One of the most interesting places where we can identify cultural links not just between the Phoenicians and Canaanites, but between both of them and the ancient Hebrews, is in their alphabets. The earliest forms of writing were strongly pictographic, with Egyptian hieroglyphics being the most obvious example. Such alphabets evolved into more and more abstract forms; if we examine the various alphabets side-by-side, we can see how these early pictograms became letters we use today.
In the above image, just a piece of a larger chart, standard Egyptian hieroglyphs appear to the left and next to them is Hieratic, a cursive script derived from the hieroglyphs. Next to that is Phoenician, itself already well developed from an earlier alphabet known as Proto-Canaanite. The similarities between Phoenician and Hieratic are clear; Proto-Canaanite, which doesn't appear in this chart, is usually a clear middle point between them.
The similarities between Phoenician and Hebrew, not to mention the Latin alphabet, are also clear. The oldest Phoenician alphabet, which appears on the Mesha Stele, is indistinguishable from the oldest forms of Hebrew we have found and biblical Hebrew doesn't differ much from Phoenician. It is clear, then, that the Phoenicians, Canaanites, and Hebrews all shared a great deal in common when it came to language and writing. This suggests in turn strong cultural similarities - if they wrote and talked alike, it's implausible that people living so close had vastly different cultural and religious practices.
The Phoenicians are essentially responsible for the creation of Western alphabets - not just Greek and Latin, but Hebrew as well. It's even possible that Hebrew language, not just the alphabet, is originally a Phoenician creation which the early Hebrews adopted after settling in Canaan. Descended from the Aramaeans, their native tongue would have been an early form of Aramaic, a language which was preserved for millennia, remained a common tongue for people throughout the Levant, and continues to be used in isolated pockets today.
It's ironic, then, that not a single original Phoenician papyrus has survived to the modern day. Tyre and Carthage had great libraries once, but they were burned by foreign invaders. Phoenician temples held not only religious but also commercial records, but those were destroyed as well. Little is left of the Phoenicians and what we do know must be deciphered from the records of outsiders.