‘NOT the 51st State’ art brings booming business to small, Sunshine Coast online store

An artist on the Sunshine Coast has come up with a creative response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to make Canada the 51st state.

As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten to make Canada the 51st state, one B.C. woman is harnessing her creative skills to take a stance on the controversial topic.

Artist and printmaker Sa Boothroyd, owner of an online store and a gallery on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, began crafting canvas tote bags and t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “10 provinces, 3 territories, 40 million people. But sorry…NOT the 51st state,” almost two months ago.

The collection completely sold out within mere days of being advertised to the store’s mailing list, and appetite for the pieces has grown so large it has “overtaken” all other business in recent weeks.

Boothroyd says her small but mighty team are into their third run of selling batches of 500 sloganed bags, and almost 500 T-shirts have been sold so far. Stickers and coasters decorated with the design, only recently introduced, are already flying off the shelves.

“I’m taking an idea that really hits home to a lot of Canadians. A lot of Canadians are very angry,” she said.

“We can’t keep up with the online sales.”

Boothroyd, whose eponymous store typically sells printed tea towels, tote bags, and lighthearted watercolour prints, crafts tongue in cheek designs that celebrate Canada and the Sunshine Coast.

True to style, the design for the ‘NOT the 51st State’ collection, which sees the slogan accompanied by a sketched Canadian flag held up by various stick figures, is supposed to be political while still remaining playful, she said.

“We wanted to be able to turn it into something a little bit light-hearted, a little bit amusing, a little bit jabbing … at the same time leaving you with a bit of a smile on your face,” said Boothroyd.

“My hope is that my bag and the images will get the conversation going even more than it is. Hopefully this is an ongoing discussion, and people understand that Canadians are serious about having nothing to do with being the 51st state,” she said.

“Patriotism right now is a great thing for Canada, we could use it.”

Orders are coming in thick and fast from people across the country and, surprisingly, the political collection hasn’t yet garnered a single negative comment, despite much of Boothroyd’s clientele living on the other side of the border, she says.

Instead, all customers and avid followers of her art have been “incredibly supportive,” she said.

The collection has been such a success that Boothroyd is currently reproducing it to include the slogan in French, so francophones can proudly display their political views alongside the rest of the country.

With much of the product sold online - the brick-and-mortar gift store closed last August after 22 years of residing on Gibsons’ Government Wharf - Boothroyd says she hasn’t had much chance to discuss thoughts on the ongoing trade war with the local community.

However, judging by the swift uptick in sales and the general “feel” on the coast, her hunch is that people locally feel the same as they do across the country.

“People are irritated. People want to say something. I would say that what is happening in Gibsons is pretty similar to what is happening in Owen Sound or anywhere across Canada,” she says.

“Generally, people are horrified by the notion of it.”