Canada’s cultural diversity stems from itsmassive geography spanning 9.98 million km². It spans the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the 49th parallel to the High Arctic Archipelago. Its mass shapes and defines each one of us differently, depending on the area we live in or grew up in. Many are immigrants, most are the sons and daughters of those who came before us seeking a new and better life.
I consider myself among the final descendants of Prairie Dryander’s. My great-grandparents migrated from Ontario, having previously emigrated from Ireland, to settle in Asquith, Saskatchewan. They faced the challenging prairie landscape and harsh winters, establishing a farm that remains within our family today. Notably, my grandmother was born that same year in a sod house built from the very earth that had long lain dormant, now given a new purpose.
I was born in 1960 amid the rugged landscape of Alberta, during a period when both Alberta and Saskatchewan were predominantly rural provinces. Agriculture was the leading industry throughout the Prairies, as the petroleum sector had yet to achieve significant growth. The region featured thousands of small towns and villages that supported a thriving rural economy, which appeared poised for continued prosperity.
My uncles and aunts carried the marks of the harsh land — deep fissures in their skin from years of drought during the Depression, along with calloused hands from daily hard labour as they worked to build a better life for our family and the community.
My uncles spoke with sorrow about the hardships of the Depression, recalling how they travelled from town to town by hopping freight trains in search of work, even though jobs were scarce across the country.
For those who stayed behind on the farm, many were on relief and had to endure a cruel and demeaning means test to see if they were eligible, which part of which was a woman removing her clothing to see how many ribs or other bones would be clearly visible to prove need.
These were men and women who, like their eastern cousins,had their lives shaped and hardened into the prairie dust or the iron which came out of the northern Ontario mines.
When I was eight, my mother expressed a desire to travel across Canada, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, to observe the vastness of the country and experience the distinct cultural differences of its inhabitants. While our shared Canadian identity unified us, the country’s immense geography contributed to considerable diversity, resulting in particular social and cultural characteristics across different areas.
With the rapid advancement of technology, the divide between East and West is diminishing, resulting in the gradual convergence of previously distinct cultural differences.
Those years now exist only as distant memories, with once-thriving rural economies reduced to remnants among the prairies that originally sustained them. Today, what largely remains are deteriorating buildings that once provided shelter and security for their communities, along with the absence of the once towering grain elevators that formerly defined each location’s unique identity.
Throughout my life, I’ve had the privilege of residing in every region across the nation, from Vancouver Island’s western shores to Nova Scotia’s chilly ocean waves. My experiences have taken me from Toronto’s towering skyscrapers to Inuvik’s expansive Arctic landscapes.
No matter where I travel, I inevitably find myself returning to the drylands of my heritage, reflecting upon the harvest moon and recalling those individuals who established the foundations of my existence.
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