Hobbyists revisit the last time Canada had its 'elbows up' against U.S. annexation

CBC

07-05-2025

Social Sharing
Each year near London, Ont., a group of people from Canada and the United States gather to recreate a war so many Canadians and Americans rarely think about outside of a history class.
The War of 1812 raged for three years between Great Britain and the U.S., and saw hostile American troops cross the border into Canada as part of a failed invasion meant to make the fledgling colony of Upper Canada America's newest state.
The Battle of Longwoods, fought near the end of the war, in early March of 1814, saw the British and their Canadian and Indigenous allies clash with U.S. forces near Delaware, Ont., as part of an ongoing series of raids in which American troops burned and pillaged Canadian farms and homesteads across southwestern Ontario.
In his 1980 book, the Invasion of Canada 1812-1813, Pierre Burton called the conflict "a foolish war that scarcely anyone wanted or needed, but which, once launched, no one knew how to stop."
In present day Delaware, hobbyists from both camps can't help but see parallels between the conflict they're trying to recreate and the current trade war between Canada and the U.S.
'There's suffering on all sides'
"There's suffering on all sides," Chris McKay, a re-enactor who has been participating in the hobby for the past 20 years told Ismaila Alfa on CBC Radio's Fresh Air on Saturday.
"It's experiential history. You're really understanding what they went through," he said, noting re-enactors wear period woolen clothing, sleep outdoors in canvas tents and cook meals on a campfire just like they did 211 years ago.
"When you're putting on all the equipment, you know what it feels like to carry that weight and carry around that 10 or 12 pound musket all day."
Asked what he thought of U.S. President Donald Trump's recent comments about making Canada the 51st state, McKay said the remarks have been discussed at length by hobbyists on both sides of the border.
"I know a lot of people felt a lot of anger. For me, it was a lot of disappointment," McKay said. "As re-enactors we sat down and said, 'let's not forget who our friends are.'"
Co-operation, friendship endure despite conflict
The same might have been said during the War of 1812, which saw communities on both sides of the border continue to trade and even engage in some remarkable acts of co-operation, such as the legend about the people of Calais, Maine borrowing a keg of gunpowder from the Canadians in St. Stephen, N.B., despite the war.
McKay said Canada's shared border with the U.S., the longest undefended frontier on Earth, and the last 200 years of peace are both products of the conflict.
"That grew out of the War of 1812, that relationship grew out of the early 19th century and we've worked really hard and built that and I was really disappointed to have that thrown away so quickly [by Donald Trump]."
On the other side of the park, in the American encampment, Martin Land, from Toledo, Ohio, dressed in the dark blue tunic of an American commander from the period reclines on a wooden chair.
He said he has been coming to re-enact this battle for the past 25 years and believes that one American president can't undo a bilateral relationship that's been the envy of the world now for centuries.
"I believe that to be the case," said Land. "I didn't vote for him."
"It's one big economy in many ways. There's no point in stirring up trouble. I'm baffled," he said, noting that politics aside, the cross border friendships will endure.
"People don't change that easy."