# Why "so-called Canada" in this email I got from an environmental advocacy group? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304 "2023-06-29T18:59:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/1 "2023-06-29T18:59:44Z")
I just got an email asking me to sign a petition demanding that British Columbia stop old growth logging. I’m not Canadian let alone British Columbian so I don’t know what weight my signature carries if any, but I signed it anyway. The text of the website uses the phrase “so- called Canada”, and I’m wondering what this means. Is it a current usage in the activist community intended to signal general disapproval or rejection of national policy, much like the way “Amerika” or “Amerikkka” has been used south of the border? [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53011034744_aa48f9e494_b.jpg "So-called Canada") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/78538399@N00/53011034744/) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/2 "2023-06-29T19:10:01Z")
This [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand.earth) on STAND.earth should explain it when you scroll down to “Controversy”. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/3 "2023-06-29T19:16:10Z")
2012? That goes way back, doesn’t it! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/4 "2023-06-29T20:04:33Z")
Self-righteous folks tend to cling to their grievances. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/5 "2023-06-29T20:39:37Z")
There’s been a push on in Canada to refer to a lot of places as “un-ceded Native lands”, and re-naming things with Native names. I suspect this is the silly activist version of that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/6 "2023-06-29T21:38:47Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > This [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand.earth) on STAND.earth should explain it when you scroll down to “Controversy”. The wiki certainly explains that STAND.earth & the then-government of Canada were at loggerheads. How the epithet “so-called Canada” figures into it isn’t obvious to me. I could happily accept them saying “supposedly environmentally conscious Canada”, or similar phrasings implying Canada is talking the talk but failing utterly at walking the walk. I don’t see how “so-called Canada” does that. Now if what STAND.earth really means is that Canada itself, and thereby its government, is fundamentally illegitimate it makes more sense. IOW, if their idea is “Shut it down, chase out all the whites and other immigrants since 1700, and give it all back to the First Nations”, then it makes logical sense. A silly idea, but at least logically coherent. But I don’t see them pushing that agenda at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/7 "2023-06-29T21:56:02Z")
Apropos of nothing other than people’s curiosity about the strangest things I guess, but 44 people (or 45? your own click doesn’t seem to increase the number count in my experience) clicked the link and the thread only has 146 views at the time of my writing this. Oh, and +1 to @LSLGuy not seeing an obvious reason for the chosen epithet. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/8 "2023-06-29T22:20:33Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > and re-naming things with Native names. There’s a similar effort here to rename Lane County Oregon in honor of the indigenous Kalapuya tribe. Among other requirements the name change would have to be approved by voters, which I think would happen. I doubt many people care that much about Joseph Lane ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/9 "2023-06-29T22:22:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > How the epithet “so-called Canada” figures into it isn’t obvious to me. Likewise. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/10 "2023-06-29T23:00:48Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Is it a current usage in the activist community intended to signal general disapproval or rejection of national policy, much like the way “Amerika” or “Amerikkka” has been used south of the border? Nah, then it would have been Kanada. > [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Self-righteous folks tend to cling to their grievances. Boy, that’s fucking T-shirt waiting to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/11 "2023-06-30T01:44:25Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Nah, then it would have been Kanada. You actually wouldn’t be too far off with that spelling. > **[Origin of the name "Canada" - Canada.ca](https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/origin-name-canada.html)** > > Learn the story of how our country earned the name “Canada”. "The name “Canada” likely comes from the Huron-Iroquois word “kanata,” meaning “village” or “settlement.” " There’s actually a part of Ottawa called Kanata. One of the old pre-amalgamation cities. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/12 "2023-06-30T02:44:54Z")
No way! Canada was named after a Japanese sword! I kid, I kid, but it’s hard not to process kanata as katana at first. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/13 "2023-06-30T13:06:56Z")
Early French landing party in the New World… Common Sailor: “The word he used, _Kanada-ka-he_, I think it means those houses down there.” Imperious Missionary: “No, no, believe me it means this nation…” (Can’t embed Youtube video Canadian Minute Jacques Cartier “/watch?v=nfKr-D5VDBU”) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/14 "2023-06-30T13:13:09Z")
_O So-called Canada! Our home and native land!_ Clumsy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/15 "2023-06-30T14:11:45Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > O So-called Canada! Our home and native land! So-called Canada! Our home **on** native land! Fixed it for you ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/16 "2023-06-30T21:28:30Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > _O So-called Canada! Our home and native land!_ > > Clumsy. Works about as well as the change that shoe-horned “under god” into the US pledge of allegiance that used to scan very nicely: > … > and to the republic for which it stands > One nation, indivisible, > with liberty and justice for all Extremist wackos wrecking good writing seems to be a pattern. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/17 "2023-07-01T00:59:31Z")
Could be worse. The changed the next line in _O Canada_ to mangle the grammar, from: _True patriot love, In all our sons’ command…_ To this: _, in all of us command._ Huh? That’s what happens when someone doesn’t understand the language but wants to correct it. They could have gone with “all of our command” or “all that we command” but no… > [@Horatius](#): > > So-called Canada! Our home **on** native land! > Fixed it for you Brings to mind the discussion about Q: “What do Canadians do before any major public event?” A: “Acknowledge they are on treaty land and then carry on what they were doing anyway.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/18 "2023-07-01T02:00:55Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > _True patriot love, > In all our sons’ command…_ > > To this: > _, in all of us command._ You’ve not quoted the 1913 version correctly. It was: _True patriot love, In all our sons command_ The gender neutral version is grammatically the same as the 1913 version. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-called-canada-in-this-email-i-got-from-an-environmental-advocacy-group/986304/19 "2023-07-01T02:21:20Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Self-righteous folks tend to cling to their grievances. …I don’t think this is fair, especially as the phrasing is being used by First Nations peoples outside of this particular context. For example here: > [@Ammnesty International](#): > > “Canada has been contacted three times by the UN with regards to the abuses to the Wet’suwet’en Nation and its peoples,” said Chief Na’moks of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs. “Now, the world must hear from the Indigenous Peoples on the human rights abuses occurring in so-called Canada. We are meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur to speak to the truth, not just the narrative of what is the one-sided version of what is occurring in Canada.” > **[UN Special Rapporteur’s visit must shift ‘glacial progress’ on Indigenous...](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/03/canada-un-special-rapporteurs-visit-indigenous-rights/)** > > The Canadian government is facing new calls to stop violating the rights of First Nations > [@Horatius](#): > > I suspect this is the silly activist version of that. I really wish that people would dive deeper into these things before declaring stuff like this. There is nothing silly about this at all.