Global impact

“THE WORLD NEEDS MORE Canada.” So said former American president Barack Obama to Parliament in June 2016. I recalled his comment as we were finishing this issue and was struck by an unintentional theme common in a number of our stories: Canada’s influence beyond its borders. In our Ultimate Geography Quiz (page 39), for instance, we test your knowledge of the 49th parallel as it celebrates its 200th anniversary as a big part of our dividing line with the United States. As Will Ferguson writes in the introduction, “any border, even an arbitrary one, shapes us.” As part of the longest undefended land border on Earth, the 49th tells the world we’re a peaceful nation that strives for compromise. We’re also a nation that looks for innovative solutions, as contributing editor Alanna Mitchell makes clear in her story about the Spanish Flu at its centennial (page 52) — a Canadian historian is at the fore of rethinking how the virus spread and Canadians are leading the effort to combat future pandemics. The theme appears in various ways in other stories, too, from the role of Inuit in Canada in keeping the story of the renowned British shipwreck HMS Erebus alive around the globe (page 68) to Montreal-based Cirque Éloize ( PICTURED) exporting its unique approach to modern acrobatics (page 60). Great leaders recognize that, in whatever form it comes, the planet can always use more Canada.

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