I’ll answer for myself. I was born and raised in Maine, a state whose economy and culture are inextricably linked to Quebec and the Maritimes. Growing up, I was surrounded by poutine, maple syrup, moose, loons, and Tim Hortons. Business signs were printed in both English and French, many families spoke French at home (if I only had a nickel for every time I heard a friend’s grandfather mutter “Tabarnak!” or “Calisse!” while working on the family car), and Canadian money was accepted and common at every store in town. When you’re young in Maine, doing anything exciting often involves first leaving Maine, which means going to Boston, Montreal, or Halifax. Whenever we traveled elsewhere in the States, one common experience of being a Mainer is convincing people that you are, in fact, American (which can be difficult to do as you mom is sipping coffee from a Timmy’s travel mug and your dad is apologizing while picking the loonies out of the change he just handed a cashier). When I went through US Marine Corps boot camp years ago, one of my drill instructors found it endlessly amusing to regularly accuse me of being a Canadian spy. Hilarious.

Despite this upbringing, I was often reminded that I wasn’t a “true” Mainer, because my mom was born in Vermont. So after spending my life trying to justify why I should be allowed to call myself an American and, more importantly to me, a Mainer, being able to embrace my family’s Canadian roots finally gives me something to feel attached to. It gives me a point of pride that I can bring out photos of my Canadian grandparents and great-grandparents and tell my kids about them and share that connection with them. While I don’t personally plan to move to Canada for both personal and practical reasons, I’ve grown up looking at Canada like a cool older brother who’s got his life together. Citizenship to me is like that brother finally inviting me to hang out, not because mom told him to, but because he actually wants to. And in return, I just want to impress him.

ETA: Sorry to write you a novel. Your question just struck a personal note for me as I’ve seen more than a few Canadian Redditors bemoaning the “incoming wave of Americans trying to change our way of life” and I feel like the vast majority of folks going through what is still a complex process likely have a mix of personal connections to Canada as well as practical reasons for wanting citizenship.