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Roleplaying in the Great White North |
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Language
Founded by both the British and the French, Canada has both English and French as its official languages. Officially, I could go anywhere in the country, and demand service from a government institution in either language, and expect to be served in it. This is how it's supposed to be, and while in many places it is so, the quality is sometimes questionable. The point of this is: not everyone in Canada speaks both languages (though a growing number do). Also, the English that is spoken in Canada is somewhat different from that spoken in the US or the UK. I've run across many Americans who have singled me out as "not being one of them" whenever I spoke with them, just as I encountered people in the UK who knew I was not British, but did not sound American, either. Though there are differences in the various dialects of Canadian English (with the type spoken in Newfoundland being the most archaic), there are some rough similarities. We do say "eh", for example (but not in every sentence). Likewise, our vowel pronunciation is slightly different, though it sounds perfectly normal to me ;-). As I mentioned earlier, we are not a nation of genteel frontiersmen. The "language of the gutter" is just as vibrant here as anywhere. You're liable to hear such epithets as "You little shit!", "You bastard!", "Fuck off!", "Fuckhead", "Fucknuts", "Skanky bitch", "Shithead", "Asshole", and others. Less obscene names include "quad" (about the same as being called a wanker), "loser", and "dickhead". Generally, you're just as likely to hear this sort of thing in the cities as in the countryside. As a final note, most Canadians (hearkening back to the not-long-departed days when Canada was still a dominion of England) use the British spelling conventions. The majority of us write "colour", "theatre", "plough", and so on. We also say "zed", instead of "zee", when pronouncing the last letter of the alphabet. Aboriginals For the longest time, the dominant impression of native North Americans (ie: Indians) on both sides of the pond was one of "noble savages" who lived in primitive conditions and ran with the wild animals. Needless to say, this is no longer the case. Although most aboriginals in Canada live on reservations (relatively small patches of land reserved for their own use), their lifestyle is pretty much a same as anywhere else in the Western world. Quite a few have satellite television systems, fair-sized homes, personal vehicles, and the like. Many of them continue their cultural traditions on the side, and some display them in a theatric manner to attract tourists (and the money they carry - hey, everyone has to make a living somehow). A large portion of the native population does live in rather shabby conditions, due to a combination of societal, economic, and institutional factors (which I won't discuss here) - and as a result many reservations have high suicide rates and other symptoms of social malaise. The end point of this is to say that any aboriginals your players happen to meet will likely not stick out like a sore thumb, and if they happen to pass through a reservation, they could see anything from prosperity to the worst examples of societal breakdown. Other Things This last section contains various snippets and blurbs that do not really fit anywhere else in this article, but which, for one reason or another, I feel ought to be included to provide readers with a better picture of what Canada is like.  Canada uses the metric
system, unlike the UK or the US. A lot of
people seem to assume that, because we are next door to the US, we do
everything they do; this simply is not the case. We went metric just over
20 years ago.
Canada is not a republic; it is a
constitutional monarchy, with a
parliamentary system of government. According to our own written
constitution (an idea borrowed from the Americans, but endorsed by Queen
Victoria when Canada obtained its independence in 1867), the current
monarch of the UK is recognised as "King (or Queen) of Canada"; right now,
good Queen Elizabeth's face beams from our coins. Interestingly enough,
there is no official mention made of our Prime Minister in the
constitution. One of the major differences between the Canadian and the
British systems of government is that we have a non-elected Senate instead
of a House of Lords (but when it all boils down, it's basically the same
thing).
Canada, as a federal state,
has much of its power given to the
provinces. In other words, in order for the national government to do
anything - unless it is operating in a sphere purely under its own
jurisdiction (such as foreign relations) - it pretty much has to go to the
provincial governments to secure co-operation. This isn't always a pretty
sight, I assure you. As a result, regional interests in Canada are quite
strong.
Guns are not very widespread
in Canada. Although our firearms
regulations (from what I know of them) are not quite as comprehensive as
those in the UK, they certainly are stricter than those in the US. It is
very difficult in Canada to obtain them (from my limited experience), and
citizens are pretty much limited to rifles, shotguns, or pistols. Assault
rifles, submachine-guns, and the like are prohibited. Even so, the average
citizen will arouse the attention of the authorities if he/she asks for a
gun license - the process entails background checks, mandatory safety
courses, and the like. Many of us like to think that the relative
difficulty in obtaining firearms is one factor contributing towards the
higher levels of safety in our cities relative to other countries. One
thing I can assert is that in Canada we do not have a fascination with
guns; they are seen by most people as instruments of death, nothing more.
That concludes this relatively brief overview of Canada. Hope you all found it useful, for whenever your players go through our neck of the woods. |
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Copyright � 1999 Geoff Gander |
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