Joshua Jackson gives long list of why he is proud to be Canadian: “I think it’s good we are a kind and polite people”

Tensions have been running high between Canada and the United States since Donald Trump became the 47th US president. He has repeatedly called America’s neighbor to the north the 51st US state, even calling former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ‘governor’.

Trump has said that he would use “economic force” to make Canada join the Union. Part of that has been slapping heavy tariffs on Canada. This has led to Canadians booing the US national anthem at sporting events and the “Hands Off” and other anti-Trump protests taking place in cities across Canada.

Joshua Jackson, who is a dual US-Canadian citizen, was recently asked why he is proud to be a Canadian. The actor, who was launched to fame by the wildly popular teen primetime soap opera ‘Dawson Creek’, gave a lengthy response.

“I am perpetually proud of being Canadian”

Jackson started off by saying that he is “perpetually proud of being Canadian” before rattling off a long list. “For all of the things that Americans like to make fun of us for, I think are positives,” he said.

“I think it’s good that we are a kind and polite people,” he began. He then mentioned Canada’s socialized medicine because “we think it is important to take care of our neighbors,” and “that it’s good that we have decent public education for our children.”

He then spoke about how Canadians “think about the health of our air and water and preservation of our natural resources,” just one of the many types of policies that Trump is trying to roll back in the United States.

As for immigration, “our country is better for having waves of immigrants,” he said. He takes pride that in Canada immigrants aren’t expected to become solely Canadian upon immigrating but that they “can be wherever they are from and also Canadian at the same time. Those two things are not mutually exclusive,” he explained.

He also thinks that it’s a good thing that Canadians try to be good citizens in the world by admitting when they are wrong. As well, he is proud that the nation doesn’t turn a blind eye to “the sins of our own past” but looks them straight in the eye “and try to make redress.” He gave the example of the First Nations, “which we are still in the process of trying to do properly,” he shared.

“These are good things and these make me proud to be Canadian. And these make me proud to be a citizen of the nation even if I don’t live there all the time,” he concluded.

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