By Stephanie Bangarth and Sara Beth Keough
In March 2026, a Canadian historian and an American Geographer met in Cambridge, ON to start a collaborative mission, actually “between buddies,” impressed by Canada’s 1976 bicentennial reward to america, the espresso desk ebook Between Associates/Entre Amis.[i] The yr 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of this reward. And we’re these two students. Taking a look at this ebook collectively, as buddies and students from reverse sides of the border, impressed questions concerning the present relationship between Canada and america. What did this ebook imply to the 2 international locations on the time of its publication? What does this ebook imply 50 years later? How has the polarization of the Canada-U.S. relationship modified the which means of this reward? This essay is our reflection on the historic context of the ebook and a few doable solutions to those questions.
First version publication of the ebook Between Associates/Entre Amis. Picture by authors.
Between Associates/Entre Amis was Canada’s official reward to america on the event of its bicentennial in 1976. Twenty-six Canadian photographers have been commissioned by Lorraine Monk of the Nonetheless Pictures Division of the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada, and a few 220 pictures have been in the end included within the quantity. Designed to rejoice “the longest undefended worldwide border on the earth,” photographers have been tasked with capturing pictures inside 30 miles of the Canada-U.S. border, starting within the Arctic, down the Alaska panhandle and throughout the Rockies, prairies, Nice Lakes, Quebec, and the Maritimes. McClelland & Stewart’s press run was probably the most formidable Canadian publishing mission to that point. Certainly, some 200,000 copies have been printed, and the ebook obtained excellent reward and criticism within the press on either side of the border. A particular Presentation Version was prolonged for American dignitaries. Pierre Trudeau and Lorraine Monk personally gave President Ford his copy in a Washington ceremony. All the mission value about $1 million (in 1976).
Lorraine Monk and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau current President Gerald Ford with the bicentennial reward, Between Associates/Entre Amis within the Rose Backyard on the White Home. Courtesy Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
The images are expressive, capturing a land and a few of its folks at work and at residence. There’s magnificence, subjectivity, exclusivity, and a few aberrations in these pictures (the juxtaposition of a bike gang in Detroit and a girls garden bowling membership in Buffalo is one). The language within the quantity is heat, even intimate—entre amis. The rhetoric of friendship has lengthy been central to Canada–U.S. relations. It’s a phrase that seems in speeches, commerce negotiations, navy alliances, and cultural exchanges. It reassures publics that regardless of disagreements, the connection is steady, civil, and enduring. However what does “friendship” imply in an period marked by democratic backsliding, tradition wars, and deepening polarization on either side of the forty ninth parallel?
Anniversaries are culturally necessary on either side of the border, and independence anniversaries are vital alternatives to strengthen nationwide identities. The ebook was not the primary anniversary reward exchanged between the 2 international locations. In Might 1967, then President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced “The Nice Ring of Canada,” manufactured from Steuben Glass in Corning, NY, to then Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson to commemorate Canada’s centennial. The Ring is on show immediately within the Canadian Museum of Historical past in Ottawa
President Lyndon B. Johnson and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson stare upon The Nice Ring of Canada throughout the 1967 World Exposition in Montreal, a present from america on Canada’s centennial anniversary. (Supply: Corning Museum of Glass and Steuben.com)
However, the ebook was distinctive. It was a visible time capsule of individuals and locations alongside the border in 1976, albeit filtered by means of the Canadian nationwide lens, and of the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada specifically. There are a number of distinctly “Canadian” issues concerning the ebook: the mix of English with French translations, a deal with snowy landscapes, and an over-emphasis on the agricultural, which does embody many of the territory of Canada.
Thus, there may be extra on this assortment than meets the attention. Lorraine Monk insisted that every one pictures be in color, lest Individuals assume the ebook low cost. The Canadian authorities supplied 20,000 copies to be distributed free to libraries and public establishments in america and Canada, cut up evenly between the 2 nations. Dotted all through the quantity have been political quotations concerning the border in French and English, with translations supplied in an insert. One such quote is from former Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker: “Our peoples are North Individuals. We’re kids of our geography, merchandise of the identical hopes, religion and desires.”[ii] Guide-giving has been part of official and unofficial diplomacy, as Jody Mason and Janice Cavellnote.[iii]
Historians remind us that the language of friendship has at all times completed political work. In the course of the Chilly Conflict, officers framed continental defence cooperation as a partnership amongst equals, at the same time as asymmetries of energy have been apparent. The creation of the North American Aerospace Protection Command (NORAD) in 1958 was introduced not solely as strategic necessity however as proof of mutual belief. Friendship usually softened sovereignty issues. The identical was true in commerce. When the North American Free Commerce Settlement (NAFTA) got here into pressure in 1994, its supporters usually described it because the pure extension of an already intimate financial relationship. Critics, nevertheless, questioned whether or not friendship may survive financial restructuring and labour dislocation. They understood that financial integration will not be expressively impartial; it reshapes communities and redistributes threat.
In moments of pressure, the language of friendship turns into much more seen. Throughout disputes over softwood lumber, border safety after 9/11, or metal and aluminum tariffs, leaders repeatedly reassured each other—and their home audiences—that disagreements have been “between buddies.” The phrase implied a boundary: battle, sure; rupture, no. Take into account the occasions surrounding the 2020 U.S. election and the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol. For a lot of Canadians, the spectacle prompted reflection on democratic fragility south of the border. But Canadian establishments have confronted their very own exams—from convoy protests to provincial–federal tensions. The mirror cuts each methods.
The historical past of cross-border activism means that “entre amis” has by no means been confined to official diplomacy. In the course of the civil rights period, Canadian activists seemed to figures equivalent to Martin Luther King Jr. for inspiration, whereas additionally grappling with racism at residence. Feminist, environmental, and labour actions have lengthy operated continentally, constructing solidarities that bypass formal state channels. In these instances, friendship was not a slogan however a follow—typically uneasy, usually essential. Certainly, friendship can entail critique. All through the 20 th century, Canadians publicly condemned U.S. segregation, battle coverage, and interventionism. Individuals, in flip, have criticized Canada’s remedy of Indigenous peoples and its immigration insurance policies, and its embrace of supply-side administration. Such exchanges complicate the comforting fable of seamless concord. Polarization heightens these tensions. And but, the infrastructure of interdependence stays dense. The world’s longest undefended border nonetheless facilitates extraordinary flows of individuals and items. Households straddle it. Provide chains rely on it. Shared waters—from the Nice Lakes to the Arctic—require cooperative environmental and infrastructure stewardship. In sensible phrases, disengagement will not be an possibility.
Borders, in fact, are as a lot actual as they’re imaginary, as a lot digital as they’re materials.[iv] Maybe that is the place historical past presents a sober lesson, even when the photographs of Between Associates/entre amis exhibit in any other case. Canada–U.S. friendship has by no means meant the absence of battle. It has meant the administration of battle inside an accepted framework of mutual recognition. That framework has endured wars in Vietnam and Iraq, commerce battles, and divergent approaches to social coverage. Its sturdiness stems much less from sentiment than from behavior and institutionalization. The hazard in an age of polarization will not be disagreement itself however the erosion of belief in democratic norms. If friendship as soon as implied shared liberal democratic commitments, we should now ask how safe these commitments are—and the way they’re defended. Diplomatic language can not substitute for democratic follow.
Though the “pleasant” border is actually a key focus of the ebook, the truth that the ebook is split into areas aligns with journalist Joel Garreau’s concept that the Canada-U.S. border might not matter as a lot as regional distinctions. [v] A lot of Garreau’s proposed “areas” straddle the border, connecting Canadian and American parts on either side, fairly than separating them. Richard Harris utilized this type of regionalism to his work on North American cities, noting that Seattle and Vancouver share extra cultural and physiogeographic similarities than variations, however are certainly completely different than their central or jap North American counterparts.[vi] So, too, does Between Associates assist the concept the border connects, fairly than divides…a minimum of it did in 1976.
As we take into account the ebook within the context of 2026, references by the White Home to Canada’s potential as a “51st State” beg the query: is the Canada-U.S. border nonetheless a line “between buddies”? Revisiting Between Associates/entre amis reminds us that the phrase has at all times been aspirational. It gestures towards a great relationship, one rooted in proximity, shared historical past, and overlapping political cultures. However aspiration requires upkeep. It calls for civic engagement, cross-border dialogue, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. On this sense, the way forward for Canada–U.S. friendship might rely much less on summits and extra on residents. Historians, educators, journalists, and activists all play a job in sustaining essential but constructive engagement throughout the border. Friendship, in any case, will not be the denial of distinction. It’s the dedication to work by means of it.
As polarization reshapes North American politics, the query will not be whether or not Canada and america stay “between buddies.” It’s whether or not they’re ready to follow the type of friendship that democracy requires: sincere, resilient, and able to self-reflection.
[i] Lorraine Monk, ed., Between Associates/Entre Amis (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1976).
[ii] Between Associates/Entre Amis, p. 111.
[iii] Jody Mason, Books for Growth: Canada within the Late Twentieth-Century World (Montréal & Kingston: MQUP, 2026); Janice Cavell, ”Canadiana Overseas: The Division of Exterior Affairs’ Guide Presentation Programmes, 1949-1963.” American Overview of Canadian Research 39, no. 2 (June 2009): 81-93.
[iv] Scott Mackenzie, “A line within the snow: Visualizing borders each imaginary and actual,” Public 16 (1996): 57-64.
[v] Joel Garreau, The 9 Nations of North America (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981).
[vi] Richard Harris, “Canadian Cities in a North American Context,” in Thomas McIlwraith and Edward Muller, eds. North America: The Historic Geography of a Altering Continent (Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield, 1987): 445-462.
Stephanie Bangarth is Professor of Historical past at Kings College Faculty at Western College and has been a member of the Affiliation for Canadian Research in america since 1999.
Sara Beth Keough is Professor of Geography at Saginaw Valley State College in Michigan and President of the Affiliation for Canadian Research in america.
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