Dec 19 2022 -True North

 

Up North goes a long way in Canada - right to the North Pole, as far as we're concerned.   "Canada's north is a vast area, the three territories alone, Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories, encompass approximately 40% of the total area of Canada."   Moreover, as soon as you travel north of Toronto by 100 kilometres, we call that Up North as well.  That's because most of live in that very narrow strip along the U.S. border.  SO everything North is part of Up North.   It could be that Canada is considered Up North by other places.  We have vast Arctic and subarctic territories, the land of ice and snow.  We may part that are on the same latitude as northern California and Italy, but really we are known as a far north country.   Here's what we said in a recent poll (2021). The other sense we have of  Canada and the North is  "True North".  The reference is repeated many times.  It is to Alfred Tennyson, as he was the first to describe the country as "that true North" in his poem To the Queen.  He meant being loyal to the British Crown.   And that made it to the national anthem as "true north strong and free". We have the sense of the North Pole and its magnetic "truth".   The Magnetic North Pole is located in Ellesmere Island, which is about 500 miles from the Geographic North Pole.  Canada made an official claim in 2019. The closest town is Alert, 820 kilometres away.  That proximity puts us in charge of Santa, his village, and his post office box at H0H 0H0.   Don't mind that Finland is identified as having a Santa's Village.  When I was a child we would travel to Bracebridge which we considered "Up North" and visit Santa at his summer home.   Another village, Strasbourg, in France, lays claim to being a real life Christmas village.  But we have the North Pole. CBC had an article in which I found out that Santa Claus is a legal Canadian citizen. He was declared a full Canadian citizen in 2008 by Canada's immigration Minister.  He was issued a Canadian passport in 2013, and he and Mrs. Santa received the 2,999,999th and 3,000,000th ePassports.   So there we are with at least one benefit of having so much Up North in our country.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca