Northern Enigma: American Images of Canada

Abstract

The crashing of planes into World Trade Center in New York City and Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, altered instantly thinking about itself and other states in world. Gone was view that United States was shielded from foreign incursions and problems. The tragic events of September 11 punctured America's sense of invulnerability (Daalder and Lindsay 2005, 77). This article examines emergence of new image of as security threat United States in aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks. It then argues that this new image, challenging traditional image of as friendly, benign neighbor, has significant policy implications for Canada, particularly in terms of making of policy in United States. For most part, is country that excites little interest in United States. That is often overlooked by is not recent phenomenon but rather is longstanding characteristic of relationship between these countries. In 1920, upon taking up his as staff writer for Toronto Star, Ernest Hemingway wrote of opinions and views of [the] American concerning Canada. This average American, Hemingway noted, had a vague idea of Canada (Hemingway 1985a). Twenty-seven years later, Leslie Chance, then head of Canadian Consular Division of External Affairs, in letter then Under Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester Pearson concerning opening of consulates in United States, noted that foremost task of new consulates was to lift Canadian image from its humiliating position in U.S. (Page 1977, 62). Dean Acheson, former U.S. secretary of state, in his 1969 review of bilateral relationship, wrote that Americans take for granted (Acheson 1969, 134). Similarly, in 1981, former Canadian diplomat John Holmes wrote of one persistent problem for being that the US forgets about us (Holmes 1981, 73). Later, in 2003, John Herd Thompson, professor of Canadian Studies at Duke University, in his review of Canada-U.S. relations over 1994-2003 period, wrote that Americans don't know or care much about Canada (Thompson 2003, 17). This was followed by Derek Burney, Canadian ambassador U.S. from 1989-2003, who noted that very few spend much time concerning themselves with Canada (Burney 2005, 48). Finally, David Leal, associate professor of government at University of Texas, titled his lead article for symposium on in October 2006 issue of PS: Political Science and Politics, Canada: The Unknown Country. In article, Leal wrote, I have noticed that asking scholars care about Canadian politics is like asking them get physical or eat more vegetables. Everyone agrees these are probably good ideas, but there is often certain reluctance comply. Leal continued: If you want someone look at you quizzically, just say 'I've become interested in lately' (Leal 2006, 813). Part of reason for this lack of interest in is due lack of coverage of in media (Belch 2004; Flournoy et al. 1992; Husselbee and Stempel 1997). Unlike Canada, where most Canadians live within narrow band stretching along border, only about 5 percent of live close enough Canadian border pick up Canadian radio or television broadcasts (DePalma 2001, 11). Americans, then, rely on domestic media sources for information concerning Canada. In his examination of news media in Canada-U.S. relationship, Brian Buckley noted that there has been scant coverage of by media and that serious studies of US media portrayals of and Canadian issues are rare (Buckley 2003, 94). For print media, recent study of six newspapers by Chris Belch found that overall coverage of was particularly limited. …