1946, Citizenship Act
Canadians were considered British and/or British Subjects, until 1946.
Empire of the St. Lawrence ("Toronto and Quebec")
Thesis: Canada emerged out of the British Empire as the continuation of the Compagnie des Cent-Associés and Hudson Bay Company.
Nationalism in Canada
"Canadian", as opposed to British, Nationalism was attempted by Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau; unsuccessful in my opinion as in subsequent decades, Steven Harper acknowledged Quebec as a "nation within Canada", and provincialism is still present and growing with each subsequent decade.
Organic Relationship
There is no organic relationship linking Canadians together. Before contemporary multiculturalism, we were between various ethnic groupings: The British (including the Irish), the French, First Nations, Germans, Scandinavians and Slavs. Nevermind when religion was a more conscious agenda the nation was split between Protestantism and Catholicism.
Nowadays, it's more problematic because there are virtually communities from every single country in the world living in Canada.
Can there ever be a Canadian nation? Nations, in my opinion, are not things formed overnight. The German and Austrian nation had shared over a thousand years in the Holy Roman Empire and had an even more distant relationship going back to Nomadic tribes. The same can be said for the Chinese of the Yellow RIver, the Slavs in Eastern Europe, the Arab nations in Arabia, et al.
Depending on how you look at it there hasn't been a long history in North America, we never had a formal constitution in 1867 and didn't become fully independent until the 1982 Constitution.
Vertical Mosaic
Vertical Mosaic prevents the "American Melting Pot Phenomena" but in my opinion it is only serving to reinforce divides in our country, for better and for worst, I like the fact that Canadians can explore their ancestral roots and culture without being called "Un-Canadian" (or "Un-American" as they say in the Yankee states)