[s_dev]

You can understand or not understand something -- it has 0 to do with your nationality. "As a Canadian" is just nonsense. It doesn't bring much to the table.

"As a Canadian doctor" is authority. You often find this with appeals from "As a mother" -- it's just a fallacy.

[ryanbrunner]

I don't think this is a very charitable reading. "As a European", "As a Canadian", etc. isn't a statement of authority or a value judgement that makes someone better, it's just stating that they come from a cultural context where this isn't the norm, so it seems bizarre.

Including the cultural context you're viewing things from can be useful so that people can understand where you're coming from.