A/N: I got the idea to do this from a Maclean's article I read in school the other day. It's called The North And The Great Canadian Lie if you want to learn more about this.

If anybody reading is from the territories/is aboriginal, please educate me more about this topic. I'm a white Torontonian who feels guilty for not knowing enough about these issues. And if you find something offensive or incorrect, tell me and I'll remove it.

I'm using country names rather than human names only because I haven't made up human names for my provinces OCs.

I hope this makes you more aware of a Canadian issue, and makes you think. As always, enjoy.

Canada sipped his Tim Horton's coffee. His hotel room looked down on the busy streets of Ottawa. In the distance, he could see Parliament Hill. He sighed, the sight of the building having reminded him of the meeting tomorrow. The second meeting in a week full of them. He'd have to prepare his notes.

He grabbed his laptop and sat cross-legged on the bed, tucking a loose strand of wavy blond hair behind his ear. No sooner had he opened the document that held his notes when a Skype call came in. Canada was going to ignore it, but noting who the caller was, he opted to answer it.

He clicked answer, and a familiar face filled the screen.

"Hey, Canada," Northwest Territories grinned. "Remember us?"

Two more faces peered in from opposite sides of the screen: Yukon and Nunavut. They looked annoyed.

Canada decided to be friendly for the moment. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"What's up? I'll tell you what's-" Yukon started to say angrily, but NWT shushed her. She shot an irritated look his way, her shiny dark brown hair swishing like a curtain.

"We've called you for a very specific reason tonight," NWT began pleasantly. He was smiling in a cold way Canada didn't exactly like. "It's probably going to be hard for you to hear."

"Alright, what is it?" Canada asked, a little lost but mostly irked.

"We're not yours."

Canada raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to become independent?"

"We might as well be," Nunavut muttered, which made the others chortle.

"No, that's not what we're saying." NWT wasn't smiling anymore. "We're saying that you act like you're this powerful Northern nation when you're really not. We all saw Sweden, Norway, and Russia laughing at you yesterday."

Canada's cheeks flushed from the memory.

"You do nothing for us," Yukon piped up. "And then you act like we define you! The cold doesn't define you. Do you know how many of your people are my people? Not a lot!" She scowled, an expression that looked very much out of place on her. "More people live in the town of Moose Jaw than in my territory."

"We have no economy," Nunavut added. "You can only get here by train, and even that is decrepit and broken."

"'I have your back,' you say. But it's not true, and we know it." Yukon huffed.

"I bet you boast to all the other nations how you own most of the Arctic. It's true, isn't it?" NWT challenged. When Canada gave no response, he laughed humourlessly. "You can't use the Arctic even if you wanted to. You know why? Because decades ago, you looked at Toronto and Ottawa and Montreal and Vancouver, and you said to yourself, 'this is enough.' You might have cared about us at one point, but you stopped."

"That's not true," Canada protested weakly. "You're all important to me."

"Then why do you never visit?" Nunavut fired back. "Oh right, because it's too expensive. I wonder who created that problem."

"Listen, calm down." Canada held up his hands. "I've got plans for you guys. It just might take some time to implement them."

NWT snorted. "Minerals? We've heard that one before. Without a way to transport the ore, the mineral deposits we have are literally worthless."

"And since you only care about mining in Ontario, the tiny mines we do have will have to close. And that will mean more of our people will be unemployed." Yukon crossed her arms.

"Even if we did have a solid industry, we have no infrastructure to support it." Nunavut rolled his eyes, a seldom-used expression. "Do you know what my people do for income? They sell arts and crafts to tourists. My people are unemployed because of you!"

"Do you know how much crime there is at my place?" Yukon asked, angry tears beginning to well at the corners of her eyes. "It hurts me. I've got the scars. And it's your fault."

"I don't think it's completely my fault..." Canada said quietly.

"Not your fault?" Nunavut seethed. "I've got scars, too. I've got the scars on my wrists of hundreds of kids, kids who cut themselves because they live on a shithole of a reserve. Kids who cut themselves because the pain it brings is a distraction from the hunger pains eating them up from the inside. Kids who cut themselves because they feel worthless. And how else would they feel, lying on a thin, dirty mattress with uninsulated walls around them, no food on the table and one blanket for their entire family to share! All because you don't give a shit." Nunavut's voice was shaking and his hands were balled into fists. NWT laid a hand softly on Nunavut's forearm. He flinched at the touch.

"What are you doing? We give you money!" Canada snapped, guilt and shame swirling in his stomach from Nunavut's speech.

"Not enough!" Nunavut said. "You still haven't delivered on promises you made a century ago."

"You don't defend us, either," NWT spoke calmly. His soothing tone seemed to soften the tension. It was still there, but not as thick as it was just a few moments ago. "What if one of the other nations tried to claim us as theirs? Russia's got his eye on us. What if he attacked? There's no way the forces we have would be able to protect us."

"There's the Canadian Rangers," Canada mentioned, and the territories all burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, what are they going to do?" NWT said, between bouts of laughter. "Shoot the Russian tanks with their WWII rifles?"

"You'll get new ones by 2019," Canada replied defensively, which made them laugh harder.

"Yeah, okay," Yukon giggled. "Whatever you say."

When they recovered, Nunavut wiped his eyes and said, "You have to face it, the North is empty. We've been declining for so long, because you've done nothing."

"I mean, you could do something." NWT shrugged. "When the Northwest Passage opens, you could whip up a fishing industry. And if you don't, Russia will."

Yukon sighed. "We called you tonight to give you an ultimatum. You define yourself as 'the true North strong and free'. Well, how can that be true if you couldn't care less about the North?"

NWT and Nunavut nodded in agreement.

"So, your choice is this: you put in some hard work to change our territories for the better. Give us money for railways and mines, set up a fishing industry. You put more army bases in our territories, and you give another billion dollars to our aboriginal population. They need it, for Christ's sake." Yukon shook her head.

"Or, you stop acting like the North is your pride and joy." NWT pitched in. "That's a bold-faced lie."

"So which would you rather part with?" Nunavut queried. "Your money, or your international fame?"

NWT smiled one last time, then he ended the call. Canada sat on his soft hotel bed, staring at his own face on Skype. He duly noted he appeared shocked.

Slowly, Canada closed his laptop and reached for his cell phone. He had a few phone calls to make.