[Acajack]

Going with one of the areas I know best, I think one should not underestimate the historic ties of Atlantic Canada with the northeastern U.S. In various respects, including cultural and migratory. This was true not only for Newfoundland (not a part of Canada until 1949) but also the Maritimes which have been part of Canada for almost 150 years.

Prior to the 1960s, it was relatively easy for people from Atlantic Canada to migrate to the U.S. for work. On a practical level, it might have been easier than to go to Ontario as the channels (human and logistical) were already established. So that's where they went. I have one grandparent and numerous great uncles and aunts that worked down in the U.S. at one point. There are several branches of my family that are still down there today. My parents know them but I generally do not.

Also, my extended Atlantic Canadian family members through marriage (including one Newfoundlander) all have family down in the NE States as well.)

Acadia's greatest actress, Viola Léger (La Sagouine), was born of Acadian parents from the Maritimes in 1930 in Worcester, Mass.

Rough-hewn Acadian singer Cayouche is originally from New Brunswick but lived in the Boston area as a child in the 40s and 50s I think. He was even a United States Marine at one point.

Boston actor Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey on Friends, is related to one of my mom's friends from New Brunswick.

And this isn't to mention all of the trade links and also media links. A significant part of my family 60 and older in the Maritimes grew up listening to Boston radio stations, and later TV stations when they came on the air.

As of the 1960s, the borders between the two countries became far less permeable, and transportation links within Canada started to improve as well. With the result that migration from Atlantic Canada to the NE US plummeted. Atlantic Canadians started migrating westwards within Canada. And the ties with the NE US have been slowly fading ever since, though they are not completely gone.