Re-enactors of the War of 1812 create a history for Canada. But “the reality is murkier. Canadians weren’t yet Canadians. The term was still applied mostly to francophones, and when Upper Canada was created in 1791 – a mere eight years after the U.S. War of Independence ended – it was designed more as a bulwark against the American expansionists than a statement of New World identity.”