As a Canadian from the West I read your several essays on Canada and want you to know that this gigantic nation stays friendly across from sea to sea to sea. As as emigrant many years ago I was somewhat more suspicious of strangers coming up to my vehicle lashed with my worldly possessions asking me where I was heading and told him..oh..”just over to that chicken place” but what he meant is where was I heading to settle as it was obvious with a mattress on the roof that I was going on a one way trip. When I offered up a tentative truth, I received a handshake and a welcome to Canada and some personal observations as to my destination as people just knew these things and wanted to make me feel welcome. Forty years later I am one of those welcoming Canadians as most of us are to the world’s frightened refugees and others who fall in love with this place as did I.

. The West is very different than the parts you described and I hope that some day you write of your adventures out in Alberta and British Columbia and maybe even Yukon or Northwest Territories or Nunavut as it is all awaiting you! Here you can see the stars too and in the North they are out at noon! Oh yes, we are much more diverse out West in terms of cultures and ethnicities and so there will be perogie and spicy noodle and anything inbetween as one traverses across the land. If you want a real raft ride..Go to the Jasper and Banff Parks and have the ride of your life over rapids after standing in awe on a moving glacier or watch the whales cavort off B.C. All the while, people will continue to be friendly and welcoming. It is a lovely experience I suggest wherever you go…I came..I stayed. I welcome…

N