So obviously Britain gained colonies in Canada after the French and Indian War. Why weren't colonies such as Nova Scotia involved with the colonies to the south? Was there a more unified culture among the 13 American colonies or were the Canadian colonies reached out to for help? For example were they impacted by the British taxation laws like the American colonies were or was there simply not enough incentive for them to join the fray.
There were 2 British Colonies in North America that didn’t join the American Revolution . Quebec (mostly French populated, recently acquired ) and Nova Scotia.
Quebec is the easy one to deal with. Contemporary British and thus American colonial society at the time was very anti-Catholic, yet Quebec was intensely Catholic. Under the terms of Quebec’s surrender, there were concessions made to the protection and promulgation of the Catholic faith that were unheard of in all other British-controlled territories. Quebec’s leaders were not interested in joining the Revolution because it didn’t seem that the Revolutionary leaders would be as interested in preserving the special status of the Catholic faith in Quebec as Britain was.
Nova Scotia is much more complex. Most English-speaking residents of Nova Scotia had close family ties with the rebelling colonies, particularly with the city of Boston. Initially there was a pro-revolutionary movement in Nova Scotia, which petitioned George Washington to provide arms and especially cannon with which to attack the British.
However, Halifax in Nova Scotia was a principle military facility for Britain, the main base in the Americas for the Royal Navy. As such the amount of weaponry that would need to be provided to overcome this was considerable, and Washington felt that it could not be prioritized at the time. He did intend to ultimately help the locals join the rebellion, but then something unexpected happened.
American privateers, seeing Nova Scotia as a non-rebelling, apparently loyalist territory, and unaware of the building rebellious sympathy, began raiding towns along the Nova Scotia coast. This quickly turned the population mostly loyalist and by the time Washington reigned in the privateers it was too late - Nova Scotia’s population was solidly on the loyalist side.
Source: “Halifax: Warden of The North” by Thomas H Raddall, 1948