Eventually, you will. If not over Covid-19, then one of the coming climate change catastrophes. It’s just a matter of time. You’ll be in the same boat America has been in with the mass migrations south of us. And not just from us, many more of our southern neighbors will bypass us and head there.

I hope you handle it better and more humanely than we have. At least, you have the opportunity to be better prepared, and to learn from our mistakes. But, frankly, a lot of that will depend on how many there are. A nation can only absorb so many peacefully and settle them into society without catastrophic disruption. Something else we’ve learned the hard way. And lest anyone think I’m talking exclusively about race . . . I’m not. In a lot of ways a massive influx of white Americans into Canada would be more disruptive politically and economically than anyone from a central American country with a language barrier.

Sad to say that about my own kind, but I believe it. We weren’t always this way, and we won’t always be, but we’re having a moment. We’ve got some hard lessons to learn as a nation. We’re capable of learning. I hope we do.

One thing’s for sure, when that moment comes for Canada, you too will come face to face with the uglier aspects of your own colonial history as well as the virtues of your national ethos and culture. And your populace will lean one way or the other. If it’s a more or less even divide, you might rip apart too. Something else to think about and start having those conversations now nationally if you’re not already.