Scotland was and is to this day a separate nation in its own right, with its own distinctive system of laws, education, religion, language, customs, music etc. and to infer otherwise is to completely misunderstand the unique nature of the United Kingdom.
The preservation of Scotland's legal system was expressly written into the Treaty of Union and there are procedural differences in how the Christian religion is practised in the Church of Scotland compared with the Church of England. Also as Phil says, an entirely different educational structure.
Scots people regard Scotland as a nation, some would like full independence, others would prefer to stay within the United Kingdom, but we won't go down the route of discussing politics. Geographically Scotland is very different from England, having almost similar land mass yet only around one eleventh of the population compared to its neighbour.
I think the situation here in Scotland is different from Canada, with the possible exception of Quebec which seems form my perspective to have its own distinct language and culture.