In a surprising development, I’ve recently learned my Grandfather was Canadian. The family lore was that because he was born in Portland, Oregon, he was the only member of his family that was allowed into the US during the Great Depression, while his brothers and sisters and parents were all struggling to get by in rural Saskatchewan. He went on to become a Captain in the Merchant Marines, eventually bringing his family to the US for more opportunities.
And that’s all true, but while he was American by birth, he was also a Naturalized British Subject by virtue of his Father (my Great-Grandfather) homesteading near Moosejaw near the turn of the century and renouncing his US citizenship to be granted what were then known as “Dominion Lands” under British rule. Canada was not yet its own country, and wouldn’t be until December of 1931.
But between the 1931 Census and the legislative independence ruling in British Parliament, my Grandpa left the only life he’d ever known on the Saskatchewan prarie and went to make a name for himself in America. He succeeded, and as near as I can tell he never visited Canada again. He worked up through the ranks during WWII, traveled the world, and by the time he retired he was known as the Captain of the “Moth Ball Fleet” (US reserve fleet) in Vallejo, California. Being of a generation that didn’t talk much about how things were in the war or growing up poor, he didn’t. He died when I was just 3-months old. I was the only grandchild he ever met, and I wish I had the chance to meet him.
Turns out, there were quite a lot of Canadians hiding out in my familily tree that I never knew about. I didn’t know there were any white people in Quebec in the 1500s, but it turns out there were, and according to my research, I’m a direct descendent. It’s really something to trace your ancestry back to the time of Columbus, so I’ve been doing that. Not just for the opportunities it may present my living relatives and myself, but for a sense of place in this time we’re in today.
You think it’s crazy in the world now? Yeah, go read some history. That shit’s cray-cray fer realz! It didn’t just happen to people who we don’t know, it happened to the people that got together and made us.