THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN CULTURE ON CANADIAN YOUTH 1

The Effect of American Culture on the Canadian Youth Movement in the 1960s

Julia Groza

TMS School

Word Count: 1295

 THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN CULTURE ON CANADIAN YOUTH 2

Part 1
Word Count: 200

What was the effect of American culture on the Canadian youth movement in
the 1960s?

This question relates to the global context, fairness and development, because it allows
discussion of American values and how they impacted the development of Canadian youth. The
question also addresses the Canadian youth movement, which focused on protesting for equal
rights and fairness for minorities.

Lexier, R. (2007). The Backdrop Against Which Everything Happened: English-Canadian

Student Movements and Off-Campus Movements for Change. University of Calgary. Retrieved
from, https://www.ucalgary.ca/hic/issues/vol7/3

This source is a secondary resource; however, it includes many quotes that are primary sources.
It is a publication from the University of Calgary in an online volume about the history of
intellectual culture. Because of its origin from a university, it is a very reliable source with lots of
detail. The author, Roberta Lexier, has a PhD in History at the University of Alberta in the
History and Classics Department. This source is relevant to my topic and is advantageous
because it analyses the effect of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam war and the new
nationalism from the United States on Canada, and provides exceptional proof of the effect
through concrete examples and quotes from Canadian activists. The disadvantages are that the
source does not solely analyze American influence, but also Canadian influence which is not of
importance to me. Also, the source is quite detailed but only talks about three specific American
events.

Part 2
Word Count: 900
In the 1960s, Canada was in a post-war prosperity. The economy was growing because of
the large number of young people who entered the work force and more than half of Canadas
population of 20 million was under 25 (Belshaw, 2015). More youth were going to university,
leading to young adults influencing each other. This was the start of the youth movement, led by
the baby boomers of Canada. The United States was also experiencing a youth movement which
involved a larger group of rebellious youth. American culture played a big role in the actions
and behavior of Canadian youth, through the Civil Rights Movement, anti-war protests and
inspiring a new nationalism in Canada.

American movements had a strong influence on youth activists in Canada, the most
prominent being the Civil Rights Movement because this modelled a template for future
Canadian youth protests. The activists were inspired by this movement, where African-
Americans used civil disobedience to raise awareness. Andrew Szende, a Toronto student, said
the movement exemplified the kind of better world that people were seeking [in Canada]
(Lexier, 2007). Students learned about the effect of mass protests and agreed with the values
demonstrated by the Civil Rights movement, developing political activism on campuses. Many
 THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN CULTURE ON CANADIAN YOUTH 3

tactics from this movement would be imitated later on by Canadian youth organizations like
SUPA (Student Union for Peace Action). As John Cleveland, SFU (Simon Frasier University)
activist puts it: The Civil Rights movement was a direct model for a lot of what followed
(Lexier, 2007). A concrete example of the impact on Canada was in March of 1965, when UofT
students organized protests outside of the sit-in at the United States Consulate (Palmer, 2009).
They protested the treatment of the Civil Rights workers in Alabama who were beaten by state
troopers and demanded that the government of the United States protect peaceful protestors.

A major topic that was prevalent in both Canadian and American youth was about anti-
war, because many activists wanted world peace. When Pearson signed a clandestine in 1963
accepting US nuclear warheads, Canadian youth were furious, especially those who supported
the CUCND (Combined Universities Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) (Palmer, 2009).
Canadian activists then created a new organization in December of 1964 in Regina, called the
SUPA. This organization protested in universities and high schools and advocated for students to
have a role in resisting the war effort, suggesting that universities [mobilize] social forces
internationally for the achievement of world peace (Lexier, 2007). Throughout the SUPAs
lifetime, it worked closely with the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) founded in the
United States and became greatly influenced by this organization. In fact, when asked on how the
youth movement differed in Canada and the United States, SUPA leader Peter Boothroyd said, I
dont think there is a difference (Lexier, 2007).

Because the anti-war topic was a major focus for youth activists, the Vietnam war
impacted Canadian youth because they did not agree with the war. It was an opportunity to
protest for broader social changes, and Canada felt connected to the American war in Vietnam.
Canadian student activists criticized the American government and were appalled by the flow of
weapons created in Canada for American troops to use in the war. Canadian youth protested for
the Canadian government to take action and stop the manufacturing of artillery in Canada, as
well as convince the United States to take their troops out of Vietnam. Many young American
men that were a part of the youth movement did not want to participate in the Vietnam war so in
the second half of the 60s, 40,000 young American men were illegally brought into the country
at the aid of the Canadian youth to avoid the war effort (Belshaw, 2015). Gordon Hardy, SFU
student activist argued that, the war in Vietnam was certainly one of the great galvanizers of
student activism (Lexier, 2007).

On the other hand, the American youth culture made Canadian activists aware of what
kind of country they did not want to be like, so they focused more on Canadian issues. The
Canadian and American movements were very similar to the point where Canadians were
advocating solely for American rights and problems. When addressing the protests made by the
SUPA, the Globe and Mail wrote, Could they [the students] not direct some heart and some
energy to Canadas own racial, religious and political tensions which differ from those of
Alabama only in degree? (Lexier, 2007). Therefore, Canadian youth groups began to focus
more on Canadian issues such as the rights of First Nations, womens rights and a rejection of
Americanism. Canadian students believed that this strong influence prevented the Canadian
government from establishing its own cultural and political policies. Education and university
campuses were increasingly dominated by Americans, visible in the decreasing ratio of
Canadians teaching at Canadian universities and the rise of academics from the US. The
 THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN CULTURE ON CANADIAN YOUTH 4

Canadian youth sought to fix this problem by establishing a limit to the number of non-
Canadians in any Canadian university.

American culture inspired Canadian protests and activism from the Civil Rights
Movement and the Vietnam War and influenced the creation of new socialist groups like the
SUPA, that imitated American socialist groups. Through the influence of the United States,
Canadian youth were trying to find and define their own countrys identity through a new sense
of nationalism. Today, American culture still influences modern Canadian society, especially
youth, and the events that happened in the 1960s still have an impact on todays cultural
perspectives on rights.

Part 3
Word Count: 195
A big challenge with gathering historical research about the Canadian youth movement is
determining the reliability of the youth interviewed. In my research, many activists gave their
perception on the impact of American culture, yet they had different responses because of their
different roles in the activism movement. It is important to take these things into consideration,
and not think of a source as correct or incorrect. As a scientist/mathematician, studies usually
lead to quantitative data that is unbiased but as a historian, there are only interpretations. History
does not change, but interpretations of history do change through analysis of new perspectives. I
learned that there is no final conclusion for how much of a role the American youth movement
played in the Canadian youth movement because different events impacted different regions
more. An example of this is how UofT rioted about the Civil Rights Movement, but other
universities did not feel as impacted. I believe the role of the historian is to take all of the
information from books, articles and interviews and use the data to make an educated
interpretation on the influence it created on Canadian youth, to learn from past mistakes.

Bibliography

Belshaw, J.D. (2015). 9.16 The 1960s Counterculture. BC Open Textbooks. Retrieved from,
https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/chapter/9-14-the-1960s-counter-culture/

Lexier, R. (2007). The Backdrop Against Which Everything Happened: English-Canadian

Student Movements and Off-Campus Movements for Change. University of Calgary.
Retrieved from, https://www.ucalgary.ca/hic/issues/vol7/3

Lizzle, J. (2014). The 1960s Youth Movement. Teen Ink. Retrieved from,
http://www.teenink.com/hot_topics/what_matters/article/145008/The-1960s-Youth-
Movement/

Palmer, B.D. (2009). New Left Liberations: The Poetics, Praxis, and Politics of Youth
Radicalism. Canadas 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era. Retrieved from,
https://books.google.ca/books?
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