Evidence & Analysis, continued

Adjustment
        For those American immigrants who chose to remain in Canada, adjusting to a life in their new country seems to have been successful (Figure 4). Though exiles make lower incomes than their American siblings (10-30% less than they’d make in the states), there is less evidence of difference in economic earnings between men and women living in Canada compared to that in America (Hagan, 135; Emerick, 111).   In a way, American exiles felt an obligation to repay Canada for the opportunities it afforded them. Sandra Foster, who entered municipal politics, commented on this debt to society: “If the country had opened its arms to me, then I felt an obligation to put my roots down here and eventually to build a life (Hagan, 201).” Women were able to pursue academic, social, and political roles they may have had less opportunity to pursue in the United States. Rosie* was able to complete her graduate studies in Montreal (Rosie*).   And likewise, Joan Mann completed her education with her baby only a year old (Killmer, 15).   John Hagan lists off several important women working for the Canadian community.
‘Mary Anderson, Sarah Miller, and Penny Lawler...guided the development of a land trust that preserved the residential community on the Toronto Islands in the city’s harbor[,]…Laura Jones became an influential school board trustee; Denise Bukowski established her own agency for immigrant writers[,]…Sandra Foster…[has a] successful career in politics that is both mainstream and progressive[,]…Ann Pohl found that a better health care system and a more progressive tax structure for many years made Canada a place where she could better afford to be a political activist (Hagan, Boston Globe).’
Many of the young draft-age American women were able to make a name and a place for themselves in Canada, which they never were able to do in the United States. Martha Friendly points out particular flaws of American culture in general. “The United States is much more class compartmentalized and racially and ethnically compartmentalized, and my kids never had to endure that…I see lots of things in Canada that I really dislike…when I put a tag on them I think it’s the Americanization of Canada (Hagan, 213).”   Rosie* summed it up best: ‘Canada is my home (Rosie*).’