Enforcement First . . .

. . . the plague of Frostbacks — who have no apparent willingness to understand our culture, language or way of life — worsens:

Since 2000, the number of Canadians living in New York City has more than doubled to over 21,000, myself included. In Manhattan alone, we make up the eighth largest population of foreign-born residents. And there are between 70,000 and 99,000 unauthorized Canadians nationwide, according to the Urban Institute, a research firm that estimates figures based on population surveys. Although no one tracks the number living illegally in New York, the city continues to be a draw for my northern brethren.

For the most part, Canucks “pass” as Americans. (Disclosure: This writer is one of Them.) We speak the same language — just about. We watch the same television programs. We eat the same food and read the same magazines. As one young Canadian New Yorker put it, “We’ve already been stirred in the melting pot.”

At the same time, Canadians are increasingly thinking of New York as a city that is, if not exactly hostile, definitely not home.

. . .

Most Candians don’t move to New York for love. We come to steal your jobs, mostly in the fields of finance, law, and to a lesser extent, the arts and media. (We call this migration “brain drain.”)

Canadian New Yorkers are generally in their 20’s to 40’s. They are more highly skilled and wealthier than the general population in the U.S. — and in Canada. As Mahmood Iqbal noted in a report for the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, these emigrants “are the best and brightest of the Canadian human resource pool.”

. . .

Part of the reason for this influx of Canadians is a class of visa that was created in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect. The Trade NAFTA (TN) visa authorizes workers from Mexico and Canada to live in the U.S. for up to one year, provided they work in one of 60 scheduled occupations. A Canadian need only prove that she has a job as a graphic designer or an accountant, show up at the border, and pay $50. She can obtain a visa on the spot.

No wonder this town’s crawling with frostbacks.

The Canadian Association of New York, which organizes the ultra-glitzy Maple Leaf Ball, has 500 members. The “Canadians in NYC” Facebook group has almost 1,000. This year’s Canada Day celebration, which was held at Mama’s Bar in the East Village on July 1, drew twice as many people as last year. Canadians lined up around the block.

In March 2007, New York’s first Canadian-themed restaurant opened. In the meatpacking district. The Inn LW12 is a self-styled “elegant British pub meets Canadian country inn.” The bar menu features two kinds of poutine (that Quebecois delicacy of French fries, gravy, and cheese curds). The restaurant’s décor, which includes a bookshelf fashioned out of a canoe, was inspired by the cottages of the restaurant’s three founders. “It’s nice though, eh?” asked Phil Jalbert, one of the co-founders.