Aren’t you automatically married by common law in Canada after a certain number of years? I seem to remember that was the case with my uncle and his wife. But he eventually had to marry her because she’s German and she couldn’t get a long-term visa so he could work in the states when he was allowed to return. He dodged the Vietnam war draft. When Clinton allowed people like him to return, he got a job at the Library of Congress. Quite ironic.
Meanwhile, she continued to get paid for Canadian work because she was a professor at the (at the time) by-mail only Athabasca University.
If Uncle Sam was expecting them to stick around, they didn’t. They moved back to Saskatoon after he retired. Canada treated him very well. He happened to be pursuing a folklore degree right at the time the Canadian government realized they needed folklorists to help preserve various cultures within their borders.
Yes … that’s why I say the government doesn’t care … after a couple have been together for a few years, they are more or less considered married, legally speaking. We thought of a ceremony for a while … then waited for so long that we just never think of it any more.
I know some same sex couples that have been together for over 30 years up here, they got together years ago as ‘friends living together’ when the attitudes of same sex couples were still frowned upon. Now after all that time, they are more or less married couples and file their taxes just like every other married couple. When it comes to finances and taxation, governments and economics really don’t care about sexuality or sexual orientation, as long as you pay your taxes.
I also know of a friend of a friend from the sixties who lived up north near Timmins who received US draft dodgers during the 70s. A couple of young professionals who eventually became high school teachers and college professors and ended up just living up here all their lives. They did a lot for people and gave a lot of their energy and expertise to people up here … also excellent folk musicians and artists … all because of some dumb war they were avoiding. There was some good that came out of those dumb wars the US was forcing their young people to die in for no reason.
Don’t worry about rambling … I always enjoy hearing from you.
Get more sleep … never apologize for being a Ramblin’ Man. Stay well my friend.
It’s also crazy to me that Canada basically didn’t care about their folklore until the late 60s. And I don’t just mean indigenous cultures. That would make sense due to all the bigotry. But they also weren’t interested in things like preserving the unique culture that has developed in The Maritimes.
I have a white Newfie friend who is now in Alberta and he’s constantly talking about how he wished people in Edmonton were more like Newfies culturally. Clearly there are distinct cultures in Canada even for white people. No one in the government thought that was worth recording either.
Quebec cares. Probably a little too dogmatically in my opinion. But you’re right about east coast culture.
Although I would say that it does have it’s own somewhat well-documented cultural artifacts in terms of music, food and drink. We certainly hear more on the prairies about Screech, Great Big Sea and kissing the fish (for example) than most other areas with the exception of Quebec.
I’m assuming you mean you never had a ceremony?
Aren’t you automatically married by common law in Canada after a certain number of years? I seem to remember that was the case with my uncle and his wife. But he eventually had to marry her because she’s German and she couldn’t get a long-term visa so he could work in the states when he was allowed to return. He dodged the Vietnam war draft. When Clinton allowed people like him to return, he got a job at the Library of Congress. Quite ironic.
Meanwhile, she continued to get paid for Canadian work because she was a professor at the (at the time) by-mail only Athabasca University.
If Uncle Sam was expecting them to stick around, they didn’t. They moved back to Saskatoon after he retired. Canada treated him very well. He happened to be pursuing a folklore degree right at the time the Canadian government realized they needed folklorists to help preserve various cultures within their borders.
Sorry for rambling. I need more sleep apparently.
Yes … that’s why I say the government doesn’t care … after a couple have been together for a few years, they are more or less considered married, legally speaking. We thought of a ceremony for a while … then waited for so long that we just never think of it any more.
I know some same sex couples that have been together for over 30 years up here, they got together years ago as ‘friends living together’ when the attitudes of same sex couples were still frowned upon. Now after all that time, they are more or less married couples and file their taxes just like every other married couple. When it comes to finances and taxation, governments and economics really don’t care about sexuality or sexual orientation, as long as you pay your taxes.
I also know of a friend of a friend from the sixties who lived up north near Timmins who received US draft dodgers during the 70s. A couple of young professionals who eventually became high school teachers and college professors and ended up just living up here all their lives. They did a lot for people and gave a lot of their energy and expertise to people up here … also excellent folk musicians and artists … all because of some dumb war they were avoiding. There was some good that came out of those dumb wars the US was forcing their young people to die in for no reason.
Don’t worry about rambling … I always enjoy hearing from you.
Get more sleep … never apologize for being a Ramblin’ Man. Stay well my friend.
It’s also crazy to me that Canada basically didn’t care about their folklore until the late 60s. And I don’t just mean indigenous cultures. That would make sense due to all the bigotry. But they also weren’t interested in things like preserving the unique culture that has developed in The Maritimes.
I have a white Newfie friend who is now in Alberta and he’s constantly talking about how he wished people in Edmonton were more like Newfies culturally. Clearly there are distinct cultures in Canada even for white people. No one in the government thought that was worth recording either.
Just bizarre.
Quebec cares. Probably a little too dogmatically in my opinion. But you’re right about east coast culture.
Although I would say that it does have it’s own somewhat well-documented cultural artifacts in terms of music, food and drink. We certainly hear more on the prairies about Screech, Great Big Sea and kissing the fish (for example) than most other areas with the exception of Quebec.
I was talking about back in the 60s when my uncle went to Canada.