20th April 2010, 7:35 PM
alien space marine Wrote:Canada was threatened , German submarines were sinking ships in our harbor to stop relief aid to Britain, At that time a declaration of war on Britain was a declaration of war on all of its dominions around the globe.
The Canada vs America thing is silly , It might provide amusement but its holly inappropriate to belittle any of the young men in uniform who gave everything in ww2.
Maybe, I'm not sure - in WWI that was definitely the case, but in WWII I believe Canada exercised a bit more autonomy in deciding whether or not to declare war. But yeah, as Ryan said, Canada gave a lot in WWII. It definitely wasn't "tokenism" as any Canadian high school social studies textbook will tell you. They were an incredibly brave and feared force in the war and in fact Canada accomplished many great things during that time, including the liberation of the Netherlands and being of integral help to the Manhattan Project (well, maybe that's not such a great thing). It's a period of history that is a source of immense pride in this country. The folk-stories of heroism and bravery when speaking of Canadian and American soldiers from a micro level, I've noticed (my grandpa was a US Marine in Korea and his brothers fought in the Pacific Theatre), are basically identical and premised the same. The Canadians, as the story goes, answered the call of duty for the sake of their country, freedom, and democracy. They were incredibly brave, leaving their homes and families to fight abroad for a cause that was bigger than them. There was much hardship and sorrow, with some of them never returning and causing much heartbreak to their loved ones at home, but in the end they were all regarded as national heroes and victors. How can you not respect that?
Of course, it was also the cause of much internal strife in this country between French and English Canada, resulted in the internment of tens of thousands of Japanese-Canadians, and was illustrative of an incredible act of anti-semitism when asylum was refused for a ship containing 900 Jews on the SS St. Louis, the vast majority of which died in concentration camps upon returning to Europe. But Canadian WWII folkore, as is the case with American folklore, doesn't include these decidely non-heroic acts in its contruction.