Are Australians and Canadians similar ?

Over the course of my time here in Oz I have come across people who say to me “We are similar” or “Aussies are just like Canadians” when they find out that I am Canadian.

This is a hard question to answer and in trying to do so I have found it to be a very hard topic to write about. I feel I need a degree in Australian and Canadian - History, Sociology and Psychology.

On the surface it would seem like an easy question to answer. But when I dig deeper it is very hard.

The reason I find it so hard, is because I can answer both Yes and No to the question.

After much thinking about it, at this point in time I am only going to give you a simple answer, because it is to complex of a question.

YES we are similar or alike, because we are both westernized commonwealth countries.

What do you mean by similar ?

We both speak the language English – Similar, Yes

We are both Commonwealth Countries – Similar, Yes

We both have similar ideals on families, education and health – Similar, Yes

We live in a modern western country – Similar, Yes

Both countries have similar values in working hard, raising kids and the importance of education and buying a house.

So why No ?

What differentiates Canadians and Australians is the underlining culture of the people and the way of life.

We all have similar values/culture of modern western life but the underlining culture is very different between all us.

So if a visitor from Canada or Australia came to the others country and visited for a few weeks; people, life and society would be very similar to what they are used to. They would say “hey we are alike or similar” it’s not like going to a non-English speaking country like China or Russia.

It’s only by living and immersing oneself in a country; can you then start seeing the difference between 2 societies. It tends to be the manners, customs and culture of people.

In this respect I would say we are not similar. Australian’s are more similar to English and Kiwi’s than Canadians.

The Australian culture is more similar to these two nations, than it is to Canada. Examples of this are the pub culture, the sporting culture, schools, education, driving, language and slang.

Although it is relative easy for a Canadian to integrate in Australia or for an Australian to do the same in Canada. I am sure Australians and English would have more in common or similar experiences than a Canuck and an Aussie.

That is why I don’t think we are similar.

There are deeper issues why this is so, but it is currently beyond my interpretation. I will continue to investigate and research this and in the future will come back to this topic, maybe then I can explore the underlining issues of what makes us different.