A big part of being Canadian is trying to define what it means to be Canadian. If countries aged the way people do, Canada would still be in its mid-20s — an experimental stage, brimming with potential but lacking direction and dangerously self-conscious.
To try to fill this void, in the 1990s the Canadian government approved a series of “Heritage Minutes,” which played during primetime on national television networks. Each about a minute in length, they provide some insight into why Canadians are the way they are.