Too Short - Day 14

Today was my last day in Canada, and I'm not ready to go home by any means.  I do miss my puppy; I do miss my kitties. But with more time, I could do so much more research!  I know.  I HAVE TO COME BACK.

And this proves it:

My official ID for the Library and Archives of Canada (you can't use the archives without one) does not expire until 2018.

What a peculiar place for these days and times.  Roaming security personnel, but no metal detectors at the archives.  Lockers are provided for backpacks, but you can use your own computers and notebooks.  And the librarians are friendly and helpful.

After leaving the Archives, I took a short stroll down the Boulevard of Confederation.  The Parliament building is impressive, but my favorite building was the Supreme Court:

BTW, Canada's first female chief justice of the Supreme Court was appointed by Pierre Trudeau.  Her name was Bertha Wilson and she was an immigrant, born in Scotland.

When I needed to make a U-turn (having passed the entrance to Archives' itty-bitty parking lot), I accomplished said turn by taking the sweeping drive around the front of the Supreme Court building, which was protected by a single police cruiser.  Obviously, not Washington, DC.

Parliament is further along the Boulevard.  Sadly, I did not meet the PM.  The Parliament building is also magnificent, even though its gothic style is in stark contrast to the Court building.

We Americans too often ignore this country to our north.  We shouldn't.  Or we assume that Canada is just like the U.S.  It isn't.

I think a lot about the lessons that the U.S. could learn from Canada.  First, you don't have to come from the U.S. to be an American; folks from the U.S. and Canadians are all north Americans.  Second, Canada practices its own flavor of exceptionalism:  the second largest country in the world in terms of space; a highly diverse and welcoming culture; prosperity appears to abound (everywhere I looked in Ottawa, I saw construction; everywhere I drove, I found roads well maintained and/or under construction; and childhood poverty is half that in the U.S.); instead of fighting endless wars, Canada proudly concentrates its military activity on peacekeeping around the world.   Sure, it's not all beer (I've had good beer too) and hockey.  But it's a pretty cool place regardless.