From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Danes/Christopher S. Hale
In general, the Danish community and individual Danes have easily interacted with other ethnic communities and with Canadian society as a whole. The sort of internal strife between Grundtvigian and Inner-Mission groups of U.S. Lutherans seldom affected Danes in Canada. However, where the two groups lived near each other, as at Dalum and Standard in Alberta, serious church-goers in the one group would have little to do socially with their counterparts in the other. Even today when Dalum is mentioned in one of the old UDELC colonies, people laugh and say, “Oh, yes; the ‘Happy Danes.’” Occasionally the location for a church could cause disagreement, as during the early years at Dickson, and abandonment of Danish services almost invariably caused heated debate.
A few Danish Canadians recall that they ceased speaking Danish during World War II, because of increased Canadian patriotism and out of fear of being mistaken for Germans. On the whole, though, Danes seldom seem to have been looked down on by other ethnic groups, and exogamy was common and uneventful. As immigrants they have usually been favoured by government authorities. Aksel Sandemose and Danes who immigrated between the two world wars mention how Danes looked down on the “Galicians” – a name that western Europeans in Canada gave to Ukrainians, Poles, and other eastern Europeans because of their differing beliefs and customs. However, they also tell how the Danes frequently admired the Metis and native peoples. Danes have invariably cooperated with other Scandinavian groups in building halls, publishing Scandinavian periodicals, and celebrating common holidays.
Most Danish Canadians are well educated, many having received university degrees, though some postwar immigrants have complained that Canada would not recognize the education or training they had received in Denmark. Some have started businesses, and the vast majority are middle class. Many first-generation Danes read Danish newspapers and magazines, and most have made one or more trips to Denmark. On the whole they feel that Canada has treated them well and given them opportunities they would not have had in Denmark.
