. Photo Courtesy: LAC 4311513
- Pierrette Fontaine of Canada shakes hands with Steve Keysas of the United States across the international border in 1957. Photo Courtesy: LAC 4951599
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt shakes hands with Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King on Aug. 18, 1938. Photo Courtesy: LAC 3362235
- J. Kostelec of Calgary and Lieut. H.C. Wilson of Olympia, WA resting on the steps of the Force’s Clearing Station, near Venafro, Italy, in January 1944. LAC 3397560
- A group of Canadian and American children play hockey together in the winter of 1957-58. Photo Courtesy: LAC 4951598
- Residents of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador help stranded Americans following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Photo Courtesy: Cincinnati Enquirer
- Astronaut James Lovell as the Grand Marshal of the Calgary Stampede Parade in 1970, only three months after the Apollo 13 mission. Photo Courtesy: Glenbow CU1124288
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police and United States Border Patrol stand beside the Centennial Cairn erected on the border in southern Alberta in 1967. Photo Courtesy: Glenbow CU1117940
- The Peace Arch at the western-most point along the Canada-USA border between Blaine, Washington and White Rock, British Columbia. Photo Courtesy:
Thank you to Craig Baird for this amazing series. He does a lot to celebrate Canadian history. You can support his work with a donation at http://buymeacoffee.com/craigu.
