JFK Speaks to Canada 🇨🇦🇺🇸 | Canada and US - Best Friends Forever

"Geography has made us neighbours; history has made us friends." Here is John F. Kennedy’s famous and amazing speech to Canadian Parliament (May 1961). The video, which includes visuals, is an abridged version of the speech, important words to Canada that stand the test of time. Canadian Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker and Mrs. Olive Diefenbaker accompany President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
JFK begins, “Mr. Speaker of the Senate, Mr. Speaker of the House, Mr. Prime Minister, Members of the Canadian Houses of Parliament, distinguished guests and friends:
I am grateful for the generous remarks and kind sentiments toward my country and myself, Mr. Prime Minister.” In French, he says, “Je me sens vraiment entre amis.” (I feel that I am truly among friends.)

Some memorable quotes: “The warmth of your hospitality symbolizes more than merely the courtesy which may be accorded to an individual visitor. They symbolize the enduring qualities of amity and honor which have characterized our countries' relations for so many decades.”

“...we share more than a common border. We share a common heritage, traced back to those early settlers who traveled from the beachheads of the Maritime Provinces and New England to the far reaches of the Pacific Coast. Henry Thoreau spoke a common sentiment for them all: "Eastward I go only by force, Westward I go free. I must walk towards Oregon and not towards Europe." We share common values from the past, a common defense line at present, and common aspirations for the future-our future, and indeed the future of all mankind.”

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

“What unites us is far greater than what divides us. The issues and irritants that inevitably affect all neighbors are small deed in comparison with the issues that we face together--above all the somber threat now posed to the whole neighborhood of this continent--in fact, to the whole community of nations. But our alliance is born, not of fear, but of hope. It is an alliance that advances what we are for, as well as opposes what we are against.”

“And so it is that when we speak of our common attitudes and relationships, Canada and the United States speak in 1961 in terms of unity. We do not seek the unanimity that comes to those who water down all issues to the lowest common denominator--or to those who conceal their differences behind fixed smiles--or to those who measure unity by standards of popularity and affection, instead of trust and respect.”

“We are allies. This is a partnership, not an empire. We are bound to have differences and disappointments--and we are equally bound to bring them out into the open, to settle them where they can be settled, and to respect each other's views when they cannot be settled.”

“At the conference table and in the minds of men, the Free World's cause is strengthened because it is just. But it is strengthened even more by the dedicated efforts of free men and free nations. As the great parliamentarian Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." And that in essence is why I am here today. This trip is more than a consultation--more than a good-will visit. It is an act of faith--faith in your country, in your leaders--faith in the capacity of two great neighbors to meet their common problems--and faith in the cause of freedom, in which we are so intimately associated.”

Many thanks to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for the invaluable audio and video:
Audio of speech at:
https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHA/1961/JFKWHA-031/JFKWHA-031

Video: “THE PRESIDENT’S VISIT IN CANADA, MAY 1961: 16-18”

“Motion picture of assembled camera outtakes of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's trip to Canada", United States Information Agency (USIA)--received from the Agency MR 64-16.”

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Thank you for you watching! May Canada & US be BFF (Best Friends Forever)! The love between the two countries is so strong.