Video Transcript – USA and Canada: People and Culture Video

Video Transcript – USA and Canada: People and Culture Video

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Transcribed by YouTube Transcription for www.Miacademy.co

Brian [0:00]
Hey everyone, I’m Brian and today let’s talk about the people and culture of the U.S. and Canada. The people of the U.S. and Canada are first of all pretty numerous, more than 320 million live in the U.S. and more than 38 million in Canada. More importantly, the people who live in the U.S. and Canada are remarkably diverse from their cultural origins, ideas about themselves and others, to their shared collective future. As North Americans have roots from all over the globe, geographers love to explore how these diverse groups of people came together to forge the collective culture, government, and economic systems they have today. To explore those ideas, we’ll apply the geographical theme of
movement and ask ourselves three fundamental questions. How did all these different people get here in the first place and who are they? 2, what are their similarities and differences in the governments of the U.S. and Canada? And 3, how do these countries use their resources to stimulate their economies? So join me and let’s dig in and find out.

[1:18]
So the people of the U.S. and Canada are numerous and diverse, and later on we’ll take a look at just how diverse. But how did all those different people get to North America in the first place? Scholars studying migration patterns and physical evidence left behind by early cultures tend to conclude that the first Americans traveled to North America from Asia during the last ice age over a snow-covered grassland dubbed Beringia which lay between what is now Russia and Alaska. You can see a demonstration of the changing coastline in this area in the animation on the slide. Those people and their descendants then spread across North America and down into Central and South America, establishing cities, developing distinct languages and culture traits, and in many cases flourishing. Among the best known indigenous peoples of the Americas are the Inca, the Aztec, and the Sioux, but everything changed for our original inhabitants in 1492. That of course is the year when Christopher Columbus reached what is now called North America while crossing the Atlantic in search of a new sea route from Europe to Asia. While he failed to find that route, his subsequent return to Spain and erroneous reports of encountering Los Indios, Spanish for Indians, meaning people of the land of India, guaranteed that more explorers would make the journey. And make the journey they did!

[2:44]
The 1500s proved to be an age of conquest for European explorers, particularly the Spanish. The term conquistadore, or conqueror, proved apt as Spain claimed much of the land in North and South America in search of gold and other treasures. Mighty civilizations such as the Aztec were defeated easily and only partly thanks to gunpowder and other weaponry.

[3:10]
Diseases like smallpox carried from Europe by explorers and their crews proved deadly to the native people who had not acquired immunity. Some historians estimate that as many as 95% of the native people who came into contact with smallpox died. Many others were forced into slavery by conquistadores, suffered poor living conditions from being overworked and undernourished, and fared no better than those with a disease. The term genocide, meaning the intentional mass extermination of a group of people, is often applied to this event as so many of the indigenous people died that their heritage and culture was in many cases lost forever.

[3:51]
Throughout the 1500s and early 1600s, European settlement continued throughout both North and South America generally with little regard for the welfare of native peoples. New arrivals from England, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and France carved out settlements such as Saint Augustine, Florida, Jamestown, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts and many, many other smaller villages across both continents. Soon Europeans began bringing in another cultural group to the Americas, black slaves from Africa who were made to work on large tobacco, cotton, and sugar farms. While denied their freedom, enslaved Africans brought to the Americas their own cultural traits often practiced and passed down to younger generations in secrecy. Finally, both the U.S. and Canada have been sites for mass migrations from other nations. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s those immigrants came to North America mostly from Europe, although millions of Asians have also made their way to both nations at different times. With those European and Asian immigrants followed cultural traits such as language, religion, and food.

[5:05]
In the late 1900s into the 2000s the immigrant movement came from a different direction, specifically south from Mexico and other Latin American nations and mostly to the U.S. The result of all these different migrations found in both Canada and the U.S. is a diverse population with a blend of races, religion, languages, and other cultural characteristics not often found in other countries of the world.

[5:33]
Part 2. Who lives in the U.S. and Canada? So these two countries are diverse, sure, but how exactly does that break down? Let’s demonstrate with some basic demographic information between the populations of the two nations. Shall we? As of 2020 the U.S. with some 328 million people is the third largest country in the world. Canada with 38 million is significantly smaller. The majority of both populations are European in ancestry and classified as white; however, the minority ratio in each country is increasing. The U.S. is almost 40% non-white with Hispanic, Latino, and Black African Americans comprising most of that percentage. Meanwhile, the largest minorities in Canada include South Asian, Chinese, Black and Aboriginal Natives. These combine for a non-white population of just over 22%.

[6:30]
Canada has two official languages while the U.S. has none, but each includes a population base in which 78% of its people speak primarily English. The secondary language in Canada is French while in the U.S. it’s Spanish. The average life expectancy in Canada is actually higher than in the U.S. Men in Canada can expect to live about 79 years, three years longer than their American counterparts. The difference is about the same for women as a woman in Canada can expect to live almost 85 years compared to just over 81 for American women. Does it make you wonder why many Americans are dying at an earlier age?

[7:12]
Christianity is dominant in both nations as the religion of choice. 76% of the respondents in the U.S. are Christian, either Catholic or of a Protestant faith, while about two-thirds of Canadians cite Christianity as their religious preference; however, both countries include adherence of many different phases as well. Finally with an annual wage of almost 66,000, American workers are the fourth highest paid in the world. Canadian workers at just over 53,000 are the 12th highest paid workers in the world.

[7:44]
Finally, let’s look at our population pyramids for each nation. The U.S. for example, includes a population that is especially abundant in individuals about 30 years old, likely due largely to immigration. Otherwise the graph shows that there aren’t as many men and women in their late 40s and early 50s as is otherwise consistent on the graphic. There is a surplus of males in their early 30s and younger and a surplus of women in their mid-50s and older. Keeping in mind the vast population difference between the two, the U.S. has well over four times the population of Canada, you can see many similarities between the two. Canada has a large population group in their mid to late 50s, otherwise the age distribution between the two nations is very similar.

[8:33]
Part 3. What are the similarities and differences between the government of the U.S. and Canada? As you’ve learned previously, one of the most fundamental cultural traits is that of social organization, or in essence who makes the rules, and what is the government structure for those rules? Unsurprisingly the United States and Canada have many similarities regarding their national governments, but there are just as many differences between the U.S. and its neighbor to the North. Let’s go through it briefly, shall we?

[9:07]
First of all, Canada is a constitutional monarchy. Translated that means that Canada is actually overseen by monarch, in this case Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Yes, you heard that correctly, a queen. The government structure of Canada is shared by multiple institutions, but each is acting under the authority of a sovereign ruler. Under the constitution act of 1867, government power in Canada is vested in the monarch who is considered the head of state. In practice, the role of the monarch is mostly ceremonial and authorities exercised on the advice of a cabinet minister. The prime minister of Canada as of 2021 is Justin Trudeau, first elected by the people in November 2015. Trudeau elected to his second term in 2019 has many of the same duties as the U.S. president, but unlike the American executive is subordinate to the queen. Canada also has the office of governor general a position appointed by the queen to carry on the government of Canada and conduct most of the queen’s constitutional and ceremonial duties. As of 2021, Mary Simon held that office.

[10:17]
Both countries also have three branches of government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The two governments have many characteristics in common, although some of the terminology can be quite, well, different. The official name of the Canadian legislature is the queen in parliament. Like the U.S. version, Canada’s legislature is bicameral, or two houses. The house of commons, similar to the us house of representatives, is elected by the people with 338 members selected by the citizens as opposed to 435 in the U.S. Unlike the U.S. house of representatives, the house of commons is actually the dominant branch of parliament as any spending bill must originate there. Moreover, the monarch and other law-making bodies rarely oppose the will of the house of commons, thus enforcing its stature as the dominant half of the Canadian legislature.

[11:12]
The other part of the Canadian legislative branch, same as the American version, is called the senate. In the U.S., The senate is considered the upper house of congress as members are elected by each state’s citizens for six years while U.S. representatives serve a two-year term. Not so up north. The 105 members of the Canadian senate are appointed by the monarch based on recommendations from the prime minister and may serve in parliament until age 75 at which point retirement is mandatory. While Washington DC is home of all three branches of the U.S. government, Ottawa, Ontario is the Canadian capital. There, the senate, house of commons, and supreme court meet in session to propose, approve, and rule on Canadian law.

[12:00]
As for political parties the U.S. is dominated by two: the republicans and the democrats. Likewise Canadian government has been largely controlled by two parties for decades. In the 2019 federal election, the liberals shown on the map in red won control of the house of commons and Trudeau earned a second term as prime minister, but the conservative party in dark blue maintained a strong share of its seats in the house. Those perennial powers are seeing new challenges; however ,the Bloc Quebecois in light blue has a strong base of followers in and around Montreal. The green party, appropriately in green, has a small but faithful voting base and the new democratic party has seen growth since its inception in the early 1960s.

[12:47]
Part 4. How do the U.S. and Canada use their resources to stimulate their economy? Both the U.S. and Canada benefit from the natural resources available to them. That should come as no surprise as both are huge! Canada with almost 4 million square miles of land is the second largest country in the world behind only Russia while the U.S. is fourth, with a close 3.9 million square miles. Each nation relies heavily on mining various ore, minerals, and fossil fuels in order to process those materials into other products as well as a variety of agricultural goods from their diverse farmlands. Canada is unusual among developed nations as primary economic activities such as logging still maintain high importance in the economy. Secondary economic activity such as heavy industry has declined in both nations, while both the U.S. and Canada continue to grow in tertiary and quaternary economic activity, industries in which three-fourths of the residents of both nations work.

[13:53]
The enormous areas and plentiful resources of each nation are only part of the story of economic strength. Based on shared histories of individualism, both Canada and the U.S. boast mixed economies resulting in their economic mindset of free enterprise, but with government policies and laws to protect consumers. Both nations benefit greatly from their economic partnership as trade between the two is important to each nation’s financial outlook. Almost three-quarters of all Canadian exports are sent to the U.S., while roughly 20% of U.S. exports are shipped to Canada. Meanwhile, more than half of all imports into Canada come directly from the U.S. meaning Canada’s economy is greatly dependent on this continuing relationship. With the economic benefits come similar problems. For example, Canada produces a huge amount of oil but not without issues. Much of the crude oil is extracted from sandy soil which creates more CO2 than other forms of oil. The debate regarding the proposed pipeline from Canadian oil fields to U.S. refineries is another such example of how both nations must weigh their reliance on non-renewable energy sources, with both economic and environmental concerns. Both are huge producers of resources to generate power and both are massive users of said resources; however, Canada exports the majority of its resources such as natural gas and other fossil fuels while much of what the U.S. produces is used in the U.S., and so matters of cleanup should and have been handled together.

[15:31]
So what does all that mean for the next century? Well, it’s hard to tell but it is highly likely that the futures of the U.S. and Canada will remain intertwined culturally, politically, and economically. Until next time, keep exploring!