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Friendship in Canada
Friendship in Canada means so many different things, largely depending on where you
are. It is, after all, a very large country. With so many cultures (maybe all of them!)
represented here, and with many distinct cultural regions within our geography, it is
truly a land of friendship diversity.
On Canada's Eastern shores, in rural fishing villages - my origins - friendship means
getting on the "A-List" for favors. It means having a second Mom who inherits
disciplinary rights and chocolate chip cookie supply responsibilities from your birth
mother - her "neighbor", who may live 10 miles away - at the first occurrence of
a sleep-over or hose-down from a mud-pie slinging contest. Friendship means picking up a
hammer for the duration of your visit, or enduring a boring conversation with a child or
grandparent, accepting that you have been one, and are likely to become the other.
In the French regions of Eastern Canada, friendship means you don't date your friend's
sibling. You don't date your friend's ex, and you certainly mustn't date your ex's
friends. You're indebted to your grandparents for life, and you eat boiled cabbage if they
say so. You might be falling down under the weight of the drink but you slug another if
you owe a round. A friend is as likely to break your nose as he is to nurse your wounds -
depending on your need at the time. A friend of a friend is a friend of yours - no
questions asked. A falling out between friends has the drama of divorce and its
devastation. Friends of your parents give birth to your friends for life, and you'd better
agree. If you lose track of your friends, simply consult your parents, who'll consult
their friends, and you're in touch again in no time!
Friendship in the corporate center of Canada is different yet again. It means you
cancel a meeting with a client to console a friend who is stressed-out from a meeting with
a client. It means you fork out money for season tickets, write them off for taxation with
the sole intention of supplying an I-have-a-friend-with-corporate-seasons-tickets
privilege to your friends who will, in turn, become popular with their sports fan friends.
Friendship in corporate Canada is like friendship in many large cities - only your friends
know you can't afford your BMW, nor another evening alone in a crowd.
In Western Canada, where cities are young and rural communities shrink, friendship is
confusing. Most of your friends grew up in small towns before moving to the city.
Friendship is something you remember as different when you were young. Friendship means
your respective definitions of friendship are similar, or else naturally symbiotic.
Friendship is what you make it in Western Canada, where optimism and energy are in the
drinking water and history - family, cultural or otherwise - is rare. Friendship in the
West is earned like the Rocky Mountain peaks you might summit together - the climb is
difficult; the view, spectacular; the experience, enduring.
Friendship in Canada is a symposium of character, care and culture...
I kinda like it!
- David Ross
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
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