ABSTRACT
The boundary between the United States and canada evolved over centuries as Britain and France, then the fledgling United States, Spain and russia, and finally an independent canada, all negotiated and renegotiated the line that would eventually divide the north American continent from Atlantic to Pacific, north to Alaska, into the Arctic, and most recently across the continental shelves and out to sea. This is a fascinating story of exploration, First nations’ “medicine lines”, international tribunals, political and military battles, engineering accomplishments and unheralded cooperation. It is a story about an arbitrary line which came to be accepted as the division between nations and the link between friends. Whereas the relationship between canada and the United States continues to receive constant attention and scrutiny, particularly by canadians, the story of the border has been shelved quietly. on special occasions and anniversaries it is removed and dusted off. For the United States Bicentennial, canada reminded the United States of the importance, relevance and beauty of the borderlands with a collection of photographs and sentiments published in a folio titled Between Friends/Entre Amis.2 Former Prime Minister Pierre elliott Trudeau states in the Foreword:
The photographs in the book convey the border as a wonderfully human construct exuding the achievements of the canada-U.S. partnership. The pictures and sentiments conveyed in this folio, and other popularized accounts and graphic illustrations of the border in magazines, art, literature and film tell a story of deep cross-border ties, rich borderland traditions and positive interaction between peoples. The past military campaigns are reduced to skirmishes; liquor smuggling is portrayed as merely naughty; and migrations are always to a better place.
