- Canadian-American
A Canadian-American is a person living in the
United States who was born in, raised in, or possesses ancestral ties toCanada . The term is particularly apt when applied or self-applied to people with strong ties to Canada, such as those who have lived a significant portion of their lives in, or were educated in, Canada, and then immigrated to the United States. [ [http://www.canamclubofboston.com/ http://www.canamclubofboston.com] ] [ [http://www.crossborder.com/canam/cshome.html/ http://www.crossborder.com/canam/cshome.html] ] [ [http://www.canada-americasociety.org/ http://www.canada-americasociety.org] ]Canadian-American is a term that is rarely used by Canadians within the US to refer to themselves because Canadians do not hyphenate themselves; however, it is increasingly used in demographic study and in media references.
=Canadian-Americans and U.S. nationality law=The term "Canadian-American" may or may not describe a
naturalized United States citizen , depending on the individual's personal preference. For example, a prominent Canadian-American,Peter Jennings , declined to be naturalized until late in his life, having resided for many years in the United States. [ [http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=95/ http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=95] ] [ [http://migrations.wordpress.com/2005/08/ http://migrations.wordpress.com/2005/08] ] Particularly owing to Canada's proximity and affinity to the United States, and the more commonplace transitioning of individuals to reside on either side of theCanada-United States border [ [http://www.gonorthwest.com/Visitor/planning/border/border.htm/ http://www.gonorthwest.com/Visitor/planning/border/border.htm] ] , occasionally a Canadian-American who is born in Canada and who is accorded United States citizenship through the "jus sanguinis " need not be naturalized but need only assert his or her United States citizenship (this is not exclusive to Canadian-Americans, as such can be true of the children of U.S. citizens born anywhere in theworld ).Canadian-Americans as a
subculture Since the term
Canadian itself refers to anationality rather than anethnicity , the term cannot be considered anethnonym . Canadian-Americans, as a group, desire to and do integrate and assimilate into American culture and society to a great extent; this is a result of the great similarities between Americans and Canadians culturally. A Canadian-American, even when asked by an American of similar ethnicity what city of town he or she is "from", in citing one that is not in the U.S., distinguishes himself or herself. The resulting lack of the assumption of "sameness of national origin" gives rise to the resultant visceral feeling among Canadian-Americans as to the self-identity of the group.As some French-Canadians number among those whose self-identity in the United States is Canadian-American, it should be noted that in
Canadian French , the term for Canadian-American translates to “Canado-Américain”. And, to be sure, the accent with which residents ofStanstead, Quebec speakCanadian French is markedly different from that with which the residents ofDerby Line, Vermont speak American English.Fact|date=March 2007English-Canadian Americans
The identity and experiences of Canadian-Americans in the U.S. are considered by some to be quite divergent. Some believe that
white ,English-speaking Canadian-Americans can choose to assimilate to mainstream American culture quickly, because some believe that these Canadian-Americans can often "pass", or be perceived by others as, a native-born white American. The likelihood that this is true, given that a Canadian-American must distinguish himself or herself from other Americans by recounting his city or town of origin as being one outside the U.S., is cast into doubt , although often enough Canadians are recognized by quirks in their pronunciation of American English.Additionally, U.S. Constitutional law distinguishes between native-born American citizens and naturalized U.S. citizens in qualifying persons under it for the presidency or vice presidency. For example, the Canadian-American Governor of the
U.S. state ofMichigan ,Jennifer Granholm , cannot reasonably seek election to the office ofPresident of the United States because, constitutionally, she is disqualified from holding that office, because the "most American" a Canadian-American could ever be, by definition, is one holding the legal status of being a naturalized U.S. citizen.French-Canadian Americans
The experiences of French-Canadian Canadian-Americans are believed by some to resemble that of "white ethnics" in the U.S.Fact|date=March 2007
Canadian-Americans of African origin
Some believe that
Black Canadians may or may not choose to identify withBlack American culture--but some believe that notwithstanding this, they will inevitably be affected by what some consider to be "U.S. race politics".Fact|date=March 2007Aboriginal Canadian-Americans
Aboriginal peoples in Canada may identify strongly with the tribal ancestry over and above any nation-state-derived identities. As a consequence of Article 3 ofJay Treaty of 1794, official First Nations status, or in the US Native American status, also confers the right to live and work on either side of the border. [ [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/lwsch/journals/bciclr/24_2/04_TXT.htm NATIVE AMERICAN FREE PASSAGE RIGHTS UNDER THE 1794 JAY TREATY: SURVIVAL UNDER UNITED STATES STATUTORY LAW AND CANADIAN COMMON LAW ] ]‘Re-emigrating’ Canadian-Americans
Some believe that recent
immigrants to Canada fromnation s such asChina andIndia may also choose to again emigrate to the U.S. in search of better employment ("economic migrants"), and in that case, some believe that their experiences are more similar to recent Chinese and Indian immigrants to the U.S. than to that of "old-stock" Canadians.Study
There are some institutions in the United States that focus on Canadian-American studies such as the Canadian-American Center in Maine [ [http://www.umaine.edu/canam/ canadian studies, Canadian-American Center, center for Canadian studies, center for canadian studies, Canadian studies, center for canadian studies, canadian studies, Canadian studies ] ] or the Center for Canadian American studies in Washington. [ [http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~canam/ Canadian American Studies at WWU ] ] .
References
ee also
*American-Canadians
*Hyphenated American Further reading
*Jeffrey Simpson, "Star-Spangled Canadians: Canadians Living the American Dream".
External links
* [http://www.connect2canada.com/ Connect2Canada.com]
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