One of the most wonderful things about visiting Canada is being embraced by Canadian society. No matter who you are or where you are from, Canadians are curious about you; they want to show you the best their country has to offer; and they take it almost as a personal mission to ensure that you have a great time while you are here.

Canadians place a very high value on fun. They like to enjoy themselves and they like to see everyone else having a good time too. The plethora of street festivals, music festivals, community events, arts organizations, and the number and variety of parks speaks to this love of communal gaiety.

One of the stated values of Canada is multiculturalism, which is a great excuse for even more partying, as Canadians adopt and embellish the festivals of other nations. It is a matter of national pride that Canadians welcome everybody and show great respect for other cultures. There is plenty of psychic space as well as physical space in Canada.

Many Canadian customs and attitudes are shaped by the weather and the environment. Canadians are used to living in extreme conditions, from very cold and snowy to very hot and humid. They also have lots of bears, cougars, coyotes, moose, blackflies, killer whales, and other unfriendly animals.

The tendency of the outdoors to kill you means that Canadians always help each other reach safety even if they are total strangers. This attitude of interdependence seeps into all aspects of society, and even in large Canadian cities, people will post notices about found jewelry or bring a new mother a tuna casserole.

Canadians are notoriously polite and this is most obvious in a peculiar traffic convention. The three, four, or five-way stop is found at many junctions in Canada with no traffic signals. All parties must stop at the junction, then the car that has been waiting longest goes through the junction first.

Although this sounds simple enough, add in a typical Canadian’s polite attitude and you have three or more people in stationary cars trying to wave each other on through the junction. They all want to concede the right of way! The rule is that if two cars arrive at the same time, the car on the right goes first; but you might as well throw out the rulebook and resign yourself to spending considerable time dancing in your driver’s seat.

That being said, all conversations with a Canadian are likely to be fun and non-threatening. They will check for your understanding and agreement by adding an “Eh?!” to most sentences, often accompanied by an endearing smile. Do them a favour and let them help you out.