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The people anxiously sipping hot chocolate in the Canadian Embassy in Washington on a cold night in January almost a year ago couldn’t have predicted the roller-coaster of trade provocations and bilateral blow-ups the next 12 months would bring.

In hindsight, that unusually chilly Washington evening foreshadowed how the Canada-United States relationship would soon freeze over.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and his talk of annexing Canada had already rattled Canadian politics over the preceding weeks. A rushed trip to Mar-a-Lago in early November 2024 failed to mend former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s already rocky relationship with the incoming U.S. president.

On Jan. 20, the day of his second inauguration, Trump returned to the Oval Office to announce his “America First” trade policy. Just weeks later, he announced sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports.

By early February, it was obvious to everyone the relationship Canadians thought they had with their closest neighbour was over.

Former foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly called on “every single political leader across the board, across the country, to stand united because, now more than ever, we need to make sure that we put country first.”

It was all happening amid a swift domestic political upheaval that saw Trudeau, weakened by poor polling and internal Liberal party dissent, announce on Jan. 6 he would resign as prime minister as soon as a new Liberal leader was chosen.

Mark Carney became party leader in March, and almost immediately launched an election, forming a minority government following a campaign that centred on Trump.

Trump’s tariffs — which don’t apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA — hit Canada in March.

They were boosted to 35 per cent in August as Trump complained about Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and supply management in the dairy sector, and claimed Ottawa hadn’t done enough to stop the very modest cross-border flow of fentanyl.

The president’s separate Section 232 tariffs on specific industries, such as steel, aluminum, automobiles, copper and lumber, have also hit Canada hard.

Trump took his trade war global in April with his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly every nation. World leaders raced to respond. Some signed frameworks of trade agreements that promised massive investments in the United States in exchange for slightly lower tariff rates.

The speed and scale of Trump’s trade war with the world caught everyone off guard, said Fen Osler Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa and co-chair of the Expert Group on Canada-U.S. Relations.

While the president toned down his annexation talk after Carney’s election, every deadline for a trade deal since then has come and gone, with no clear progress.

Talks remain stalled.

“That’s … I would hasten to add, no fault of (Carney’s),” Hampson said.

Carney suspended Canada’s digital sales tax, tightened border security, dropped most retaliatory tariffs and boosted defence spending in an unsuccessful effort to get Trump to drop his tariffs.

Until recently, however, a swift breakthrough on tariffs seemed possible.

Carney and Trump complemented each other and bantered for the news crews during two cordial meetings at the White House. Media reports suggested in mid-October some sort of framework for a deal easing tariffs was in the works.

It all went sideways in October when Trump, offended by an Ontario-sponsored TV ad quoting former U.S. president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs, shut down trade talks.

Canada and the United States have had disagreements throughout their shared history, Hampson said, but in the decades after the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement, most observers expected the continent to grow more integrated.

“That’s no longer true,” he said. “We increasingly look like three countries going our own separate ways.”

For many Canadians, the past year has felt like an existential crisis — an extended, numbing assault on this country’s sovereignty and stability. In the United States, the shattered relationship with Canada has had less of an impact.

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Americans who support the Trump administration see it doing what they voted for — even if it means Canada getting caught up as collateral damage. For Trump’s opponents, the president’s actions have driven a wave of alarming change they struggle to keep up with — and Canadian concerns aren’t necessarily their priority.

Matthew Lebo, a political-science professor at Western University in London, Ont., said the Trump administration has crossed any number of red lines.

“Democratic decline in many, many directions, the ignoring of constitutional limits on presidential power, the ignoring of Congress’ role in setting policy, especially about tariffs,” he said.

Trump’s administration launched a massive deportation campaign that is filling Americans’ newsfeeds with images of masked and armed ICE officers descending on peaceful neighbourhoods. It has deployed National Guard troops to Washington and other Democratic strongholds despite the objections of governors.

Trump has targeted law firms and universities to bring them in line with his agenda. His administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and is working to do the same to the Department of Education. Thousands of U.S. government employees have been laid off.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pursued a radical policy on vaccines that has alarmed doctors and researchers.

U.S. foreign policy — on everything from Russia’s war in Ukraine to missile strikes targeting alleged drug boats near Venezuela — seems to change on almost a weekly basis.

The year also saw the longest government shutdown in the United States’ history.

Alasdair Roberts, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, described the past year as a “partial revolution.”

“It’s an attempt to change the regime, but it’s limited by the fact that the courts may still check what (Trump’s) doing,” Roberts said. “And he hasn’t got the legislative changes necessary … to kind of entrench the new way of working.”

Despite the rapid collapse of norms in Washington, Roberts said he does not believe American democracy is in crisis. There is dysfunction in the nation’s capital, he said, but that does not mean the entire system is malfunctioning.

Roberts pointed to the November elections, when millions of Americans voted without controversy — and delivered an electoral rebuke to many Republican candidates.

Roberts also pointed out the state of U.S. federal politics has forced Canada to accept an uncomfortable truth: the way the United States perceives its neighbour to the north has shifted fundamentally.

“This is the moment that Canada realized that the game has changed,” he said.

“The game has been changing for a few years, but this is the year that the shoe dropped.”

NEW YORK — When Cami Teacoach’s son turned three she set out to find volunteer opportunities they could do together. He made Valentine cards for senior citizens. They hiked and picked up trash. He helped harvest produce at community gardens and made seed balls out of mud, throwing them into the forest to promote wildflower growth.

Teacoach had reached out to many organizations looking for volunteer projects that she could do with her young child, but most places said no, so she came up with her own.

“Everyone was like, ‘A 3-year-old can’t do that,’” Teacoach said. “And I was like, ‘No, I swear, he really can if you would just give him a chance.’”

Volunteering with children can instill confidence in youngsters, teach social and problem-solving skills and provide unique ways for families to bond. During the holiday season, many people seek such opportunities, looking for ways to give back.

But often nonprofit organizations seek helpers who are at least 18 years old. Finding volunteer work to do as a family with young children can be challenging, but there are opportunities, if you persist.

“There’s a million different ways to help people and volunteer. So many families want to do this and literally just don’t know where to start,” said Polly Lagana, executive director of Volunteer New York!, which connects people with service opportunities. “In a turbulent time in our world, families — and parents in particular — are very interested in showing their kids how they can help out and how they can give back.”

Children excel at activities such as sorting coats, packing groceries and following through on tasks, said Sapreet Saluja, executive director of New York Cares, which works with organizations to develop volunteer programs in New York City.

“I’ve been very impressed with the detail-orientation and the precision and the following of directions and the care that some kids I’ve seen, as young as six, take to the tasks that they’re doing,” Saluja said. “It’s been explained to them that this is to benefit someone, and it’s important, and they’re following the directions and they want to get it just right. And in many cases, they’re more detail-oriented than the adults, which I think is very inspiring.”

To get started, look for organizations in your community that match volunteers with family-friendly projects and reach out to ask if there’s a minimum age requirement.

Here are some other ways to involve little ones in projects that help the community.

Children prefer to have agency and information to make a decision, so include them when you’re choosing an activity, Lagana said.

“Let them know what problem you’re trying to fix in your community, and maybe one or two options of how that problem can be fixed,” Lagana said. For example, you can explain there are people who don’t have enough food, and children in the hospital who might not have blankets, and then ask, ‘Which one do you think you want to help out with?’ she suggested.

Consider volunteering for a mission that you can explain to your child, such as cleaning up litter at a park.

“Kids are unbelievably curious. They ask questions about what they’re doing, what they’re seeing, what they’re feeling, what they’re hearing, and it opens up a dialogue,” Saluja said. “It helps you see even at a young age some of the challenges that society is facing and it gives you agency to know that you can be a part of the solution.”

Children understand hunger, and they can help alleviate the problem. They can sort grocery boxes at a food pantry or help deliver sustenance to home-bound individuals.

Aviva Davis was about eight years old when she and her brother Brendan began helping her parents deliver Meals on Wheels to senior citizens and medically frail individuals in Denver. Initially, they rode in the car with their parents and helped bring food to the door. When they were older, they took turns driving.

“It definitely opened my eyes to what the world is like outside of our bubble. We saw all sorts of different things and I saw not everyone lives the same way,” said Davis, now 17. “But even at such a young age I could realize it’s amazing what we’re doing that we could help people that aren’t as lucky as we were.”

Davis became a resource at school for fellow students looking to volunteer. She still does monthly meal deliveries with her parents.

“It’s a great chance for us to catch up as a family,” said her father, Seth Davis. “When we’re not all on our phones, you get some pretty cool quality time.”

Her brother is now in college, but when he’s home, they do deliveries altogether.

“The older they get, the harder it is to get that time together,” said their mother, Bonnie Davis, who found the Meals on Wheels opportunity after extensive research.

When Teacoach couldn’t find organizations willing to accept her toddler, she started a group in Pittsburgh called VolunTOTs, which creates service opportunities for children as young as 3. The children and their parents pack 500 boxes of groceries to distribute to families in need, play bingo with seniors in nursing homes and make dog treats for an animal rescue center, among other projects.

Parents have told Teacoach their children’s conduct improves after volunteering. “They feel so good about themselves, they were a helper, and that translates into better behavior,” she said.

Stephanie Bernaba’s family started “Tough Cookies,” a project where they bake and deliver cookies to veterans, when her son Matthew was in eighth grade and had to complete a service project for school.

“Going up to the houses, it was very nice, because they’re mostly living alone. A lot of their family or friends died,” said Michael Bernaba, 14, now a freshman at The Prout School in Wakefield, Rhode Island. “It’s just nice to be there and bring it to them … They were very happy, especially for someone to bring them treats like that.”

The project also helped the teens learn social skills and meet people in various stages of life and health conditions, Stephanie Bernaba said.

“We went to the first couple of places and I was really scared, because I’m more of a shy person,” Matthew Bernaba, now 15, said. “For the first couple of deliveries I was more to myself, and as we kept going, we talked more with the veterans and got to hear great stories from them.”

Children can be more willing to try new activities with a buddy, so consider signing up with people you know.

You can also connect with a nonprofit in need of a service and invite other families over to do a project together, as Lagana’s friends have done, organizing clothing donations or assembling snack packs in living rooms.

Bonnie Davis organized a drive for menstrual supplies, and families gathered in her backyard to assemble the baskets. She also turned half of her son’s graduation party into a volunteer project assembling kits of bean soup.

“It’s a win for everybody. You get quality time, you’re raising your children with what feels like good values, and people benefit,” she said.

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Send your wellness questions and story ideas to cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well.