When Fallout season 2 revealed that Vault 32’s Overseer Steph Harper was born Canadian in the 2040s, it was earth-shattering.
Because there is no Canada, not one that’s independent at least. The fact it still matters tells us everything about the world the show is building. Two centuries after the Great War, people are still living inside the corpse of pre-war America’s ideology.
What Happened to Canada in Fallout’s Timeline?
The United States annexed Canada because they were desperate.
By the 2050s, America was running out of oil. The Sino-American War over Alaska’s oil fields was bleeding the country dry, and Canada controlled the only land route north. When Canada resisted U.S. troop movements with protests, sabotage, and pushback. America responded with military force.
By 2076, the annexation was complete. Canada’s sovereignty was dissolved. Its provinces became U.S. territories. Its people became subjects of a militarized empire sliding into authoritarianism.
What Would It Mean to Be Canadian in Pre-War America?
Let’s say you’re Canadian. It’s 2075 and your country doesn’t exist anymore.
You’re viewed with suspicion. U.S. propaganda openly mocked Canadians. Posters depicted them as traitors or cowards. Ordinary Americans absorbed this messaging. You weren’t a neighbor. You were a conquered outsider.
Your daily life is militarized. Checkpoints everywhere. Constant ID checks. Curfews. Military police could detain you for “security reasons” with little justification.
Your rights are severely limited. Canadians were denied full legal protections, subject to martial law, vulnerable to arbitrary arrest. You existed in legal limbo.
Cultural erasure is the goal. Speaking French might draw unwanted attention. Canadian symbols could be subversive. You were expected to become “American” in identity, but you’d never be granted the full rights that came with it.
Canadians were funneled into cheap labor, dangerous factory work, resource extraction. You might be relocated and forced into infrastructure projects.
Conscription is a constant threat. Canada’s manpower was considered U.S. property. You could be sent to fight in the brutal Sino-American War. Not as a volunteer, but as coerced cannon fodder.
This is the world Steph Harper was born into.
Why Hiding Her Identity Was Necessary and Dangerous
Steph actively concealed her Canadian nationality. Then she climbed into Vault-Tec’s management pipeline, and eventually became an Overseer for Vault 32.
Vault-Tec was a corporation, military contractor, and a propaganda machine. A Canadian would be seen as a security breach.
Bud’s Buds was a social experiment designed to cultivate “ideal” managers who were loyal, predictable and aligned with Vault-Tec’s values. If Vault-Tec discovered that one of their hand-picked candidates was secretly Canadian, it would undermine the entire experiment.
Steph survived by proving her loyalty to a system that would have rejected her if it knew the truth. And even now, centuries later, that truth is still dangerous. There’s something unsettling about that level of survival. It’s also kind of heartbreaking.
The Past Still Rules the Present
The gravity of Steph being Canadian lies in how it represents a dark chapter in pre-war America history. One where the country embraced authoritarianism to improve its chances of survival.
Two centuries after the Great War, the world hasn’t healed. It’s haunted. People are still living inside the ideology of a regime that ended in nuclear fire.
Steph’s secret isn’t just about her. It’s about a world that never moved on.
