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Guest column: 'Canadians matter ... Americans will regret this time in history'

To Grandpa, who worked at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel during the Great Depression, Canadians represented a symbol of hope and better times.

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By: Phoebe Wall Howard

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Things seem to be getting worse.

Every day. Every week. Every month.

I wonder what my grandpa would say. I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. We picked cherry tomatoes from his garden in Detroit. We played cards, sat in the living room reading and listened to Tigers baseball on the radio.

One thing he loved about being a Detroiter was Windsor — its proximity and its people. They held a special place in his heart amid memories of hard of times.

Robert Gunther Wall, a house painter, couldn’t support his family during the Great Depression. Even rich people in beautiful mansions stopped hiring.

A neighbor knew someone who knew someone who helped my grandpa get a job as a ticket taker at the Windsor Tunnel. In the mornings, grandpa would slip on a uniform and fancy footwear to match. That tailored uniform filled my grandpa with pride at a time so many other people were consumed with fear and uncertainty.

Instead of going to work with my great-grandfather at T.J. Wall & Sons paint shop in Detroit’s Corktown, my grandpa went 2.6 miles to the Windsor Tunnel. It had just opened in November 1930, the world’s first international underwater vehicular tunnel.

Grandpa didn’t need to worry about feeding his wife and three children because he had a stable job. He greeted Canadians going home.

To him, Canadians represented a symbol of hope and better times.

We forever have kept a place in our hearts for that time when our connection to Windsor provided safety and security.

Americans seem to have forgotten.

Not only did Canada serve with our soldiers in wars, including World War I, World War II, Korea and Afghanistan, but Canada was essential to the U.S. during the 9/11 crisis. Friends and allies, always.

Our national tone has changed dramatically since President Trump’s re-election in 2024 — jokes about annexing Canada as a 51st state; new tariffs; demands Canadians show gratitude; threats to disrupt the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge. Last week, the New York Times reported the U.S. may negotiate a North American trade deal without Canada.

Not surprised that traffic into the U.S. from Canada by car and plane plummeted in 2025. It shows no signs of improving.

There may not be a formal boycott but Canadians just don’t feel the love anymore, Greg Grimes, deputy mayor of Point Edward, Ont., told me.

The connection between Detroit and Windsor goes beyond an auto industry that has thrived with international collaboration.

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“I know the USA is a superpower and Canadians have always been in your shadow. But at the same time, we’re an independent, sovereign country,” Deputy Mayor Grimes told me.

Politico reported this month, in partnership with the U.K. polling firm Public First, that Canadians increasingly view the U.S. as a source of global volatility instead of as a stabilizing ally. “Canadians say the U.S. no longer reflects their values, is more likely to provoke conflict than to prevent it …”

Americans will look back and forever regret this time in history.

Or, in the words of Egyptian-Canadian-American author Omar El Akkad: “One day, everyone will have always been against this.”

This past week, we drove through the Windsor Tunnel to O’Maggio’s Kildare House in Windsor for my husband’s traditional birthday dinner of halibut fish and chips with a Walkerville Honest Lager.

We’ll continue to show our support for Canada. Because it matters. Canadians matter.

Phoebe Wall Howard, a sixth-generation Detroiter currently living in Port Huron, Mich., writes about Canada for Shifting Gears on Substack. Reach her at phoebe@phoebehoward.com.

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