@@god-0f-war Bro Europe isn't that much warmer lol. Sure the southern countries often are, but there's a lot of variation, and the median temp is close to Canada's iIrc
As a Jamaican, this aspect of our history was not taught in schools even when discussing the topic of the West Indies Federation. This is really enlightening to see.
@@JJMcCullough That makes a lot more sense than people finding the idea not worth discussing despite speculation being fun. Glad to see you pop up on a canadian history video.
I'm a born Jamaican who moved to Canada 3 months ago. This was never taught in Jamaican schools so I'm glad I have this new perspective on our history.
Instead of living in Yuma or Mesa, AZ they would skip us an go the Caribbean. I like it! I live in Mesa and during the winter a bunch of Alberta and BC license plates appear and drive really slowly.
@@es0x It's okay to speed on the freeways here, just don't do 15 mph over unless everyone else is doing it. Also the 24 is now connected to Queen Creek at Single Butte and at Ironwood. So if you want to go to the Olive Mill it's a lot quicker now.
Let's be honest, it's more likely that the afro-carribeans would have just had their homes gentrified by white Canadians and forced off the islands are into marginalized communities. So I'm not sure if they were wrong to refuse unification 😅
As a Canadian having Caribbean territories would’ve been awesome but just imagine the the extra islands we’ll have to colour on our social studies homework.
As a Canadian citizen born in Belize in 1988 to a Canadian mother with older siblings born in British Honduras, this was even more interesting than I expected.
@@AGamerthatregretsalot Chalk that one up to british colonialism I guess, I never learned the history of the region. To be fair, I grew up in Canada and my parents are old school mennonites or, in other words, minimally schooled mennonites. My mom grew up in Canada but her parents wouldn't let her go past grade 6 because she's a girl and we don't really learn about that here. My dad grew up in a Mexican mennonite colony and they went up to grade four for boys. I don't know if the girls were even allowed in school there. Mexican mennonites didn't really value education beyond learning to read and write and memorizing mathematical tables. Thanks for the history lesson, I'd be interested to hear more about it.
As a Trinidadian we we're never taught in Caribbean history class that joining Canada was an option. We were taught that the Brits formed the Federation of the West Indies with its 11 Caribbean territories and after Jamaica departed for individual independence Trinidad followed and the Federation collapsed.
Mainly because it didnt happen... so why talk about "what ifs", if you're going to talk about all the "what if" scenarios, there would be thousands across history
@@ShengYu1995 Nah, it is not about "what if," but the point is talking/teaching about what happened: The history class failed to mention that what politicians actually said/discussed, which was the possibility of joining. It's important to know what and how people thought historically.
There are plenty of what if scenarios and political conversations or ideas that never happened in reference to wwi and wwii alone but it is still important to learn about how decisions were made or fell through
As a Jamaican, I had no idea that there was a possibility that we would be a province of Canada. Reality is really stranger than fiction. Edit: My God, the Internet's denizens will find any reason to fight each other on some shitty website for no fucking reason.
With the number of Canadians who head south every winter, it would make a lot of sense for Canada to try to own some tropical territory in order to try to mitigate that outflow of cash. If Canada had a Caribbean island then it likely would attract a lot of the Canadians that already head south ever year since Canadian travelers wouldn't have to worry about healthcare costs if they get hurt or sick, they wont need a passport, they would use Canadian dollars which would make the destination resilient to changes in currency values, and they can use their normal phone plan without worrying about roaming fees. There would also be benefits to the island nation as it would likely receive a lot of initial investment to bring in up to Canadian standards in terms of healthcare and infrastructure, and then long term also would see a boost in their tourism industry.
Pssssssst. Canadian provinces all have separate health care systems, and won't automatically cover people from other provinces. If you're traveling inter-provincially within Canada, you should still be getting traveller's health insurance like you would if you were traveling internationally, because you are not guaranteed "free" health care outside your home province. If you're lucky, your home province will repay the other province for your costs, but they might not.
Yup, many Jamaican's migrate to Canada for better job opportunities any way so it would be a match made in heaven especially if we got some guaranteed support and investment.
@@gungan5822 This is incorrect. They do cover people from other provinces. It's one of the stipulations of the Canada Health Act of 1983 -- portability. If you're from outside Ontario, you can just walk in and get treated in Ontario even if you don't have an Ontario Health Card/aren't a part of OHIP. Every province/territory in Canada will accept the health card/insurance of every other province/territory.
Canadian here. Keep in mind that The Turks and Caicos Islands and Canada STILL have the occasional rare talk of them becoming part of Canada. The last mention was a few years ago and decades ago Nova Scotia's provincial Parliament passed a bill allowing the Turks and Caicos to skip a few steps by becoming a part of the province.
I think they would do it if it ever got desperate enough. But they have a lot of options before surrendering its independence. Countries are always hesitant in allow itself to be annexed by another country, even if it makes perfectly logical sense to do so. This is because once a country gives up its independence to become a part of another country, it is almost impossible to regain that independence in the future. Texas learned this the hard way. Despite having only been in the Union since 1846, Lincoln did not hesitate to denounce its secession a mere 15 years later as illegal. It did not matter if by 1865 Texas had spent 14 of its 29 years of existence as an entity separate from the United States. To Lincoln and the rest of the Union, Texas was as integral to the United States as the rest of the South, and as such would not hesitate to order its occupation (though that never came during the war as Texas and Florida were able to avoid having their capitals occupied until after Lee's surrender). To Lincoln and the North, the moment the Republic of Texas agreed to its annexation was the moment it lost any claim to independence.
@@Kaiserboo18719 that wasn't the point. The Union viewed Texas as a part of the Confederacy and viewed the Confederacy as a rebellion state. It's not like Texas would then leave the Confederacy if the South won
@@Canada1994 So you think that after Texas seceded from the Union but then refused to join the Confederacy that the United States would respect that decision to become an independent Republic of Texas once again?
@@Kaiserboo18719 maybe or maybe they would negotiate concessions to have them rejoin or they may join of their own free will with the threat of Mexico. They could be another slave state that stayed in the Union like the border states. But keep in mind if it wasn't for the need for balance in Washington between free and slave states the US would've admitted Texas into the Union as soon as they got their independence from Mexico. The Texas uprising was really like the California Bear Republic uprising. A local declaration of independence but with the eventual goal of joining the US.
I remember my parents talking about this. They were all for the islands joining Canada, they thought it would be great to have a tropical region that we didn't need a passport to get to or to exchange our currency. All our snowbirds could remain in Canada and enjoy those benefits while boosting the local and federal economy. Shame it never happened.
@@Entername-md1evWTF? Hell no lol. Jamaica sucks, you go outside of the resorts and you’ll get constantly harassed or mugged. Another province? lol yeah ok.
As a Jamaican, I had no knowledge of this ever being discussed or brought forward . History back then mostly focused on American and Russian (USSR) political influence and dominance in the island.
Still could. It’s only been about 50 years come next year right? A good a time as any to Bering the discussion back… But I think that like all thing in Canada poor people will end up forgotten and the rich and middle class will only enjoy it, but they would enjoy Canada with the money they have. The more you understand this world the more you realize it is worthless.
Imagine a reality where you could technically drive across the border of Honduras or Guatemala to a Canadian province? It sounds more outlandish then Canada annexing the Turk and Caicos Island or Jamaica.
Something overlooked in this video is that adding another province means facing the quagmire of the Constitution Act of 1982 and how Quebec has never formally approved it. On many levels it's easier to let that sleeping dog lie than it is to bring in the Turks and Caicos as another province, which would necessarily mean trying to get Quebec to sign off on the whole thing again since it has the potential to reignite long standing political issues.
@@pimcramer2569 Centuries of being oppressed by a combination of the Roman Catholic Church and the British Crown. Both of those have serious cultural influence in the Rest Of Canada, which is known as the ROC (not to be confused with the Republic of China lmao). Also, Quebec has been the site of the Anglophone-dominated government's suppression of civil dissidence. Also also, there's been a large social movement for secession from the ROC which nearly succeeded a couple times (thanks Charles de Gaulle). This is what it boils down to, but it's an oversimplification. Yeah, Canada's a fucked up place that has no right to exist.
Why didn't Jamaica join Canada? This channel asks questions that nobody, NOBODY, ask! It's fantastic and we love you for it. I saw someone say something like that on "How did the Orthodox Church view the Reformation?"
The What are your thoughts on the 'insert position here''s reforms. I think they will be *remarkably* successful and bring the Soviets back into parity with the Americans in the cold war.
I only noticed because another comment mentioned the error of calling the U.S. flag "stars and bars," and now I feel shamed that I would have ignored it otherwise. I also want to go back through every other HM video--for one, just because, but for two, to find other hidden gems I may have overlooked.
Imagine If the caribbean islands were to have actually joined Canada, would be such a strange world, a place known for snow and being large, owning some Caribbean island know for the heat and being small, definetely a strange world
Given how much Canadians love to vacation in the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican, Mexico and to a lesser degree Jamaica are very popular with Canadians) and how convenient it would be to travel there without a passport, travel insurance and currency exchange... well, that Caribbean location would have a built-in tourist population. I believe Nova Scotia has already legislated that they are willing to accept the Turks and Caicos as part of their province (to simplify the constitutional issues and help them get their infrastructure up to Canadian standards) should they ever join Canada. Most polls have for decades shown that Canadians like the idea of having a Caribbean island join the country as a new province, territory or as part of an Atlantic province (probably NS). It's just that it's not a big priority for anyone.
Turks and Caicos debate still pops up sometimes. I think most recently the idea was to include it as part of the province of Nova Scotia. But just as randomly as it pops up it fades away again, because people are more concerned (justifiably) about other issues within Canada
@@MichaelDavis-mk4me I don't think its even been brought up while Trudeau has been PM. It did come up in the early 2000's under Harper. One of his cabinet minister's brought it up again and then it went away as quickly as he brought it up. I mean, if Turk and Caicos are for it, not sure why we aren't. As others have said, it would stop the flow of money to the USA, Mexico and other island countries if Canadians could just vacation in their own tropical province. Imagine flying, no passport needed and using our money.
@@thecheesecakeman Why not? Because (under the NS idea) the locals would have no say over how tourism is regulated, no say in how taxes and budgets are handled, no say over when and how development occurs in a part of the country that would never be prioritised, no affordable transportation to the mainland, etc. The list goes on. but most importantly for you, all that built up resentment T&C locals would have towards the federal and provincial governments would be taken out on mainland tourists.
@MichaelDavis-mk4me They only can when they are at best an American administrative shadow government in waiting… Like a prison they only want to do the bare minimum.
So this was fascinating especially cause as a Jamaican my personal experience has been lots of friends and family just traveling/immigrating to Canada before coming back after having made their way in the world.
Lmao I love History Matters "Why didn't Jamaica join Canada?" Consistently funny content from one of the best history UA-cam channels out there Edit: Once again, HM proves its quality in another video. This one was really interesting, teaching me a bunch about the British in the Western Hemisphere that I hadn't heard about before, which is great!
As a Canadian this bit of history always interested me. There are actually still some in both Turks and Caicos and Canada who want to see it added as the 11th province or fourth territory.
It will never happen. Canada prides itself on democracy and Turks and Caicos has been, well, less than democratic recently. I don't think it would happen anytime soon
As a Belizean I thank you for making this obscure bit of Caribbean history more well-known to the world, but to be honest I cringed every time you only said Honduras without adding 'British ' in front. It might seem like nit picking but realistically Honduras is a totally different country. Also, there's another potential video "Why was Belize the last mainland territory of the UK in the Western Hemisphere ?"
Because there wasn't. Turks & Caicos and Belize are the only countries that actually had any possibility. The others weren't even a consideration by anyone.
@@realtalk6195 didn't u watch the video?? Jamaica and the other islands rejected the offer and chose to become independent from Britain. It's the other way around, it was jamaica and the other islands that chose not to become apart of canada
@@recodon577 The islands didn't *just* reject it on their own. Canada didn't want them either. In the case of T&C there was actually some Canadian politicians calling for it. And in the case of Belize, it was politicians in Belize calling for it. The other islands were never a serious consideration.
I am a citizen of the Commonwealth of Dominica, I think if my country be a part of Canada at that time, the development of the Island of a Dominica will be unbelievable fantastic, unfortunately, it didn't happen.
Greetings from Canada! I spent a winter in Roseau in the early 90s. Loved Trafalgar falls and the Botanical Gardens. Eating fresh mangoes and coconuts where you just can't get the same level of flavor here. Then again, the imported US apples in the market were absolutely terrible, so I feel sorry for anyone who grew up there thinking that's what they are supposed to taste like.
Canadian Caribbean islands would be interesting. I would imagine it would have economically helped those nations with passport free tourists, access to Canadian universities, and a large (relatively weathly) retirement population of Canadians heading to the islands instead of Florida. Belize would be what Panama/Costa Rica is turning itself into welcome expats.
No offence, but it's one of those things I feel one way or another the USA would ruin. Much like Russia; they tend to get 'upset' when they feel surrounded, whether the threat is valid or not.
Interesting, yes... But solely for the Caribbean population who would essentially receive huge subsidies to upgrade their infrastructures, and have access to ours. The benefits I receive in exchange for an astronomical average tax rate are already piss poor, so financing some random ass country thousands of miles away would be nothing but a huge "fuck you".
@@guillaumegiroux9425 It's actually something that gets drug out every few years, a politician mentions it, the news goes a little overboard with it and then we all forget about it again.
@@Laflamme78 I actually do want it, I want to be able to rent a place in the sun while I work from home and, heck, even use a bit of my constitutional rights to send my kid to a french-language school :P
Been to most of these Caribbean countries and I'd think the one big loss for the locals is a bigger quality of life picture. I think if they joined and had a larger economical benefactor the lives of locals with services could have improved greatly, and we would see less shanty towns on the islands. Some of the nicest people I've met, they would fit right in.
And what makes those shanty towns any better than the homeless addicts all over Canada and the United States? The majority of those shanty town residents are not drug addicted with no hope: but, they are poor people born in their circumstances with a lot of talent and hope of progress. Don’t be a biased ass.😠
@@tehjamerz When Comoros gained independence from France, one island, Mayotte, voted to remain with France. It became an integral part of France. Soon, Comoros was way behind Mayotte in living standard and income, despite being in the same geographical location, same people living there. Now, illegal immigration from Comoros to Mayotte is one the biggest political issues in Mayotte, who now vote Marine Le Pen's party due to its anti illegal immigration stance. There is so much illegal immigration in Mayotte that 70% of the babies born in Mayotte are born to illegal immigrants from Comoros. Being attached to a larger prosperous nation is much more beneficial for the economy as one of the important purposes of taxation is to move wealth from high income to low income (whether its people or regions). Even though Mayotte is a drain on France economically, Mayotte in itself enjoys a much prosperous living standard due to being part of France. In any country, most economic activity is generated in a few large cities, but other areas of the country get developed too. France in return gets strategic territory in the Indian ocean.
@@tehjamerz yeah, why can't they just build their small island nation with limited natural resources into one of the 7 biggest economies on the planet? It so easy!
I knew about the Turks and Caicos joining Canada - the idea comes up about once a generation. The politicians shake their heads, make anti-neo-colonial noises, and move on. Jamaica and Belize, on the other hand, were news to me. By Canadian standards the Turks and Caicos are tiny, smaller than Toronto. Our current smallest province (Prince Edward Island) is 15 times their size.
@@Zraknul no. I think it’s closer to 7 million. That’s like either the third or fourth largest in the country. Can’t remember. Still, keep in mind that’s about 20% of Canada’s existing population
@@hughjass1044 Well ngl i really dont see why you guys would want Jamaica, i mean Jamaica is poor and corrupt and crime is rising there as well, when you think about it the cost don't outweigh the benefits, idk about the other carribean countries but i wouldn't own want to own Jamaica, It would cost Canada so much money to get it to up to standard.
@@chrisbell6490 lol ok canada economy is dying Enjoy paying 800k for a townhouse That you will never pay of. The mass influx of immigrants who are also leaving because Canada just taxes you and leave leaves little room for up word mobility. And now there is legal assistance in suicide. But you want to throw shade at Jamaica? Lol your definitely deserve to be the frozen hell that is Canada in the 21st century 🤡
@@chrisbell6490 I think Jamaica thought, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul (and have his fantastic independent culture watered down to nothing)
I'm from Belize (Previously British Honduras) and I'm so happy hearing the name of my country and a bit about it come out of History Matter's mouth, and damn I didn't know any stuff about the Canada thing tbh. Also I think that the guy holding the sign in 2:14 is supposed to be George Price, aka Father of the Nation
It's amazing how accurate their portraits are with just a few lines. In the one on why New Zealand decided not to join the Australian federation, I recognised early prime ministers Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin and George Reid, and the flags of New South Wales and Queensland.
@@Elitist20 Lol yea, tbh I recognized George Price because of the glasses, if it didn't have the glasses then I'd prob have a harder time recognizing it. The younger George Price wore glasses a lot but pics of when he is of old age doesn't show him with glasses too much
I've heard of the Turks and Caicos proposal, but I didn't know Jamaica could have been included, or that there was such a term as "boilerplate independence"! I found the video quite informative! I also found the Canadian Turks and Caicos flag at 2:50 to be a nice touch. Thanks for the video!
As a Jamaican-Canadian, all I can say is thanks to British Imperialism, the history connects us all. I still wish that all or perhaps some of the Caribbean Islands were taken over as Canadian territories, but we still have our chance to take Cayman, Monserat, and Turks and Caicous.
@@jeanbethencourt1506 No black Jamaican would thank British for atrocities created against our ancestors. Jamaica doesn't only have black people, and the native Jamaican blood runs through black Jamaicans. They were bred out, not completely annihilated. How do you think Jerk was created and passed down in Jamaica?
"The point is guys, just be angry. All the time. Don’t even bother reading up about those dope Caribbean islands that we could get from Britain. Who needs sun and golden beaches when you have access to Nanavut." 😂 These newspaper articles you put in are absolute gems! They deserve more screentime🤓
I totally appreciate being given answers to questions that I didn't even know were questions to begin with. If more kids in history class were taught the craziness of history, a lot more people would grow up loving it and learning from it ! I love history!!!
History lessons in school can't just be made up of a series of anecdotes and cool facts because one has to learn the basics and how to learn history for themselves. You learn to walk before you can run kind of deal.
@@TheWoollyFrog true but a lot of history class is just learning dates and and names. There are a few good schools that really go into history, but many schools do not.
@@TheWoollyFrog History lessons can be whatever. It could almost even be reading fictional information from false stories. School does not care about the lessons you learn from a specific history lesson. Only the skills you gain from picking information out of a textbook. I had one techer who spent half of the year just on vikings because he loved them and technically they are still history even if they have nothing to do with Canada. I had another teacher who literally said to me "We don't care what topics or time period you study in history, just that you learn reading and comprehension skills." So really history lessons can be about anything because the skills you learn studying any history is the same. Better to teach interesting history than lame facts nobody gives a shit about.
I am a lifelong Canadian and I remember talk about the Turks and Caicos Islands joining us back in the 70s. It's a long time ago now so my memory may be inaccurate on some of the details but I remember a lot of enthusiasm for the idea initially at the thought of having a place in the tropics where Canadians could go to get some respite from the winters. If I recall correctly though, we gradually learned that the Turks and Caicos Islands were not keen on having Canadians buying land there and living there in large numbers. I suppose they wanted the trading advantages but didn't want to have to deal with a lot of (former) foreigners buying their land, changing their culture, etc.
Yeah, many of us Americans would prefer NOT to have millions of people coming to our country changing our culture either. However, our rich elites need the slave labor so our borders are open. I suspect much the same would happen in Turks and Caicos, except the natives would be priced off of their land.
Yes I remember the talks about the Turks & Caicos thinking about joining and becoming a part of Canada but I always wondered why, but I never, ever heard any stories ever about Jamaica trying to become a part of Canada. If you look at the Turks & Caicos on the map the islands are small and tiny and are right at the south tail end of the Bahama Islands and are indistinguishable from the other small islands. Why is Turks & Caicos still separate from the rest of the Bahamas even politically. Why didn't these small islands just become a part of the rest of the Bahamas.
We actually still have some interesting close ties with several of the nations that almost became provinces. We provided some infrastructure to them in the lead up to potential assimilation such as ships to begin an inter island service I always tell people about how we almost had our own Caribbean province and they are blown away. What a tragic blunder we made not bringing some of them into the fold
@@rb26benjamin8 it wouldn’t have lasted long at all. Countries tend to annex places that are culturally similar to them, the US annexed all these places because there were enough people from the American mainland living there. They didn’t annex Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico for that exact reason. Canada and the Caribbean have absolutely nothing in common
@@ppppppppp64 If the population is small enough then it really doesn't matter because it's not large enough to cause any serious civil strife. In fact, tiny island nations tend to be in favour of annexation because that means investment, tourism, access to a larger market, etc.
I'm pretty sure Jamaicans wouldn't mind, many of us migrate to find work in Canada or America anyways so being able to streamline the process would've been lovely.
The black population on the island would've been screwed . They would've been barred from many hotels ,businesses and unions and only exploited for cheap labour with little representation. This was still the 60's y'know.
@@MrAnonymousRandom you think white Canadian would've standby and watch as their government spend billions of tax revenue to improve a black country ?Whichever ministers who think that's a good idea would been canned.
Love what this guy is doing he's taking large section of history and condensing it down to just a few minutes. Which makes it so its not boring and making learning history kind of fun and interesting.
well seeing as GB is one of the most successful Oplympic nations, i.e 2nd just after the US but a disproportionate amount of meals, so better than the US considering. You would have been better off sticking the UK
0:57 Imagine this: A Canadian prime minister, despite his strong feelings in favor of absorbing the British West Indies into Canada’s territory, declines the offer by Britain *because the electorate did not want him to.* That kind of integrity from a politician is making my head hurt!
As a Brit, I literally never heard that this was a thing. History Matters putting in a Mark Felton shift of bringing up obscure historical things that nobody has ever heard of. Good work as always!
To be fair, as a Canuck, I haven't heard of most of these either. I mean, hell, WW2 is Battle of the Atlantic, Storming Normandy, and why the Dutch offer us tulips every year. Maybe a little Dieppe on the side. Nothing about running the Caribbean. Of course, the Turks and Caicos do get mentioned from time to time, but it never goes anywhere.
Huh as a Canadian I had no idea and don’t recall this ever being covered in school. Would have been pretty cool to have some tropical provinces as part of Canada. Although logistically I can see why something like this wouldn’t happen.
Mainly because it didnt happen... so why talk about "what ifs", if you're going to talk about all the "what if" scenarios, there would be thousands across history
Also, France owns Martinique in the Caribbean ... and Mayotte near Madagascar. That's no crazier than this logistically speaking. Indeed, I believe Britain currently loosely governs the Turks and Caicos right now, and Britain is actually further away than Canada.
I'm from Poland and in 0:02 I was like: "You don't say?" But well, that was.... really full of surprises. Never been to America, but I think it would be nice to see both Caribbean beaches and Canadian forests
I'm from Trinidad, a country that was part of the proposed West Indies Federation. I'm rather shocked to know my country might have considered to become part of Canada, especially considering our leadership at the time. Also: lmao at "Trinidad and the other one"
yeah my mom's side of the family is from trinidad and a lot of them emigrated to canada, it would crazy if this happened because they might have just stayed in trinidad
The upper class elites wanted a white majority rule over the island and didn't want the blacks to move up. Thanks God they left after independence . Good riddance.
@@Moko_Bomoi You Jamaicans have to seriously work on speaking an intelligible form of English. I'm from another Caribbean island and that made no sense.
@@declannewton2556 you could have requested a translation or interpretation but we love our Patwah dialect passed down by our ancestors , it’s literally what over 90% of the island speaks. It’s just how one Jamaican can identify and relate to another Jamaican🇯🇲
@@Moko_Bomoi It was a semi-serious jest. I, in fact, went to school with 2 Jamaicans. One was able to adapt to the local dialect and the other... had a pretty strong accent. However it's important to know that in my island, there was one topic that had me studying Caribbean dialects including the Jamaican dialect. Being serious, I'm not saying you should stop it. But just commenting on how hard it is to understand.
Canada has very close ties with most of the former British Caribbean Colonies, immigration, foreign aid, even military. For example Canada provided defence troops for most of the Caribbean during WW2 and Jamaicans and Bajans served in the Canadian military during WW2. Although for shear weight of population Florida would be a more likely territory for Canada. 🙂
Florida (and portions of several other states) were once controlled by the British - can only wonder if in some parallel universe we saw the formation of the Dominion of Canada, Florida, and Jamaica? I'm not sure the Commonwealth would have survived having both Florida Man and Aussie Man.
@@Dystopia1111 From what I'm seeing, Florida was only a British colony for 2 decades and that too in the late 1700s. So a hypothetical union or confederation scenario with other British territories makes no sense.
A number of years ago my husband and I spent a vacation in the Bahamas and I was actually surprised by the large number of Canadian banks with a presence in the Bahamas; RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank and CIBC. One of the cable providers in the Bahamas carried a full suite of Canada based TV networks - heck you could even watch Hockey Night in Canada in the Bahamas.
Born in Saint Lucia 🇱🇨 and moved to Canada 🇨🇦. I am very well aware of this history. Although i like the idea of never being part of Canada, what upsets me is those power hungry politicians didn't want to stay united as the Federation of the West Indies only to get Individual islands independent. Alot of us Caribbean people feel connected to each other but only Separated by water. The Federation would of had a big impact on the region if it was alive today.
Canadian here... I will never NEVER forgive our politicians for not making beautiful Turks & Caicos a Canadian province or territory! What a missed opportunity for both Canadians and the people of Turks & Caicos.
You can still go to the Turk and Caicos without a visa, it's still a British Territory. You can also visit Gibraltar and Bermuda visa free if you want.
As a Canadian, this was what we would have dreamed of, having a place in the sun during long winters that was part of us. It never made sense that we didn't combine, I would even up the ante and get Scotland to join us too ...
That would be interesting for sure. As a Scot I'd love to visit many places in Canada (actually have long lost relatives in BC who used to send my granny copies of Beautiful British Columbia magazine)
lol, Canada wouldn't be shit but dam tribes if it wasn't for the Brits. same with Jamaica did you forget the Island was one of the richest places in North America read up on history before you talk shit, we also had the first railroad in the Americas. we didn't need Canada if it wasn't for the US shipping guns down to fund their Ideals we would have been in a better place today but the big guy wanted each and every country in the America's to be dependent on them look at how they fucked up Cuba, it's the same thing they did with Jamaica
I didn't know that the Caribbean islands voluntarily joining Canada was even a historical thing! That's a nifty idea lol. Thank you for these obscure historical tidbits! Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
As a fellow islander of turks and caicos. It’s quite amazing seeing us mentioned since we are really small and barely seen on the map. The canada debate still happens here and there but i dont personally see it going anywhere. Happy that more people know about our existence though :)
@@no_more_spamplease5121 I can certainly see the benefits that it would be bring to the economy. But i doubt it will be a Hawaii considering how small our lands are. Turks and Caicos Islanders have the ability of getting British passports and living in the UK so really i don’t think it would be a super big difference in terms of getting access to universities. If Canada became hands on in our territory that would be the the big difference since the UK rarely intervenes or influence our economy since we are just an overseas territory. We already actually have a good amount of Canadian tourists and a little amount of Canadian residents. So there wouldn’t be a big cultural difference since we pretty much accommodate tourist and other cultures. If we were to be annexed by Canada, we are a tax haven so paying taxes would be a big game changer but perhaps that’ll allow for better infrastructure in the island. If one things for sure, we’d benefit WAY more than Canada if they took us in. There’s not a big push for it right now because we have bigger problems like illegal immigration from neighboring islands. TL;DR : I lean towards yes because the islands need a change to the way its ran and could be improved under proper sovereignty but I am also fine as we are now.
@@pattersong6637 Yeah, we’ve also had our fair scandals of corruption but recently we’ve gotten an influx of celebrities and mentions on tv shows so slowly but surely we’re getting our name out there
Amazing info!! I am Jamaican living in Canada and my children are born Canadian. This is insightful information that I can teach them. Thank you because they don't teach this in Canadian schools!
This is really pedantic, but since I took the time to read through the newspaper segment at 3:06, i noticed that the term "stars and bars" is used to describe the American flag, however that term refers to the first formal flag of the Confederacy instead, not the "stars and stripes,"
I think the “news” is saying that like how some people raise Confederate flags in some places in America in the modern day, they will raise them in Canada if they become the “51st State”. Or maybe it IS an error, IDK.
Ahhh man, such a missed opportunity. I’d love to have my Jamaican homies living up here with me. It doesn’t even get cold in winter where I live in Canadas west coast.
Ah, i see we tricked you. We're absolute dickheads, we're just polite about it lmao. But we do love you folks, so come for a visit and you wont have a bad time. But be aware our bars are stingy on the liquor. I swear these mfers are either watering shit down or are shorting us.
It was prior to 2015. Since then it has declined into a shithole country thanks to the leftist government, their followers and the incompetent leader Trudeau.
I think the whole relationship between Canada and the US is hilarious. Various parts of Canada have a closer economic relationship with various parts of the US than they do with each other. Most Canadians live quite close to the US border. In most of world history a couple of countries like ours would end up becoming one, usually with the larger one (US) absorbing by force the smaller one (Canada). However, in our case there is zero interest in the US conquering Canada, zero interest in Canada becoming part of the US, and we share the second longest land border in the world and it is totally demilitarized. Everyone seems to think the current arrangement is great. LOL! May it continue.
I love ❤️ that last clip!!! Good going!!! Timing is everything and Canada missed out on having tropical 🥒🍹🦈🐬🐠🐟🐙 provinces!!! It would be interesting to have taken place and how Canada would have managed this relationship with far away islands 🏝️🏖️.
As a Canadian I would love it if any Caribbean nation would join us. That said if you a in a Caribbean country and want to join Canada there is one thing can do to guarantee entry: Start a curling club.
I'm a Canadian but my background is Jamaican. I used to wonder the same thing when I was in school because we were both part of the Commonwealth and there are a lot of Jamaicans in Canada.
The main reason I hear that the idea of adding Turks and Caicos or any other island doesn't go anywhere now is that adding another province would be a constitutional issue, and any time you reopen discussion of constitutional issues Quebec has the opportunity to make a long list of demands that bogs everything down so nothing goes anywhere. So any big changes like that are off the table for a long long time. Not sure if that's true, but it's what people say. The way around that would be adding it as a region of an existing province, but then the island would be diluted into some other province and that's not very appealing from the point of view of any island that used to be a whole country.
Not just Quebec anymore bud. opening the constitution is the can of worm that would impact Alberta, BC and all first nations bands and tribes except instead of dealing with this one on one it would be all at the same time.
Well it wouldn't be a good idea though because the cost wouldn't outweigh the benefits Jamaica is poor and corrupt, it would cost canada alot of Money to get it up to standard.
Jamaica had one of the strongest economy then, it wasn't poor, thus the reason why we declined, Canada had nothing to offer us that we didn't already have
Even if a Caribbean nation joined Canada, the average Canadian could not afford to go there. It would be a drain on Canada's finances as Canada has to fund that island's healthcare, police, navy, politicians, etc. The only Canadians who would ever step foot on the island are Canada's rich. So in the end, the average Canadian gets nothing, and the top 10% get a new winter home. For the Canadian middle class, there is already Cuba. We can't own property there, but vacations are reasonably priced. Now, if Cuba ever asked to join Canada, I'd look into a plan to bring business and wealth to Cuba so that that merger might succeed. Cuba gets to be a democracy and free market, and Canada gets an island big enough that even the middle class of Canada stands a reasonable chance of spending the winter there. Many of us already do.
As a Canadian I think this would have been the best thing to ever happen to both Canada and the Caribbean. Imagine living in the Caribbean with all the benefits afforded to all Canadians like health care and good governance. I think if this had happened the Caribbean would be the most crowded place in North America
And that's exactly why it is the best that thing's stay the way they are. No one need crowded Caribbean. You guys go to the vacations there all the time. In ether case you would pay for flight, accommodation, food and services. So it do not change nothing for you as a Canadian, but it does for the rest of the world.
As a Canadian, I weep every time this comes up. I'd be gone to Turks and Caicos Dec. 1 every year for 4 months! T & C could come up and go to uni and ski with the Australians in the Rockies or Laurentians. Best of both worlds for everyone.
I love the newspaper article that wasn't sure if the trade agreement was about trade because they hadn't read it. Which ironically is exactly how Canadians were duped into the deal. (It was about investment, not trade.)
Everyone from the Caribbean; as for Canadians, I'm not exactly sure how financing infrastructures from random sub-5,000 USD per capita nations sitting thousands of miles away could ever be branded as a "benefit". You're going to need some serious austerity policies and/or tax hikes in order to be able to afford the astronomical cost of implementing welfare programs and whatnot, on top of some serious equalization payments. No thanks bud.
@@cyrusthegreat7030 I'm just keeping my argument short. If you want a longer answer, I very much prefer being in an independent country instead of part of another.
Its kinda wierd we hadn't made any significant efforts to make any of them provinces. Alot of the Caribbean nations have great relations with Canada, even the ones who aren't formerly british. Cuba loves us, despite our friendship with the US. Also alot of our seasonal farm workers are from the Caribbean, and the industry is almost entirely dependent on immigrants like them at this piont. It would honestly be nice to see a few of them incorporated into Canada as provinces
@@no_more_spamplease5121 canada tends to get along with most American nations, we never really did anything to mess with anyone else here. I would imagine our worst relationship is with the United states
@@rileydavidson207 I like this... Nations that try to be good citizens in the community of nations, and want to get along well with everyone else... 👍🏼 So, Brazilian diplomacy shares some important values with Canada. Respect to the international law, to multilateral agreements, and pacific resolution of conflicts are historical pillars of the Brazilian diplomacy. That is one of the reasons why Brazil always opens the United Nations' yearly General Assembly meetings, a tradition preserved since UNO's foundation.
@@rileydavidson207 It's the exact opposite. Canadians generally consider the US to be their greatest ally by far and generally ignore everyone else on the Americas.
Always thought it was odd how Windsor Ontario, right by Detroit, is the 'deep South' to Canada. That's one nice thing about the US, a person can experience pretty much every kind of climate zone available. Frozen Tundra in Alaska to the desert in Arizona.
@@rajkaranvirk7525 I'm really talking about South. What is the latitude of the BC desert? Is it above the 45th parallel? That place in BC is really a rain shadow, and despite being warm, it's got nothing on Death Valley. Do mesquite trees grow there? Anyhow, my point, if you look at the geography of Canada, the most Southern you're going to get is Windsor Ontario, and perhaps some island in Lake Erie. That's the "South" of Canada. In the USA for many people that's still pretty far North.
@@AllFirstHand Yeah, it’s almost like the US is below Canada. Denmark’s south is Germany’s north. Also it is a desert, go read up on it. Just cause it doesn’t have a specific flora doesn’t mean it’s not a desert. BC is really different from the rest of Canada weather wise due to the mountains blocking a lot of the cold. During winter it tends to just rain there(although due to climate change there have been some snow dropping).
As a Canadian, it always disappoints me to hear about our lack of Caribbean empire. Why must we be cursed to this frozen hell?
Honestly though. It would make such a nice vacation destination lol
Should have stayed in Europe then
Look on the bright side: it's rapidly becoming a MELTING hell.
@@god-0f-war Then who would be in North America to civilize the Natives?
@@god-0f-war Bro Europe isn't that much warmer lol. Sure the southern countries often are, but there's a lot of variation, and the median temp is close to Canada's iIrc
As a Jamaican, this aspect of our history was not taught in schools even when discussing the topic of the West Indies Federation. This is really enlightening to see.
This was never a serious or mainstream "proposal" so that's why it's not taught.
@Sebastien Friolet *would've** not of.
@@JJMcCullough That makes a lot more sense than people finding the idea not worth discussing despite speculation being fun. Glad to see you pop up on a canadian history video.
Nor, was it taught in Canadian schools. We're only aware of the Turks and Caicos saga.
Breaking up the federation was the dumbest thing Jamaica ever did, coming from a Jamaican
I'm a born Jamaican who moved to Canada 3 months ago. This was never taught in Jamaican schools so I'm glad I have this new perspective on our history.
Same for me and I was born in Canada lol
I hope you’re enjoying my country. In which province are you? I’m in PEI.
@@CanadianMonarchist I live in Toronto, Ontario, and yes I'm enjoying your country. The winters do suck though.😂
@@elitegamer7414 I won’t argue with there. Be sure to come visit PEI sometime; I think August is the nicest time of year to visit.
@@elitegamer7414 I love Jamaicans, welcome to Canada. Too bad you guys tend to move to Toronto though, there’s much better areas 😂
The sheer revenue from Canadian snow birds heading to the islands every winter would have been *HUGE!*
Instead of living in Yuma or Mesa, AZ they would skip us an go the Caribbean. I like it! I live in Mesa and during the winter a bunch of Alberta and BC license plates appear and drive really slowly.
@@xxxBradTxxx I read this comment as an albertan driving to the airport to fly to Phoenix AZ lmao
@@es0x It's okay to speed on the freeways here, just don't do 15 mph over unless everyone else is doing it.
Also the 24 is now connected to Queen Creek at Single Butte and at Ironwood. So if you want to go to the Olive Mill it's a lot quicker now.
And the money would stay in the country. Win-win for all.
Let's be honest, it's more likely that the afro-carribeans would have just had their homes gentrified by white Canadians and forced off the islands are into marginalized communities. So I'm not sure if they were wrong to refuse unification 😅
As a Canadian having Caribbean territories would’ve been awesome but just imagine the the extra islands we’ll have to colour on our social studies homework.
Not to mention the islands would be too small to colour in neatly.
Literally was thinking the same thing
just mark the paper with a colour dot and you are done.
no thanks, we dont need anymore blacks
Nunavut was always a pain in the ass
As a Canadian citizen born in Belize in 1988 to a Canadian mother with older siblings born in British Honduras, this was even more interesting than I expected.
It slightly glosses over Belize fraught relationship with Guatemala but he's only got 4 minutes.
its like this video was made for you
You old, dude!
As a Guatemalan that knows English i think you meant *NorthEastern Guatemala* Belize never was real.
@@AGamerthatregretsalot Chalk that one up to british colonialism I guess, I never learned the history of the region. To be fair, I grew up in Canada and my parents are old school mennonites or, in other words, minimally schooled mennonites. My mom grew up in Canada but her parents wouldn't let her go past grade 6 because she's a girl and we don't really learn about that here. My dad grew up in a Mexican mennonite colony and they went up to grade four for boys. I don't know if the girls were even allowed in school there. Mexican mennonites didn't really value education beyond learning to read and write and memorizing mathematical tables. Thanks for the history lesson, I'd be interested to hear more about it.
Canada owning the Caribbean is almost like Denmark owning Greenland... But everything is the opposite
Or Denmark owning the Caribbean which they did
@@ReuvenGoldstein1 they owned just a couple islands
@@ReuvenGoldstein1 i searched it up and didn't know the used to own some island in the carrabean, Thank you
@@REEEPROGRAM US Virgin islands used to be the Danish Virgin islands.
@@ReuvenGoldstein1 Denmark must pay reparations
As a Trinidadian we we're never taught in Caribbean history class that joining Canada was an option. We were taught that the Brits formed the Federation of the West Indies with its 11 Caribbean territories and after Jamaica departed for individual independence Trinidad followed and the Federation collapsed.
Mainly because it didnt happen... so why talk about "what ifs", if you're going to talk about all the "what if" scenarios, there would be thousands across history
"10 minus 1 equals zero"
@@ShengYu1995 Nah, it is not about "what if," but the point is talking/teaching about what happened: The history class failed to mention that what politicians actually said/discussed, which was the possibility of joining. It's important to know what and how people thought historically.
There are plenty of what if scenarios and political conversations or ideas that never happened in reference to wwi and wwii alone but it is still important to learn about how decisions were made or fell through
There's so much hidden history
As a Jamaican, I had no idea that there was a possibility that we would be a province of Canada. Reality is really stranger than fiction.
Edit: My God, the Internet's denizens will find any reason to fight each other on some shitty website for no fucking reason.
Jamaica would be better off run by more competent administration in Canada
as a canadian i can agree
The Mary Jane would be EPIC!
@@millevenon5853 I don't think so.
Cool Runnings would be quite different
With the number of Canadians who head south every winter, it would make a lot of sense for Canada to try to own some tropical territory in order to try to mitigate that outflow of cash. If Canada had a Caribbean island then it likely would attract a lot of the Canadians that already head south ever year since Canadian travelers wouldn't have to worry about healthcare costs if they get hurt or sick, they wont need a passport, they would use Canadian dollars which would make the destination resilient to changes in currency values, and they can use their normal phone plan without worrying about roaming fees. There would also be benefits to the island nation as it would likely receive a lot of initial investment to bring in up to Canadian standards in terms of healthcare and infrastructure, and then long term also would see a boost in their tourism industry.
Pssssssst. Canadian provinces all have separate health care systems, and won't automatically cover people from other provinces.
If you're traveling inter-provincially within Canada, you should still be getting traveller's health insurance like you would if you were traveling internationally, because you are not guaranteed "free" health care outside your home province.
If you're lucky, your home province will repay the other province for your costs, but they might not.
Yup, many Jamaican's migrate to Canada for better job opportunities any way so it would be a match made in heaven especially if we got some guaranteed support and investment.
@@gungan5822 This is incorrect. They do cover people from other provinces. It's one of the stipulations of the Canada Health Act of 1983 -- portability. If you're from outside Ontario, you can just walk in and get treated in Ontario even if you don't have an Ontario Health Card/aren't a part of OHIP. Every province/territory in Canada will accept the health card/insurance of every other province/territory.
@@BigMikeMcBastard When I was a student in Montreal I continued to use my OHIP card until I became a permanent resident of Quebec.
@@BigMikeMcBastard Then explain why people have been turned down.
Canadian here. Keep in mind that The Turks and Caicos Islands and Canada STILL have the occasional rare talk of them becoming part of Canada. The last mention was a few years ago and decades ago Nova Scotia's provincial Parliament passed a bill allowing the Turks and Caicos to skip a few steps by becoming a part of the province.
It almost happened in 1982 I think. Very close.
I think they would do it if it ever got desperate enough. But they have a lot of options before surrendering its independence. Countries are always hesitant in allow itself to be annexed by another country, even if it makes perfectly logical sense to do so. This is because once a country gives up its independence to become a part of another country, it is almost impossible to regain that independence in the future.
Texas learned this the hard way. Despite having only been in the Union since 1846, Lincoln did not hesitate to denounce its secession a mere 15 years later as illegal. It did not matter if by 1865 Texas had spent 14 of its 29 years of existence as an entity separate from the United States. To Lincoln and the rest of the Union, Texas was as integral to the United States as the rest of the South, and as such would not hesitate to order its occupation (though that never came during the war as Texas and Florida were able to avoid having their capitals occupied until after Lee's surrender).
To Lincoln and the North, the moment the Republic of Texas agreed to its annexation was the moment it lost any claim to independence.
@@Kaiserboo18719 that wasn't the point. The Union viewed Texas as a part of the Confederacy and viewed the Confederacy as a rebellion state. It's not like Texas would then leave the Confederacy if the South won
@@Canada1994 So you think that after Texas seceded from the Union but then refused to join the Confederacy that the United States would respect that decision to become an independent Republic of Texas once again?
@@Kaiserboo18719 maybe or maybe they would negotiate concessions to have them rejoin or they may join of their own free will with the threat of Mexico. They could be another slave state that stayed in the Union like the border states. But keep in mind if it wasn't for the need for balance in Washington between free and slave states the US would've admitted Texas into the Union as soon as they got their independence from Mexico. The Texas uprising was really like the California Bear Republic uprising. A local declaration of independence but with the eventual goal of joining the US.
I remember my parents talking about this. They were all for the islands joining Canada, they thought it would be great to have a tropical region that we didn't need a passport to get to or to exchange our currency. All our snowbirds could remain in Canada and enjoy those benefits while boosting the local and federal economy. Shame it never happened.
I thought Belize would have been the best one.
Honestly if you go to Jamaica or Punta Cana during winter, you’d think they’re the 11th and 12th provinces of Canada 😂
@@Entername-md1ev Cuba
@@francoislemieux4727 that’s the 13th province of Canada 😅
@@Entername-md1evWTF? Hell no lol. Jamaica sucks, you go outside of the resorts and you’ll get constantly harassed or mugged.
Another province? lol yeah ok.
As a Jamaican, I had no knowledge of this ever being discussed or brought forward . History back then mostly focused on American and Russian (USSR) political influence and dominance in the island.
Iirc Canada is never brought up. The west indian federation is 4th and 5th form
I as a Canadian had absolutely no idea about any of this 😬
I thought it was Cuba instead of Russia, cause Proximity
That's the beauty of the internet. Way more info available than just our own country's propaganda.
@@wordsmith451 Please don't
The answers to questions I've never even thought about, well done!
History Matters in a nutshell
As a Belizean I had no idea that we wanted to join Canada. It was never taught in our schools.
What if you did?
You have schools?
@@MasterMalrubius lmao
@@MasterMalrubius lol
@@MasterMalrubius yes, are they good, not that much
As a Jamaicac Canadian this was truly enlightening to see the history of where Jamaica stood in the world and what could've been.
Your not a true Jamaican. You're not even talking about the slaves that fought and died for our Freedom. Just Delete your Comment...Selfish
Still could. It’s only been about 50 years come next year right?
A good a time as any to Bering the discussion back…
But I think that like all thing in Canada poor people will end up forgotten and the rich and middle class will only enjoy it, but they would enjoy Canada with the money they have.
The more you understand this world the more you realize it is worthless.
I didn't realise there was a Jamaican diaspora in Canada until...Snow.
As a Jamaican, having access to Canada's Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve would have been nice.
We'll share.😀
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus thank you
Then you have to give your children sex charges though
Do Jamaicans eat a lot of pancakes?
@@J.i.M.9604 Just start charging a "Syrup Levy" on Canadian tourists. One bottle required at point of entry.
Imagine a reality where you could technically drive across the border of Honduras or Guatemala to a Canadian province? It sounds more outlandish then Canada annexing the Turk and Caicos Island or Jamaica.
Belize would be like Canada’s Alaska
Belize would be like Canada’s Alaska
It kind of exists in the form of Brazil and France.
@@pocketmarcy6990 Or Canada would be Belize's Alaska.
Loads of people would be claiming asylum in Honduras... Whack.
Something overlooked in this video is that adding another province means facing the quagmire of the Constitution Act of 1982 and how Quebec has never formally approved it. On many levels it's easier to let that sleeping dog lie than it is to bring in the Turks and Caicos as another province, which would necessarily mean trying to get Quebec to sign off on the whole thing again since it has the potential to reignite long standing political issues.
If they became a part of a preexisting province they could get around that. (Nova Scotia has brought this up at some point.)
Giggity Constitution
Sooo... Why doesnt Quebec just approve it then?
@@pimcramer2569 The threat of separating from Canada is leverage for Québec. Signing the constitution act would take a lot of sting out of the threat.
@@pimcramer2569 Centuries of being oppressed by a combination of the Roman Catholic Church and the British Crown. Both of those have serious cultural influence in the Rest Of Canada, which is known as the ROC (not to be confused with the Republic of China lmao). Also, Quebec has been the site of the Anglophone-dominated government's suppression of civil dissidence. Also also, there's been a large social movement for secession from the ROC which nearly succeeded a couple times (thanks Charles de Gaulle). This is what it boils down to, but it's an oversimplification. Yeah, Canada's a fucked up place that has no right to exist.
Why didn't Jamaica join Canada?
This channel asks questions that nobody, NOBODY, ask!
It's fantastic and we love you for it.
I saw someone say something like that on "How did the Orthodox Church view the Reformation?"
I love how much effort is put into the newspapers, even though many people will skip them
Every document brought up on screen by History Matters is worth reading :)
The What are your thoughts on the 'insert position here''s reforms. I think they will be *remarkably* successful and bring the Soviets back into parity with the Americans in the cold war.
Though it did spell "Ottawa" wrong
I only noticed because another comment mentioned the error of calling the U.S. flag "stars and bars," and now I feel shamed that I would have ignored it otherwise. I also want to go back through every other HM video--for one, just because, but for two, to find other hidden gems I may have overlooked.
I always pause it and read them, they crack me up to no end
Imagine If the caribbean islands were to have actually joined Canada, would be such a strange world, a place known for snow and being large, owning some Caribbean island know for the heat and being small, definetely a strange world
Given how much Canadians love to vacation in the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican, Mexico and to a lesser degree Jamaica are very popular with Canadians) and how convenient it would be to travel there without a passport, travel insurance and currency exchange... well, that Caribbean location would have a built-in tourist population. I believe Nova Scotia has already legislated that they are willing to accept the Turks and Caicos as part of their province (to simplify the constitutional issues and help them get their infrastructure up to Canadian standards) should they ever join Canada. Most polls have for decades shown that Canadians like the idea of having a Caribbean island join the country as a new province, territory or as part of an Atlantic province (probably NS). It's just that it's not a big priority for anyone.
canadian hawaii
Canada already is one of the largest countries with a relatively small population for its size.
Tbf it's not that much wierder than britain given that it just rains here
So,USA...
Turks and Caicos debate still pops up sometimes. I think most recently the idea was to include it as part of the province of Nova Scotia. But just as randomly as it pops up it fades away again, because people are more concerned (justifiably) about other issues within Canada
Yeah right, because the government can only do one at a time.
Normally, this would be sarcasm, but Justin Trudeau is Prime Minister.
@@MichaelDavis-mk4me I don't think its even been brought up while Trudeau has been PM. It did come up in the early 2000's under Harper. One of his cabinet minister's brought it up again and then it went away as quickly as he brought it up. I mean, if Turk and Caicos are for it, not sure why we aren't. As others have said, it would stop the flow of money to the USA, Mexico and other island countries if Canadians could just vacation in their own tropical province. Imagine flying, no passport needed and using our money.
@@thecheesecakeman Why not? Because (under the NS idea) the locals would have no say over how tourism is regulated, no say in how taxes and budgets are handled, no say over when and how development occurs in a part of the country that would never be prioritised, no affordable transportation to the mainland, etc. The list goes on. but most importantly for you, all that built up resentment T&C locals would have towards the federal and provincial governments would be taken out on mainland tourists.
@MichaelDavis-mk4me
They only can when they are at best an American administrative shadow government in waiting…
Like a prison they only want to do the bare minimum.
So this was fascinating especially cause as a Jamaican my personal experience has been lots of friends and family just traveling/immigrating to Canada before coming back after having made their way in the world.
Lmao I love History Matters "Why didn't Jamaica join Canada?" Consistently funny content from one of the best history UA-cam channels out there
Edit: Once again, HM proves its quality in another video. This one was really interesting, teaching me a bunch about the British in the Western Hemisphere that I hadn't heard about before, which is great!
This is real
This reads straight from some bot template
Am real human person
@@Stilluetto yes
I think Jabzy has got him beat though. Recently anyway
Ever since the Ten Minute History episodes stopped and it's just the short ones.
As a Trinidadian, I wanna say thank you so much for making this fantastic video, and highlighting the history of our beautiful region even more!
What about the other one?
i never noticed how close trinidad y tobago was to brazil.
@@xy5844 oh yeah! Pretty close indeed :)
Actually, planes from Brazil often fly over Trinidad on their way to Orlando.
@@xy5844 its even close to venezuela u can see venezuela from trinidad on clear days
this video doesn't talk about trinidad.
As a Canadian this bit of history always interested me.
There are actually still some in both Turks and Caicos and Canada who want to see it added as the 11th province or fourth territory.
LETS TAKE IT
It will never happen. Canada prides itself on democracy and Turks and Caicos has been, well, less than democratic recently. I don't think it would happen anytime soon
@@CanadaBeef Nonsense, we don't pride ourselves on democracy lol.
The islands already have full autonomy as an overseas territory so there’s no point in altering which country they are tied to
@@CanadaBeef Lmao Canada doesn’t pride itself in democracy at all.
It always amazes me how much info this channel packs into a few minutes.
Lol I genuinely went: wha?
Same here
Heh
ditto
As a Belizean I thank you for making this obscure bit of Caribbean history more well-known to the world, but to be honest I cringed every time you only said Honduras without adding 'British ' in front.
It might seem like nit picking but realistically Honduras is a totally different country. Also, there's another potential video "Why was Belize the last mainland territory of the UK in the Western Hemisphere ?"
Belize would be like Canada's alaska
ayyy belize gang
BELIZE 🇧🇿 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
Cringed everytime? He said Honduras once, and calls it British Honduras all the other times.
@horriblepancake True. But it's the little details that make the difference.
As a Canadian, I had no idea there was a possibility of Jamaica joining Canada
Because there wasn't. Turks & Caicos and Belize are the only countries that actually had any possibility. The others weren't even a consideration by anyone.
@@realtalk6195 didn't u watch the video?? Jamaica and the other islands rejected the offer and chose to become independent from Britain. It's the other way around, it was jamaica and the other islands that chose not to become apart of canada
@@recodon577 The islands didn't *just* reject it on their own. Canada didn't want them either. In the case of T&C there was actually some Canadian politicians calling for it. And in the case of Belize, it was politicians in Belize calling for it. The other islands were never a serious consideration.
we couldnt defend them as we cant defend ourselves , jesus christ, North Korea could invade us and we would have to surrender !
It could have been, but Prime Minister Borden said no.
I am a citizen of the Commonwealth of Dominica, I think if my country be a part of Canada at that time, the development of the Island of a Dominica will be unbelievable fantastic, unfortunately, it didn't happen.
Ultra IMAX 4DX for sure and a Tim Hortons on every corner
Greetings from Canada! I spent a winter in Roseau in the early 90s. Loved Trafalgar falls and the Botanical Gardens. Eating fresh mangoes and coconuts where you just can't get the same level of flavor here. Then again, the imported US apples in the market were absolutely terrible, so I feel sorry for anyone who grew up there thinking that's what they are supposed to taste like.
Same with Jamaica. Canadians are very nice. Instead, we turn them down and stick to our colonizers and slave masters
Canadian Caribbean islands would be interesting. I would imagine it would have economically helped those nations with passport free tourists, access to Canadian universities, and a large (relatively weathly) retirement population of Canadians heading to the islands instead of Florida. Belize would be what Panama/Costa Rica is turning itself into welcome expats.
No offence, but it's one of those things I feel one way or another the USA would ruin.
Much like Russia; they tend to get 'upset' when they feel surrounded, whether the threat is valid or not.
@@anasevi9456 the US wouldn't care lol
Canada is friendly and not a threat in the slightest
Interesting, yes... But solely for the Caribbean population who would essentially receive huge subsidies to upgrade their infrastructures, and have access to ours. The benefits I receive in exchange for an astronomical average tax rate are already piss poor, so financing some random ass country thousands of miles away would be nothing but a huge "fuck you".
@@FF-ct5dr Canada and the Caribbean are still in the same hemisphere 🥴
@@MrCrazyeyes07 Fair point that but that doesn't invalidate much, does it?
As a Canadian, I had no idea this was even a question put forward
My grandma did told me about the Turks and Caicos one tbh
@@guillaumegiroux9425 It's actually something that gets drug out every few years, a politician mentions it, the news goes a little overboard with it and then we all forget about it again.
@@Laflamme78 I actually do want it, I want to be able to rent a place in the sun while I work from home and, heck, even use a bit of my constitutional rights to send my kid to a french-language school :P
Had they joined Canada, they would have won the most gold medal in winter Olympics, especially in bobsled
The master of two seasonal sports games
And weed would have been completely legal by now
@@AgentDanielCross I can picture the new Jamaicanadian flag now.
@@AgentDanielCross Weed is legal in Canada. Has been for a while. Not in Jamaica strangely.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus exactly what i mean.
Been to most of these Caribbean countries and I'd think the one big loss for the locals is a bigger quality of life picture. I think if they joined and had a larger economical benefactor the lives of locals with services could have improved greatly, and we would see less shanty towns on the islands. Some of the nicest people I've met, they would fit right in.
And what makes those shanty towns any better than the homeless addicts all over Canada and the United States? The majority of those shanty town residents are not drug addicted with no hope: but, they are poor people born in their circumstances with a lot of talent and hope of progress. Don’t be a biased ass.😠
Joined? Nothing stopping them from making one of their own... why must they attach themselves to an existing success?
Because it’s such a small island under ruling of another
@@tehjamerz When Comoros gained independence from France, one island, Mayotte, voted to remain with France. It became an integral part of France. Soon, Comoros was way behind Mayotte in living standard and income, despite being in the same geographical location, same people living there. Now, illegal immigration from Comoros to Mayotte is one the biggest political issues in Mayotte, who now vote Marine Le Pen's party due to its anti illegal immigration stance. There is so much illegal immigration in Mayotte that 70% of the babies born in Mayotte are born to illegal immigrants from Comoros. Being attached to a larger prosperous nation is much more beneficial for the economy as one of the important purposes of taxation is to move wealth from high income to low income (whether its people or regions). Even though Mayotte is a drain on France economically, Mayotte in itself enjoys a much prosperous living standard due to being part of France. In any country, most economic activity is generated in a few large cities, but other areas of the country get developed too. France in return gets strategic territory in the Indian ocean.
@@tehjamerz yeah, why can't they just build their small island nation with limited natural resources into one of the 7 biggest economies on the planet? It so easy!
I knew about the Turks and Caicos joining Canada - the idea comes up about once a generation. The politicians shake their heads, make anti-neo-colonial noises, and move on. Jamaica and Belize, on the other hand, were news to me.
By Canadian standards the Turks and Caicos are tiny, smaller than Toronto. Our current smallest province (Prince Edward Island) is 15 times their size.
Merging all of them into Canada would only be about 5 million people. About enough to make a good sized province.
@@Zraknul multi-island nations always struggle especially if they are culturally different. Hell look at the UK and they only have 2
@@rileydavidson207 2? There are over 6,000 islands in the British Isles.....
@@Zraknul no. I think it’s closer to 7 million. That’s like either the third or fourth largest in the country. Can’t remember. Still, keep in mind that’s about 20% of Canada’s existing population
@@MichaelGGarry I was referring to the British islands and how they could barely keep that together for the longest time
"Failed to have its own Hawaii" was what was on my mind throughout the entire video, haha! Cheers from Toronto 🍁
Well, hopefully without all the terrible things that happened to native Hawaiians (but probably not ☹️.)
What an opportunity missed for us Canadians... a Caribbean territory of our own; and one which wanted to join with us! We need to try again!
No thanks.
Nah only cold and suffering for you
@@locomotivesteam9334 Well no, not exactly. Just lots and lots of winter vacation money NOT spent in Canada.
@@hughjass1044 Well ngl i really dont see why you guys would want Jamaica, i mean Jamaica is poor and corrupt and crime is rising there as well, when you think about it the cost don't outweigh the benefits, idk about the other carribean countries but i wouldn't own want to own Jamaica, It would cost Canada so much money to get it to up to standard.
@@locomotivesteam9334 Oh, I agree completely about Jamaica. I'm talking about The Turks & Caicos.
As a member of both these nations I was taught this by my father
I'm glad Jamaica kept their independence
Ya they’ve really done well for themselves lol
@@chrisbell6490 lol ok canada economy is dying
Enjoy paying 800k for a townhouse
That you will never pay of.
The mass influx of immigrants who are also leaving because Canada just taxes you and leave leaves little room for up word mobility.
And now there is legal assistance in suicide.
But you want to throw shade at Jamaica?
Lol your definitely deserve to be the frozen hell that is Canada in the 21st century
🤡
@@chrisbell6490 they are growing now :D
@@chrisbell6490
I think Jamaica thought,
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul (and have his fantastic independent culture watered down to nothing)
@@chrisbell6490 We much rather be a poor independent country than to be a white man’s colony.
Jamaica chose to be under the possession of James Bisonette instead
Hispaniola chose the Same!
Stop with the James Bisonette references, Jamaican me crazy!
Fr tho, Bissonette prolly has enough cash to buy the whole country lol
For a second, I thought you were gonna say James Bond.
Plot Twist: James Bisonette makes money using his trustworthy invention: Kelly Moneymaker
I'm from Belize (Previously British Honduras) and I'm so happy hearing the name of my country and a bit about it come out of History Matter's mouth, and damn I didn't know any stuff about the Canada thing tbh. Also I think that the guy holding the sign in 2:14 is supposed to be George Price, aka Father of the Nation
It's amazing how accurate their portraits are with just a few lines. In the one on why New Zealand decided not to join the Australian federation, I recognised early prime ministers Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin and George Reid, and the flags of New South Wales and Queensland.
@@Elitist20 Lol yea, tbh I recognized George Price because of the glasses, if it didn't have the glasses then I'd prob have a harder time recognizing it. The younger George Price wore glasses a lot but pics of when he is of old age doesn't show him with glasses too much
I've heard of the Turks and Caicos proposal, but I didn't know Jamaica could have been included, or that there was such a term as "boilerplate independence"! I found the video quite informative! I also found the Canadian Turks and Caicos flag at 2:50 to be a nice touch. Thanks for the video!
As a Jamaican-Canadian, all I can say is thanks to British Imperialism, the history connects us all. I still wish that all or perhaps some of the Caribbean Islands were taken over as Canadian territories, but we still have our chance to take Cayman, Monserat, and Turks and Caicous.
Feel bad for all the indigenous Jamaicans the British anhiliated in order to make room for your ancestors, though.
@@jeanbethencourt1506 No black Jamaican would thank British for atrocities created against our ancestors. Jamaica doesn't only have black people, and the native Jamaican blood runs through black Jamaicans. They were bred out, not completely annihilated. How do you think Jerk was created and passed down in Jamaica?
This is the craziest comment I've ever read
If it’s any consolation to my Canadian friends, you did host the first ever Jamaican bobsled team
"The point is guys, just be angry. All the time. Don’t even bother reading up about those dope Caribbean islands that we could get from Britain. Who needs sun and golden beaches when you have access to Nanavut."
😂
These newspaper articles you put in are absolute gems! They deserve more screentime🤓
Hell Nunavut didn't even exist yet and it's still a joke
"They deserve more screentime🤓" 🤓 the whole point of such jokes is that it is for fans to pause and read
*trade pact *WORST THING IN THE HISTORY OF, LIKE, EVER*
Literally in 13 billion years''
😂😂😂😂
@Mary Antonio Huh? I don’t get it😄 Are you Canadian? Do you long for warm beaches? 😄
@@sudhanvakashyap297 But lots probably don’t, and that’s a shame😬
I totally appreciate being given answers to questions that I didn't even know were questions to begin with. If more kids in history class were taught the craziness of history, a lot more people would grow up loving it and learning from it ! I love history!!!
History lessons in school can't just be made up of a series of anecdotes and cool facts because one has to learn the basics and how to learn history for themselves. You learn to walk before you can run kind of deal.
@@TheWoollyFrog true but a lot of history class is just learning dates and and names. There are a few good schools that really go into history, but many schools do not.
@@TheWoollyFrog History lessons can be whatever. It could almost even be reading fictional information from false stories. School does not care about the lessons you learn from a specific history lesson. Only the skills you gain from picking information out of a textbook. I had one techer who spent half of the year just on vikings because he loved them and technically they are still history even if they have nothing to do with Canada. I had another teacher who literally said to me "We don't care what topics or time period you study in history, just that you learn reading and comprehension skills."
So really history lessons can be about anything because the skills you learn studying any history is the same. Better to teach interesting history than lame facts nobody gives a shit about.
I am a lifelong Canadian and I remember talk about the Turks and Caicos Islands joining us back in the 70s. It's a long time ago now so my memory may be inaccurate on some of the details but I remember a lot of enthusiasm for the idea initially at the thought of having a place in the tropics where Canadians could go to get some respite from the winters. If I recall correctly though, we gradually learned that the Turks and Caicos Islands were not keen on having Canadians buying land there and living there in large numbers. I suppose they wanted the trading advantages but didn't want to have to deal with a lot of (former) foreigners buying their land, changing their culture, etc.
Bingo!
Not to dissimilar to Prince Edward Island which iirc has real estate ownership restrictions as well.
Yeah, many of us Americans would prefer NOT to have millions of people coming to our country changing our culture either. However, our rich elites need the slave labor so our borders are open. I suspect much the same would happen in Turks and Caicos, except the natives would be priced off of their land.
Simple don't sell
Yes I remember the talks about the Turks & Caicos thinking about joining and becoming a part of Canada but I always wondered why, but I never, ever heard any stories ever about Jamaica trying to become a part of Canada. If you look at the Turks & Caicos on the map the islands are small and tiny and are right at the south tail end of the Bahama Islands and are indistinguishable from the other small islands. Why is Turks & Caicos still separate from the rest of the Bahamas even politically. Why didn't these small islands just become a part of the rest of the Bahamas.
As a Canadian "A Hawaii of our own" sounds fantastic. Too bad it didn't come together. Perhaps I'll just go be a tourist in Turks and Caicos anyway.
Keep in mind, considering our stupid airport fees, it would be cheaper to just go to Hawaii even if Turks and Caicos were a province.
Bro I’m vacationing in Turks right now. Sitting on my resort porch learning how this place could’ve been know as Canada
Instead we go to Cuba
@@blakeapexx1450 I'll probably wait for mid winter and head down. How are the travel restrictions/requirements?
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus they are pretty lax, if your over 18 you have to be vaccinated but other than that it’s pretty chill
We actually still have some interesting close ties with several of the nations that almost became provinces. We provided some infrastructure to them in the lead up to potential assimilation such as ships to begin an inter island service
I always tell people about how we almost had our own Caribbean province and they are blown away. What a tragic blunder we made not bringing some of them into the fold
If it happened it was never going to last long you and I know it
@@rb26benjamin8 it wouldn’t have lasted long at all. Countries tend to annex places that are culturally similar to them, the US annexed all these places because there were enough people from the American mainland living there. They didn’t annex Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico for that exact reason. Canada and the Caribbean have absolutely nothing in common
@@ppppppppp64 exactly
Best choice we ever made. We already pour cash into quebec, why pour cash into another shit hole?
@@ppppppppp64 If the population is small enough then it really doesn't matter because it's not large enough to cause any serious civil strife. In fact, tiny island nations tend to be in favour of annexation because that means investment, tourism, access to a larger market, etc.
I'm pretty sure Jamaicans wouldn't mind, many of us migrate to find work in Canada or America anyways so being able to streamline the process would've been lovely.
The black population on the island would've been screwed . They would've been barred from many hotels ,businesses and unions and only exploited for cheap labour with little representation. This was still the 60's y'know.
And here I thought Jamaicans had self respect.
Yeah why wouldn’t a completely separate independent nation not want to be a second class territory for Canadians to vacation at?
The problem is Canada has to deal with Jamaica's problems and spend the money to bring the island up to Canadian standards.
@@MrAnonymousRandom you think white Canadian would've standby and watch as their government spend billions of tax revenue to improve a black country ?Whichever ministers who think that's a good idea would been canned.
Love what this guy is doing he's taking large section of history and condensing it down to just a few minutes. Which makes it so its not boring and making learning history kind of fun and interesting.
Jamaican + Canadian track and field...combined? Unstoppable.🇨🇦❤🇯🇲
Jamaica by themselves are unstoppable. What are you on about?
Perhaps, but I wonder if any Jamaicans would manage to qualify for the Canadian bobsledding team.
we both smoke weed!
well seeing as GB is one of the most successful Oplympic nations, i.e 2nd just after the US but a disproportionate amount of meals, so better than the US considering. You would have been better off sticking the UK
@@davidrenton 🤣 hmm ... could that attitude be why they didn’t want to join the UK ???
0:57 Imagine this: A Canadian prime minister, despite his strong feelings in favor of absorbing the British West Indies into Canada’s territory, declines the offer by Britain *because the electorate did not want him to.* That kind of integrity from a politician is making my head hurt!
It's a good thing because I for one did not want to grow up in servitude society
As a Brit, I literally never heard that this was a thing. History Matters putting in a Mark Felton shift of bringing up obscure historical things that nobody has ever heard of. Good work as always!
To be fair, as a Canuck, I haven't heard of most of these either. I mean, hell, WW2 is Battle of the Atlantic, Storming Normandy, and why the Dutch offer us tulips every year. Maybe a little Dieppe on the side. Nothing about running the Caribbean. Of course, the Turks and Caicos do get mentioned from time to time, but it never goes anywhere.
Huh as a Canadian I had no idea and don’t recall this ever being covered in school.
Would have been pretty cool to have some tropical provinces as part of Canada. Although logistically I can see why something like this wouldn’t happen.
Mainly because it didnt happen... so why talk about "what ifs", if you're going to talk about all the "what if" scenarios, there would be thousands across history
Logistics? We have people living on Ellesmere Island nearly 1200 km north of the Arctic Circle.
@@ShengYu1995 It's fun and helps us learn :)
Also, France owns Martinique in the Caribbean ... and Mayotte near Madagascar. That's no crazier than this logistically speaking. Indeed, I believe Britain currently loosely governs the Turks and Caicos right now, and Britain is actually further away than Canada.
I'm from Poland and in 0:02 I was like: "You don't say?"
But well, that was.... really full of surprises. Never been to America, but I think it would be nice to see both Caribbean beaches and Canadian forests
I'm from Trinidad, a country that was part of the proposed West Indies Federation.
I'm rather shocked to know my country might have considered to become part of Canada, especially considering our leadership at the time.
Also: lmao at "Trinidad and the other one"
yeah my mom's side of the family is from trinidad and a lot of them emigrated to canada, it would crazy if this happened because they might have just stayed in trinidad
@Li F
But why should an underdeveloped country like Trinidad make it easier for brain drain to occur?
You know people still have to live here right?
Tobago: Let me introduce myself....
@@syxepop Tobacco? How I smoke thee. Let me count the ways.
I'm curious how the population would've taken that. Would it be good or bad to be part of Canada?
Video Idea: How did Japan react to Germany’s Surrender in WW2?
(Yes, I did already comment this but I really want to see this)
Just search it up bro
@@cottontheeastercottontailr265 Nah i would like to see a 3-4 minute animated video explaining that with James Bisonette jokes in the end
They were probably like: “that sucks,” and went about their business.
two words: "well, crap".
They jailed the ambassador
Britain wasn’t struggling with being broke, that excelled at it!
We(Jamaica) just celebrated 60 years of independence so to hear that we went from British to almost Canadian is funny in my opinion
A mi fi tell yu 😂
The upper class elites wanted a white majority rule over the island and didn't want the blacks to move up. Thanks God they left after independence . Good riddance.
@@Moko_Bomoi
You Jamaicans have to seriously work on speaking an intelligible form of English.
I'm from another Caribbean island and that made no sense.
@@declannewton2556 you could have requested a translation or interpretation but we love our Patwah dialect passed down by our ancestors , it’s literally what over 90% of the island speaks. It’s just how one Jamaican can identify and relate to another Jamaican🇯🇲
@@Moko_Bomoi
It was a semi-serious jest.
I, in fact, went to school with 2 Jamaicans. One was able to adapt to the local dialect and the other... had a pretty strong accent.
However it's important to know that in my island, there was one topic that had me studying Caribbean dialects including the Jamaican dialect.
Being serious, I'm not saying you should stop it. But just commenting on how hard it is to understand.
Canada has very close ties with most of the former British Caribbean Colonies, immigration, foreign aid, even military. For example Canada provided defence troops for most of the Caribbean during WW2 and Jamaicans and Bajans served in the Canadian military during WW2. Although for shear weight of population Florida would be a more likely territory for Canada. 🙂
Or Yuma, AZ. That town is full of Canadian retirees during the winter.
Florida (and portions of several other states) were once controlled by the British - can only wonder if in some parallel universe we saw the formation of the Dominion of Canada, Florida, and Jamaica? I'm not sure the Commonwealth would have survived having both Florida Man and Aussie Man.
@@Dystopia1111 From what I'm seeing, Florida was only a British colony for 2 decades and that too in the late 1700s. So a hypothetical union or confederation scenario with other British territories makes no sense.
A number of years ago my husband and I spent a vacation in the Bahamas and I was actually surprised by the large number of Canadian banks with a presence in the Bahamas; RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank and CIBC. One of the cable providers in the Bahamas carried a full suite of Canada based TV networks - heck you could even watch Hockey Night in Canada in the Bahamas.
Canada has a military base in Jamaica for some reason
Born in Saint Lucia 🇱🇨 and moved to Canada 🇨🇦. I am very well aware of this history. Although i like the idea of never being part of Canada, what upsets me is those power hungry politicians didn't want to stay united as the Federation of the West Indies only to get Individual islands independent.
Alot of us Caribbean people feel connected to each other but only Separated by water. The Federation would of had a big impact on the region if it was alive today.
🇱🇨 always nice to see another Saint Lucian
I like these videos; it's not overly idiosyncratic, but still interesting. And brief, but concise.
2:37 Okay, now I have a new question: Why doesn't the Bahamas own the Turks and Caicos?
Pretty sure it was due to usage for like different purposes.
Canadian here... I will never NEVER forgive our politicians for not making beautiful Turks & Caicos a Canadian province or territory! What a missed opportunity for both Canadians and the people of Turks & Caicos.
to bad only pain and suffering for you
Oi, keep your beady eyes off our lovely islands!
Two nationalist?
You can still go to the Turk and Caicos without a visa, it's still a British Territory. You can also visit Gibraltar and Bermuda visa free if you want.
@@JollyOldCanuck but their Canadian?
1:36
Trinidad and the other one is a great country. Highly recommend to visit.
We're also pretty much the richest of the Caribbean.
That part made my day, rotfl.
@@declannewton2556
Oh, you live in Trinidad and the former Latvian colony?
@@מ.מ-ה9ד Yes I do
As a Canadian, this was what we would have dreamed of, having a place in the sun during long winters that was part of us. It never made sense that we didn't combine, I would even up the ante and get Scotland to join us too ...
That would be interesting for sure. As a Scot I'd love to visit many places in Canada (actually have long lost relatives in BC who used to send my granny copies of Beautiful British Columbia magazine)
Yeah America got Hawai and ao many islands, Canada nothing but cold
Why not just have the whole UK join Canada, as four new Provinces?
Jamaica is the last place I'd assumed to be up for grabs by Canada at one point in time, this is one than trivia for me
You’re videos are great! I learn so much from them
Yes. You are videos are great
@@jokuvaan5175 Oop
There has to be an alternate universe where Jamaica is not only Canadian, but has an NHL franchise in Kingston.
What would be the name of the team?
In that alternate universe, Kingston ended up with the Hartford Whalers franchise, which as a tribute to Reggae was renamed the Kingston Wailers...
@@erkindanger What's that sound? Oh, just a million claps sounding at once.
Kingston Kings would be too easy.
The Bobsledders
The Rastafarians.
As a Canadian, WE DO NOT WANT YOU GO AWAY!!!! we give away enough money helping every 3rd world country but ourselves.
lol, Canada wouldn't be shit but dam tribes if it wasn't for the Brits. same with Jamaica did you forget the Island was one of the richest places in North America read up on history before you talk shit, we also had the first railroad in the Americas. we didn't need Canada if it wasn't for the US shipping guns down to fund their Ideals we would have been in a better place today but the big guy wanted each and every country in the America's to be dependent on them look at how they fucked up Cuba, it's the same thing they did with Jamaica
Yup
I didn't know that the Caribbean islands voluntarily joining Canada was even a historical thing! That's a nifty idea lol. Thank you for these obscure historical tidbits!
Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
Welcome to another episode of: Answering Question you never asked but want to know anyway.
As a fellow islander of turks and caicos. It’s quite amazing seeing us mentioned since we are really small and barely seen on the map. The canada debate still happens here and there but i dont personally see it going anywhere. Happy that more people know about our existence though :)
So, would you prefer your land join the almighty Canada?
@@no_more_spamplease5121 I can certainly see the benefits that it would be bring to the economy. But i doubt it will be a Hawaii considering how small our lands are. Turks and Caicos Islanders have the ability of getting British passports and living in the UK so really i don’t think it would be a super big difference in terms of getting access to universities. If Canada became hands on in our territory that would be the the big difference since the UK rarely intervenes or influence our economy since we are just an overseas territory. We already actually have a good amount of Canadian tourists and a little amount of Canadian residents. So there wouldn’t be a big cultural difference since we pretty much accommodate tourist and other cultures. If we were to be annexed by Canada, we are a tax haven so paying taxes would be a big game changer but perhaps that’ll allow for better infrastructure in the island. If one things for sure, we’d benefit WAY more than Canada if they took us in. There’s not a big push for it right now because we have bigger problems like illegal immigration from neighboring islands.
TL;DR : I lean towards yes because the islands need a change to the way its ran and could be improved under proper sovereignty but I am also fine as we are now.
@@simplicity7862 Just wondering has there ever been a movement to join the Bahamas.
P.S. I’m Bahamian
Sadly, the rest of the world mainly has heard of your lovely islands as tax dodging locations. I hope this helps people know you guys for other stuff!
@@pattersong6637 Yeah, we’ve also had our fair scandals of corruption but recently we’ve gotten an influx of celebrities and mentions on tv shows so slowly but surely we’re getting our name out there
Amazing info!! I am Jamaican living in Canada and my children are born Canadian. This is insightful information that I can teach them. Thank you because they don't teach this in Canadian schools!
This is really pedantic, but since I took the time to read through the newspaper segment at 3:06, i noticed that the term "stars and bars" is used to describe the American flag, however that term refers to the first formal flag of the Confederacy instead, not the "stars and stripes,"
I think the “news” is saying that like how some people raise Confederate flags in some places in America in the modern day, they will raise them in Canada if they become the “51st State”. Or maybe it IS an error, IDK.
0:45 I think here you where trying to show upper and lower nigeria beign unified but only a sliver appered.
British Western Hemisphere Dominion? A successive superpower to try out in the modern era of crises and geopolitical challenges
Ahhh man, such a missed opportunity. I’d love to have my Jamaican homies living up here with me. It doesn’t even get cold in winter where I live in Canadas west coast.
I remember all this and this video sums it up perfectly. It's exactly right.
As an American, I love Canadians!! I love the humble character and friendly personalities almost all Canadians have!! A very beautiful country, too!!
Ah, i see we tricked you. We're absolute dickheads, we're just polite about it lmao. But we do love you folks, so come for a visit and you wont have a bad time. But be aware our bars are stingy on the liquor. I swear these mfers are either watering shit down or are shorting us.
It was prior to 2015. Since then it has declined into a shithole country thanks to the leftist government, their followers and the incompetent leader Trudeau.
Thank you!
I think the whole relationship between Canada and the US is hilarious. Various parts of Canada have a closer economic relationship with various parts of the US than they do with each other. Most Canadians live quite close to the US border. In most of world history a couple of countries like ours would end up becoming one, usually with the larger one (US) absorbing by force the smaller one (Canada). However, in our case there is zero interest in the US conquering Canada, zero interest in Canada becoming part of the US, and we share the second longest land border in the world and it is totally demilitarized. Everyone seems to think the current arrangement is great. LOL! May it continue.
I love ❤️ that last clip!!! Good going!!! Timing is everything and Canada missed out on having tropical 🥒🍹🦈🐬🐠🐟🐙 provinces!!! It would be interesting to have taken place and how Canada would have managed this relationship with far away islands 🏝️🏖️.
History Matters always answering burning questions I never had or thought about. Great!
As a Canadian I would love it if any Caribbean nation would join us. That said if you a in a Caribbean country and want to join Canada there is one thing can do to guarantee entry: Start a curling club.
Is there something wrong with the map at 1:27?
Britain not being a part of the the British empire
All i see is GB and Ireland(not Northern bc pre-1922) not included
I'm a Canadian but my background is Jamaican. I used to wonder the same thing when I was in school because we were both part of the Commonwealth and there are a lot of Jamaicans in Canada.
We have huge ties to Jamaica here in Canada. I'm glad that we didn't take control of Jamaica, we treated the indigenous people here bad enough.
The main reason I hear that the idea of adding Turks and Caicos or any other island doesn't go anywhere now is that adding another province would be a constitutional issue, and any time you reopen discussion of constitutional issues Quebec has the opportunity to make a long list of demands that bogs everything down so nothing goes anywhere. So any big changes like that are off the table for a long long time. Not sure if that's true, but it's what people say.
The way around that would be adding it as a region of an existing province, but then the island would be diluted into some other province and that's not very appealing from the point of view of any island that used to be a whole country.
Not just Quebec anymore bud. opening the constitution is the can of worm that would impact Alberta, BC and all first nations bands and tribes except instead of dealing with this one on one it would be all at the same time.
Man! as a Canadian I would have loved to have those Carrabian islands be a part of Canada! they are good places to go to for the winter!
As a dutchman I agree. I love that we still have our own carrabian islands.
Well it wouldn't be a good idea though because the cost wouldn't outweigh the benefits Jamaica is poor and corrupt, it would cost canada alot of Money to get it up to standard.
Jamaica had one of the strongest economy then, it wasn't poor, thus the reason why we declined, Canada had nothing to offer us that we didn't already have
The famous Canadian Province of Jamaica 🇨🇦
Bob Marley the greatest Canadian to ever lived eh
The fastest woman alive, the great Canadian, Elaine Thompson Herah.
Even if a Caribbean nation joined Canada, the average Canadian could not afford to go there. It would be a drain on Canada's finances as Canada has to fund that island's healthcare, police, navy, politicians, etc. The only Canadians who would ever step foot on the island are Canada's rich. So in the end, the average Canadian gets nothing, and the top 10% get a new winter home.
For the Canadian middle class, there is already Cuba. We can't own property there, but vacations are reasonably priced. Now, if Cuba ever asked to join Canada, I'd look into a plan to bring business and wealth to Cuba so that that merger might succeed. Cuba gets to be a democracy and free market, and Canada gets an island big enough that even the middle class of Canada stands a reasonable chance of spending the winter there. Many of us already do.
As a Canadian I think this would have been the best thing to ever happen to both Canada and the Caribbean. Imagine living in the Caribbean with all the benefits afforded to all Canadians like health care and good governance. I think if this had happened the Caribbean would be the most crowded place in North America
We absolutely do not have good governance stop it
@@eeriekekashi419 Well it used to be good. If you speak of now days of course not. But I am optimistic that it will change soon.
@@eeriekekashi419 many people would kill to live in canada
And that's exactly why it is the best that thing's stay the way they are. No one need crowded Caribbean.
You guys go to the vacations there all the time. In ether case you would pay for flight, accommodation, food and services. So it do not change nothing for you as a Canadian, but it does for the rest of the world.
@@q-m-q1362 yeah, hope Trudeau will no longer be in power after 2025.
As a Canadian, I weep every time this comes up. I'd be gone to Turks and Caicos Dec. 1 every year for 4 months! T & C could come up and go to uni and ski with the Australians in the Rockies or Laurentians. Best of both worlds for everyone.
I love the newspaper article that wasn't sure if the trade agreement was about trade because they hadn't read it. Which ironically is exactly how Canadians were duped into the deal. (It was about investment, not trade.)
Wow! Thank you for this video. I love learning new information that was completely unbeknownst to me.
Imagine if that was true, I think everyone could benefit from this
No.
@@declannewton2556 such a amazing argument you showed with “no”.
Everyone from the Caribbean; as for Canadians, I'm not exactly sure how financing infrastructures from random sub-5,000 USD per capita nations sitting thousands of miles away could ever be branded as a "benefit". You're going to need some serious austerity policies and/or tax hikes in order to be able to afford the astronomical cost of implementing welfare programs and whatnot, on top of some serious equalization payments. No thanks bud.
@@cyrusthegreat7030
I'm just keeping my argument short.
If you want a longer answer, I very much prefer being in an independent country instead of part of another.
No
Its kinda wierd we hadn't made any significant efforts to make any of them provinces. Alot of the Caribbean nations have great relations with Canada, even the ones who aren't formerly british. Cuba loves us, despite our friendship with the US. Also alot of our seasonal farm workers are from the Caribbean, and the industry is almost entirely dependent on immigrants like them at this piont. It would honestly be nice to see a few of them incorporated into Canada as provinces
"Cuba loves us." That's because your prime minister is the son of their former president
How is Canada's relationship with Brazil? Is it great too?
@@no_more_spamplease5121 canada tends to get along with most American nations, we never really did anything to mess with anyone else here. I would imagine our worst relationship is with the United states
@@rileydavidson207 I like this... Nations that try to be good citizens in the community of nations, and want to get along well with everyone else... 👍🏼
So, Brazilian diplomacy shares some important values with Canada. Respect to the international law, to multilateral agreements, and pacific resolution of conflicts are historical pillars of the Brazilian diplomacy. That is one of the reasons why Brazil always opens the United Nations' yearly General Assembly meetings, a tradition preserved since UNO's foundation.
@@rileydavidson207 It's the exact opposite. Canadians generally consider the US to be their greatest ally by far and generally ignore everyone else on the Americas.
Always thought it was odd how Windsor Ontario, right by Detroit, is the 'deep South' to Canada. That's one nice thing about the US, a person can experience pretty much every kind of climate zone available. Frozen Tundra in Alaska to the desert in Arizona.
fuck tho they're such hicks
Canada has frozen tundra in Nunavut and desert in British Columbia
Canada has a desert in BC.
@@rajkaranvirk7525 I'm really talking about South. What is the latitude of the BC desert? Is it above the 45th parallel? That place in BC is really a rain shadow, and despite being warm, it's got nothing on Death Valley. Do mesquite trees grow there? Anyhow, my point, if you look at the geography of Canada, the most Southern you're going to get is Windsor Ontario, and perhaps some island in Lake Erie. That's the "South" of Canada. In the USA for many people that's still pretty far North.
@@AllFirstHand Yeah, it’s almost like the US is below Canada. Denmark’s south is Germany’s north. Also it is a desert, go read up on it. Just cause it doesn’t have a specific flora doesn’t mean it’s not a desert. BC is really different from the rest of Canada weather wise due to the mountains blocking a lot of the cold. During winter it tends to just rain there(although due to climate change there have been some snow dropping).
In an alternate timeline, Saul Goodman suggests sending people to Canada instead of Belize