Northern sanctuary: Canada as a safe haven from American dangers, real and imagined

This article explores American conceptions of Canada as a sanctuary, a safe place where Americans can move to pursue their version of the (North) American dream while protected from assorted dangers in the United States, both real and imagined. It examines six episodes in which Canada served as an attractive sanctuary for Americans, with attention to their representations in popular media and cultural products, both historical and contemporary: Loyalist colonists relocating to British Canada after the American Revolutionary War, enslaved African Americans using the Underground Railroad to escape to freedom in Canada, Confederates utilizing Canada as a safe haven during the US Civil War, draftees escaping military conscription during the Vietnam War, and progressives in the twenty-first century vowing to flee an increasingly conservative United States. For its sixth case, the article shifts to recent pop culture, as it considers the recurring idea of Canada as a safe destination in portrayals of Americans fleeing a zombie apocalypse in film and video games. These cultural vehicles echo Americans’ long-standing perception of Canada as a sanctuary, as if the border renders it safe and immune from a variety of American ills.