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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: DEATHS BEHIND BARS • DIGITAL DISRUPTION • HAITIAN MONTREAL PLUS: non-fiction Clive Veroni on political brands + Bruce Little on disability thresholds + Jim Roots on urban photography + Jeffrey Collins on floundering Newfoundland + Shelley Peterson on a dud horse + John Bell on informal diplomacy fiction Publications Mail Agreement #40032362 Miranda Newman on Yann Martel’s High Mountains of Portugal + Bronwyn Drainie on Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to LRC, Circulation Dept. Madeleine Thein’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing PO Box 8, Station K Toronto, ON M4P 2G1 poetry Anna Wärje + Rebecca Pa˘pucaru + Lisa McCreary + William Buchan New from University of Toronto Press

Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism by John Borrows In this book, John Borrows focuses Backrooms and Beyond on Ojibwe law, stories, and principles Partisan Advisers and the Politics of Policy to suggest alternative ways in which Work in Canada Indigenous peoples can work to by Jonathan Craft enhance freedom. Backrooms and Beyond is a rich and rigorous look at how political staff influences the policy making process of government at the federal and provincial level.

Unbound Ukrainian Canadians Writing Home edited by Lisa Grekul and Lindy Obesity in Canada Ledohowski Critical Perspectives What does it mean to be Ukrainian edited by Jenny Ellison, Deborah in contemporary Canada? Unbound McPhail, and Wendy Mitchinson presents a collection of new, thought provoking and poignant Ukrainian Obesity in Canada asks how we Canadian literature in English. measure health and wellness, where our attitudes to obesity develop from, and what are the consequences of targeting those whose weights do not match our expectations.

Covering Canadian Crime What Journalists Should Know and the Public Should Question Growing Urban edited by Chris Richardson and Romayne Smith Fullerton Economies Innovation, Creativity, and Governance Covering Canadian Crime highlights in Canadian City-Regions how changes in technology, business practices, and professional ethics are edited by David A. Wolfe and affecting present day crime reporting. Meric S. Gertler This rich and nuanced analysis of the social, political, and economic factors in thirteen Canadian city-regions offers important insights into the ways in which local conditions affect urban economies around the world.

Also available as e-books at utppublishing.com Literary Review of Canada 170 Bloor Street West, Suite 706 Toronto ON M5S 1T9 email: [email protected] reviewcanada.ca T: 416-531-1483 • F: 416-944-8915 Charitable number: 848431490RR0001 To donate, visit reviewcanada.ca/support Vol. 24, No. 5 • June 2016 INTERIM EDITOR Drew Fagan [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR 3 Skimming the Cream 16 Sunken Treasure Michael Stevens A review of Income Inequality: The Canadian A poem CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Story, edited by David A. Green, W. Craig Lisa McCreary Mohamed Huque, Molly Peacock, Robin Roger, Anthony Westell Riddell and France St-Hilaire, and The 17 Rare Inequality Trap: Fighting A review of Capitalism ASSOCIATE EDITOR A poem Instead of Poverty, by William Watson Judy Stoffman, Beth Haddon Anna Wärje George Fallis POETRY EDITOR Ninety-One Years Moira MacDougall 6 Defining Disability 17 A poem COPY EDITOR A review of Struggling for Social Citizenship: Madeline Koch Rebecca Pa˘pucaru Disabled Canadians, Income Security and Prime ONLINE EDITORS Ministerial Eras, by Michael J. Prince 18 Faith and Loss Across the Diana Kuprel, Jack Mitchell, Bruce Little Generations Donald Rickerd, C.M. A review of The High Mountains of Portugal, by PROOFREADERS 8 The Rock, in a Hard Place Allen Carter, Heather Schultz, A review of Turmoil as Usual: Politics in Yann Martel Robert Simone Miranda Newman Newfoundland and Labrador and the Road to EDITORIAL ASSISTANT the 2015 Election, by James McLeod 19 Music and Politics in China Bardia Sinaee Jeffrey F. Collins A review of Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by RESEARCH Rob Tilley 10 Not Wanted on the Voyage Madeleine Thien Bronwyn Drainie DESIGN An essay James Harbeck Hunter McGill 20 Plainclothes Diplomats ADVERTISING/SALES 13 Negative Exposure A review of Track Two Diplomacy in Theory Michael Wile [email protected] A review of Picturing Toronto: Photography and and Practice, by Peter Jones DIRECTOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS the Making of a Modern City, by Sarah Bassnett John Bell Michael Booth James Roots 22 The Arrow of Digital Disruption DEVELOPMENT OFFICER 14 A History of Silence An essay Erica May A review of Dying from Improvement: Inquests Dan Dunsky PRODUCERS and Inquiries into Indigenous Deaths in 26 Political Cola Wars Miranda Newman, David Weisz Custody, by Sherene Razack A review of Brand Command: Canadian Politics ADMINISTRATOR Christian Sharpe Stevie Cameron and Democracy in the Age of Message Control, PUBLISHING ASSISTANT by Alex Marland 15 Hobby Horse Michael Mooney Clive Veroni A review of The Legend of Zippy Chippy: Life PUBLISHER Lessons from the World’s Most Lovable Loser, 28 The Gates of La Francophonie Helen Walsh by William Thomas A review of A Place in the Sun: Haiti, Haitians [email protected] Shelley Peterson and the Remaking of Quebec, by Sean Mills BOARD OF DIRECTORS George Bass, Q.C., Tom Kierans, O.C., Emilie Nicolas 16 An Air Don McCutchan, Trina McQueen, O.C., A poem 32 Letters Jack Mintz, C.M. William Buchan William Thorsell, Ray Argyle ADVISORY COUNCIL Michael Adams, Ronald G. Atkey, P.C., Q.C., Alan Broadbent, C.M., Chris Ellis, Carol Hansell, Donald Macdonald, P.C., C.C., Grant Reuber, O.C., Don Rickerd, C.M., Rana Sarkar, Mark Sarner, Bernard Schiff, Reed Scowen POETRY SUBMISSIONS For guidelines, please see reviewcanada.ca. Cover art and pictures throughout the issue by Tyler Klein Longmire. LRC design concept by Jackie Young/INK Tyler Klein Longmire is an animator, designer, illustrator and theatre maker in Calgary, Alberta. He is a found- Founded in 1991 by P.A. Dutil The LRC is published 10 times a year by the Literary ing member of the experimental performance collective Humble Wonder and the production coordinator at the Review of Canada Charitable Organization.

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Minding the Gap Global Financial Governance Confronts Look Who’s Watching Edited by Pamela Aall and the Rising Powers Fen Osler Hampson and Eric Jardine Chester A. Crocker Edited by C. Randall Henning and To meet its full potential, users need to trust Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management Andrew Walter that the Internet works reliably and efficiently in a Time of Change focuses on the role of Global Financial Governance Confronts the Rising when providing them with the information they mediation and peacekeeping in managing Powers addresses the challenge that the rising are seeking, while also being secure, private violence and political crises, looking at new ideas powers pose for global governance, substantively and safe. Edward Snowden’s revelations that and institutions emerging in the African space, as and institutionally, in the domain of financial the United States National Security Agency and well as at the structural and institutional obstacles and macroeconomic cooperation. It examines other government agencies are spying on Internet to developing a truly robust conflict management the issues before the G20 that are of particular users, the proliferation of cybercrime, the growing capability in Africa. In the end, the stakes are concern to these newly influential countries commodification of user data and regulatory too high in terms of human lives and regional and how international financial institutions and changes — which threaten to fragment the system stability to allow these obstacles to paralyze financial standard-setting bodies have responded. — are all rapidly eroding the confidence users have peace processes. These authors recognize the This book presents rising power perspectives on in the Internet ecosystem. Look Who’s Watching: enormity of the stakes and offers concrete financial policies and governance that should be of Why the World Is Losing Faith in the Internet recommendations on how to end conflict and lay keen interest to advanced countries, established confirms in vivid detail that the trust placed by the groundwork for building peace in Africa. and evolving institutions, and the G20. users in the Internet is increasingly misplaced.

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2 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Skimming the Cream The staggering rise of the one percent’s market share. George Fallis

Network, is a collection of Income Inequality: commissioned papers by lead- The Canadian Story ing Canadian economists. The David A. Green, W. Craig papers are first rate, rich in data Riddell and France St-Hilaire, and analytically sophisticated. editors Together they are the best Institute for Research source of data and analysis of on Public Policy income inequality in Canada: 547 pages, softcover they summarize trends in ISBN 9780886453299 inequality, examine the causes and discuss the possible­ role of The Inequality Trap: public policy to reduce inequal- Fighting Capitalism ity. The papers seek to analyze Instead of Poverty and understand, rather than William Watson to persuade. Although many University of Toronto Press papers are not likely access- 218 pages, hardcover ible to a general reader, the ISBN 9781442637245 overview essay by the editors and the concluding essay by Keith Banting and John Myles n September 2011, the tents went up in simple task, and the evidence allows different inter- (a political scientist and a sociologist) are. These New York City and by year’s end the Occupy pretations. Depending on your value system, your two essays are must-reads for anyone who seeks IMovement had spread to over 950 cities in over assessment of the fairness of the distribution will a nuanced understanding of the evidence and the 80 countries. Millions of people across the world differ. The analysis takes us into the arcane world of politics. were on the street to protest rising income inequal- definitions, data and statistics. But let us follow the Banting and Myles write: “Although there is a ity and the power of money in democracy. U.S. authors and go there. broad academic consensus on the facts of the mat- president Barack Obama declared income inequal- We start with how much income there is to ter, the inequality surge has generated vigorous pol- ity the defining issue of our time. distribute. To a close approximation, total income itical debates about how the ‘facts’ should be read But the movement has not yet produced the is measured by gross domestic product. Canada is and about their import. It is possible to tell different fundamental social change demanded by the a high-income country. We have lots of income to stories about the new inequality by adopting differ- activists. In The End of Protest: A New Playbook for go around. ent data sources or time periods, or by focusing on Revolution, Micah White, one of the movement’s And over the post-war period, real GDP has trends in different parts of the income distribution.” co-creators, argues that it should continue in been growing—the pie has been getting bigger. They go on: “The country has become engaged in multiple countries sharing a common agenda, but Moreover, national income has been growing faster a vigorous struggle to define or ‘frame’ the new should shift from street protests to electoral politics. than population, so real GDP per capita has risen inequality and the social stresses it brings in its Canadians were part of this international move- steadily. wake. What is happening? Why is it happening? Is ment. There were Occupy protests in dozens of cities. Sometimes, though, this growth is interrupted it a policy problem? There are multiple answers to But each country’s experience is different: the nature by recessions—the pie shrinks, on average, and these questions. And the conflicting interpretations of inequality and how it has changed is different; people’s incomes fall. Since the early 1950s, Canada pervade debates in the media and legislatures, as the politics of protest and of electoral platforms are has had three severe recessions: in the early 1980s, well as the proposals that parties present to the different. These two books—Income Inequality: The the early 1990s, and from 2008 to 2009, during the electorate.” Canadian Story, edited by David A. Green, W. Craig financial crisis. The last two recessions were espe- They suggest that disagreement can be stylized Riddell and France St-Hilaire, and The Inequality cially deep and long. In the early 1990s, real GDP as a debate between the “inequality Cassandra” Trap: Fighting Capitalism Instead of Poverty, by per capita fell 5.1 percent and took five years to and “the inequality denier.” Neither term is accur- William Watson—help tell the Canadian story. return to its pre-recession high. During the most ate or fair. After we leave the street and stop relying on recent recession, real GDP per capita fell 4.6 per- Rather, it is a debate between essayists (or protestors’ signs for our understanding, we must cent and it has taken six years to reach the previous polemicists) in the best sense of these terms, look at the evidence, at the data on income and its high. between those of different political ideologies who distribution. It turns out that describing and under- So how has this growing income (and its per- seek to persuade us, using the ancient art of rhet- standing income inequality in a country is not a iodic shrinkages) been distributed among families oric, selectively introducing fact in verbal flourish and individuals in Canada? in service of their cause. It is a debate epitomized George Fallis is University Professor and professor of The Green, Riddell and St-Hilaire volume by columnists of the Toronto Star and the National economics and social science at York University. His is the fifth volume in a series aptly titled “The Post. most recent book is Rethinking Higher Education: State of the Art.” The volume, a joint initiative After reading Income Inequality, Star columnist Participation, Research and Differentiation of the Institute for Research on Public Policy and Carol Goar wrote: “It took 35 years to turn Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013). the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Research into one of the most inequitable countries in the

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 3 world. It will take almost as long—plus money and Figure 1: Income inequality before and after transfers and taxes, 1976–2011 discipline—to reverse the trend.” William Watson, a National Post columnist and professor of economics at McGill, reads the data and analysis very differently. As the inside front flap of his book says, he argues “that focusing on inequality is both an error and a trap. It is an error because much inequality is ‘good,’ the reward for thrift, industry, and invention. It is a trap because it leads us to fixate on the top end of the income distribution, rather than on those at the bottom who need help most. In fact, if we respond to growing inequality by fighting capitalism rather than poverty, we may end up both poorer and less equal.” His is not inequality denial. He asserts— correctly—that our response to income inequality depends on our value system. To study the distribution of total income, we cannot use the national income accounts data; rather, we must turn to surveys of households, which ask the income of all families and unattached individuals. The surveys can tell us market income, Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 202-0709. total income (that is, market income plus govern- ment transfers such as the old age pension) and Figure 2: Share of population in low income, 1976–2011 after-tax income. Each income measure is useful depending upon the purpose of the analysis. If we want to understand what has been going on in the labour market, the analysis would use market income. But when the focus is on the fairness of the income dis- tribution, the analysis would use after-tax income because the tax and transfer systems are designed specifically to affect the fairness of how much money people have to spend. From these surveys, we know how much income each family and individual has. But how are we to characterize the distribution across all the thou- sands of households? The most intuitively understandable way to characterize the distribution of income across households is to first arrange the households from lowest income to highest income and then look at the share of total income going to the lowest ten percent, the next ten percent and so on; this is the decile distribution of income. If total income were evenly distributed and every household had the Note: LICO = low-income cut-off; LIM = low-income measure. same income, each decile would have ten percent Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 202-0802. of the income. The data can be further refined to recognize The first theme is that the distribution of market The second theme is that after-tax income is that households differ in size and there are econ- income has become more unequal. From 1976 to more equally distributed than market income. It omies of scale (as the adage tells us, two can live as 2011, the AEA Gini rose from 0.365 to 0.446 (see too has become more unequal, although less so. cheaply as one) so we should look at size-adjusted Figure 1). This long-term trend isunambiguous. ­ The Gini for after-tax income rose from 0.300 to income. In Statistics Canada’s terminology, this is But the distribution has not continuously been 0.313. adult-equivalent-adjusted income. So analysts look getting more unequal. It rose during the reces- Should we worry about a current Gini of 0.313? at the decile distribution of AEA income. sions of the early 1980s and ’90s, but curiously not The Gini coefficient has the advantage of capturing There are other ways to represent the distribu- during the financial crisis recession. And market the distribution in one number, but it is difficult to tion of income than by looking at deciles. Some income inequality has not grown since the mid envisage what this number implies. Data on the measures represent the whole distribution in a 1990s. decile distribution are more intuitively understood. single number; one such measure is the widely There are several standard explanations offered In 2013, the top decile had 23.7 percent of after- used Gini coefficient. As before, households are for rising inequality of market income: skill-based tax AEA income, the fifth decile had 8.2 percent, arranged from lowest to highest, and then a calcula- technological change and globalization tend to and the bottom had 2.5 percent. The top decile tion is made based upon the cumulative percentage increase earnings at the top of the distribution and has slightly less than ten times more than the bot- of AEA income received by the cumulative percent- depress earnings at the bottom of the distribu- tom decile. Are we doing enough to lower it? The age of the population. For complete equality the tion; institutional factors such as declining levels tax-transfer system has significantly redistributed Gini is zero and for complete inequality the Gini of unionization tend to depress earnings at the income: the average AEA income in the top decile is one. Both books summarize the data on income bottom of the distribution. These all seem to be at has fallen from $146,800 to $113,200 and the aver- distribution by looking first at the Gini coefficients; work in Canada. Watson asks us to push further, age income in the bottom decile has risen from Watson’s book offers a clear discussion of how a to consider other reasons why the Gini might rise. $1,300 to $12,000. The answers depend upon your Gini coefficient is calculated. For example, if female labour force participation value system. The Canadian story of income inequality has a rises and more women get university degrees, and Our answers are likely affected by what has been number of themes. And much of the story can be told if high-income women tend to marry high-income happening to the actual incomes of each decile. through three figures: one looking at the overall dis- men, the distribution of income will become more Have the rich been getting richer while the poor got tribution of income (Gini coefficients), another look- unequal—the Gini will rise. He asks: should we poorer? The answer is no. From 1976 until the mid ing at the lower end of the distribution (poverty) and worry about rising inequality due to these changes 1990s, the AEA after-tax real income of all deciles the third looking at the top end (the one percent). in the role of women? was quite level: no one was getting better off. Then

4 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Figure 3: Share of market income held by the top one percent of earners, tion are called rents. These models conclude that Canada and the United States, 1913–2012 the rise in executive pay is not because of rising contribution, but because executives have secured rents for themselves. (And yes, these rents are what Watson would have to call bad inequality.) There is no absolute consensus, but much evi- dence points to the rise in executive pay as being due to increasing extraction of rents, especially through stock-option compensation packages. The Canadian story is filled with puzzles. Over the last decade, the real incomes of all deciles have been rising, but there is a longer-term upward trend in the Gini coefficient. Absolute poverty had been falling and the share going to the top one percent has risen. How should we charac- terize these patterns of inequality? And we should remember that economic growth in Canada usually increases the incomes of all deciles. Recessions usually cause inequality to spike upward. Recessions hurt everyone, but hurt the vulnerable more. As Tony Fang and Morley Gunderson write in Income Inequality, “a grow- ing, full-employment economy and greater labour demand remains the most effective first line of defence against poverty, particularly among vul- nerable groups.” Note: LAD = Longitudinal Administrative Databank. The Occupy Movement forced income inequal- Source: World Wealth and Income Database, www.wid.world. ity to the top of the political agenda. Protestors real incomes for all began to rise (although some- households as above). called for fundamental social change. Watson took what faster for the top decile, hence the rise in the The share of market income going to the top one this call seriously, seeing it as an attack on capital- Gini). And since 2001, they have continued to rise percent fell steadily over the post-war period, from ism. If we attempt to alter income distribution at for all deciles but at comparable rates. Since the about 11.5 percent to a low of about 7.5 percent the top end, he argues, like Friedrich Hayek did, we mid 1990s, the average AEA real after-tax income in the early 1980s (see Figure 3). Since then it has are on the road to serfdom. of the lowest decile has risen 25 percent (see risen, topping at over 13 percent just before the But Watson need not worry. Canadian political Figure 2). The poor have not been getting poorer. financial recession, and then falling back to about parties did not offer radical social change. Is this And measures of relative poverty (the percentage 11.5 percent. (In contrast in the United States, the because those with high incomes are too powerful? of the population with incomes below one half of share of the one percent has continued to rise.) But does money actually corrupt Canadian democ- the median), what Statistics Canada calls the low- The rising share of the one percent is unques- racy? Perhaps it was because voters worried more income measure, have been steady. tionably the most significant change in the distri- about a recession and wanted to focus on income Another way to look at the situation of the poor bution of income in growth rather than is to examine absolute poverty. Strikingly, and Canada over the last income distribution. against the narrative of rising inequality, poverty 35 years. Recessions usually cause Or was it because the has gone down. We have come to recognize the Watson challenges actual rise in income Statistics Canada low-income cut-off as the meas- those who protest the inequality to spike inequality was judged ure of absolute poverty. The LICO after-tax AEA one percent by arguing by voters to be much measure of poverty spiked during the early 1980s that high income due upward. Recessions hurt less than the protestors and ’90s recessions, although not during the finan- to extraordinary talent, claimed? cial crisis recession, but overall has declined since hard work or innova- everyone, but hurt the Have we misunder- the mid 1990s. The poverty rate has fallen from tion is good inequality. stood the reality of the 15.2 percent to 8.8 percent. Vulnerable groups— He unabashedly titles vulnerable more. Canadian experience? aboriginal persons, recent immigrants, youth not in his second chapter “The This is certainly pos- school, lone parents and unattached older individ- Deserving Rich,” using sible. In today’s world, uals—have higher rates of poverty. But the poverty people such as Steve Jobs and Sidney Crosby as movements for radical social change such as the rates of these vulnerable groups have declined even examples. Bad inequality “occurs when people Occupy Movement are international. The actual more than in the general population. prosper from morally dubious or even illegal experience of each country can get lost in the meta And the middle class, the middle deciles of the actions or from some unfair advantage they have narrative. Canada is especially prone to accepting distribution, has not been suffering. Its share of contrived for themselves or conspired with others, the U.S. story as our own (ours is just a little less total income has been about constant. Its average often through governments, to acquire.” The latter is extreme). real income was stagnant until the mid 1990s (as sometimes called rent seeking. The inequality issue in Canada did move into was everyone else’s), but has risen strongly since. Green et al. offer a different and more balanced electoral politics, as Micah White recommended. How significant are these patterns? Some would approach to understanding the rise of the one But during the 2015 national election, none of the say the overall rise in income inequality is deeply percent. They note that most members of the one major parties talked much about income inequality troubling; others that the rise is real but modest. percent are not the Steve Jobses or Sidney Crosbys or about poverty. Instead, they talked about getting But the data do not support the claim of explod- of the world, but are senior executives and those the economy growing and helping the middle class. ing inequality evoked by some commentators. working in the financial and business services The victorious Liberals promised growth, modest There is one large and enduring change in the sectors. There are competing theories in econom- redistribution to the middle class and a change in distribution of income, but it does not get captured ics about how compensation is determined in the tone, a return to “sunny ways.” by the Gini coefficient or the decile data: the rise market. One, based in models of perfect competi- Income inequality, the “defining issue of our in the share of market income going to the top one tion, concludes that workers and executives are time,” produced a change in tone but little funda- percent (and within this one percent, the share paid the value of their marginal product. Executives mental. Curiously neither book makes any mention going to the very, very top, the top decile of the one get high salaries because their contribution is very of the other defining issue of our time—climate percent). To study this very top end of the distribu- high. The other, based in models of imperfect infor- change. This is a serious gap in our understanding. tion, we cannot rely on household surveys but must mation, asserts that workers/executives have some How (or if) we make the transition to a low-carbon use personal income tax records. Thus these are ­discretion/power to shift a portion of total profit economy will powerfully affect both income growth data on individuals (not individuals grouped into toward themselves. Wages beyond their contribu- and income distribution in the decades ahead.

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 5 Defining Disability The shifting benefits thresholds in Canada. Bruce Little

lative committees. His volunteer work with com- rests on social justice principles of some kind and Struggling for Social Citizenship: munity agencies and with the Council of Canadians not on the official criteria applied by CPP/D. Disabled Canadians, Income Security and with Disabilities has put him in contact with the What is disability then? Prince keeps his aca- Prime Ministerial Eras day-to-day realities of social programs. This is no demic distance. “This book does not offer a singular Michael J. Prince distant academic; there is probably little he has not or definitive definition of disability.” Rather, he McGill-Queen’s University Press seen or analyzed and there is little question that his prefers to analyze the official definitions and how 238 pages, softcover sympathies lie with those for whom disabilities are they are applied to determine whether or not a ISBN 9780773547049 a part of their daily life. person is eligible for income support. This is under- Although he declares early on that the Canada standable, to a point. For Prince to nail his flag to Pension Plan Disability program is “the main policy one definitional mast, he might have to abandon he public policy issues concerning under consideration in this book,” he ranges much dispassionate academic analysis in favour of a more Canadians with disabilities are often more broadly, which is doubtless inevitable, given polemical work. Takin to Canadians with disabilities them- the interaction of so many social programs offered The whole field of disability is hugely varied, selves—occasionally visible, but positioned on the by all levels of government. He covers the 1900–60 making Prince’s mastery of its history and pro- periphery of political discourse. Their concerns period in one chapter and organizes the sub- gram details all the more impressive. It takes in are periodically debated, but rarely occupy centre sequent period under the heading of prime a wide range of government programs—not just stage, where the star turns are taken by issues to ministerial eras—Pearson, Trudeau, Mulroney, income support, but also rehabilitation, medical which all Canadians can relate because they per- Chrétien-Martin and finally Harper. The result of and employment services. “Client groups include sonally are affected. There are exceptions, of course, this detailed history is an essential work that any veterans, injured workers, and blind persons, like foreign affairs and defence, but when money student of social policy should not only read but working people with short-term illnesses, victims is involved, there is an eternal tussle between the also keep on the shelf for easy future reference. of motor vehicle accidents, working people with altruistic impulse to help the less fortunate—a key Prince frames his book with the concept of severe and prolonged impairments, and the sur- part of our self-image as Canadians—and the self- social rights. These “are not political universals viving spouse and dependent children of insured interest of keeping costs (and thus taxes) in line. with a given essence; rather, any regime of social workers,” he notes. Disability income policy alone Financial assistance for those with disabilities citizenship is a historically specific creation with “connects with labour market programs, old age has been around for much longer than most of us particular institutional arrangements intertwined cash benefits and survivor benefits, motor vehicle probably realize. Workers’ compensation plans with power relations among numerous groups and insurance, personal injury awards and settlements date back to 1914, financial benefits for veterans actors.” He rejects the idea that social rights are through civil litigation, family benefits, and health and their dependents to 1916. But it was not until sharply different from other human rights, such as care services.” the 1940s that the array of social assistance policies civil rights and political rights; they are much too This is a multi-layered and complex continuum; and programs that we know today began to take interconnected for that. “Political and civil rights when governments offer financial benefits, they shape. are integral to practices of claiming social rights. obviously have to draw a line somewhere along The story since then has been a complex suc- Claims by disabled workers to income provisions this continuum. Prince is clearly disturbed by at cession of approaches. It unfolded differently like CPP/D are shaped by the back-and-forth of civil least two aspects of the income support system for depending on the jurisdiction. Changes in direc- rights and duties and procedural rules and legal those with disabilities. Even to get a foot in the door, tion and emphasis reflected the social and political requirements.” a person needs to have worked and contributed impulses of successive eras. The tale also bears Both federally and provincially, governments either to the CPP or to employment insurance (for the stamp of the actors who brought their views have given Canadians with disabilities social rights sickness benefits). Yet the labour market is often to bear—not just the politicians and officials who to income support, but one feature is unique to this not very welcoming for those with disabilities, “a made and implemented the policies and programs, support—“the central role of medical science and place of outright exclusion, unemployment, per- but also the pioneers of social policy such as Harry rehabilitation services” to determining eligibility. sistent low wages, workplace discrimination, and Cassidy, Leonard Marsh and Charlotte Whitton and Nowhere else do medical professionals stand at occupational segregation.” The power of the medi- the disability advocacy groups that came to the fore the gates to benefits. The CPP/D was a “leading cal profession also sticks in Prince’s craw; doctors, in the late 1970s and ’80s. social policy achievement in the mid-1960s,” yet nurses, therapists of many kinds are the gatekeep- The author of Struggling for Social Citizenship: despite its role “as a national disability insurance ers who admit some, but not others, to disability Disabled Canadians, Income Security and Prime program, the position of considerable numbers of benefits. Social citizenship is not high on the list of Ministerial Eras, Michael J. Prince, has been toil- disabled workers is characterized by initial ineligi- concerns of medical professionals. ing in the trenches of disability policy for three bility, strenuous experiences through appeal pro- There is a presumptive undercurrent here that decades, not just as a professor of social policy at cesses, eventual rejection for benefits, and stressful something is deeply amiss with the existing sys- the University of Victoria but also as a consultant to changes in social status. The result most certainly tem. One begins to wonder: Are there alternatives? various governments, royal commissions and legis- compromises the ability of many disabled people to Because disability prevents one from earning a live a life in accordance with standards prevailing in living, it is hardly surprising that governments look Bruce Little is a former economics reporter and Canadian society.” to the living earned before the onset of a disability columnist for The Globe and Mail. Since leaving Yet here lies one problem that recurs throughout and at medical proof of the disability itself before the Globe in 2004, he spent a year at the Bank of the book—the notion that many people with dis- providing a benefit. If the rights of social citizen- Canada as a special advisor to the governor and abilities are rejected for benefits for medical rea- ship demand that governments offer support solely wrote Fixing the Future: How Canada’s Usually sons. In practice, a person is not officially disabled on the basis of social citizenship, should they do Fractious Governments Worked Together to unless he or she qualifies for disability benefits so automatically as soon as a person self-identifies Rescue the Canada Pension Plan (University of from the state. Prince seems to have a different set as disabled with governments bringing to bear Toronto Press, 2008). of criteria in mind to determine disability, one that no outside judgement? No government would do

6 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada that; public opinion would not allow it. How would on the front burner of the Mulroney government’s (after). Generally, Prince approves of the Harper Prince determine eligibility? He does not say. Are agenda, they were never off the policy stove, always record in this area, notably “the constant tweak- there lessons to be learned from other countries seeming to having something cooking politically or ing of tax credits and tax exemptions for particular on this count? He does not say. Would another administratively.” Mulroney oversaw another set of medical services and social supports.” But there system entirely—say a guaranteed annual income CPP reforms in 1991, with some enhancements for were few changes to the CPP/D program. for all regardless of ability, previous workforce the disabled. The broadening of disability benefits, Prince deals too with the bureaucratic politics attachment or medical condition—do a better job which also owed something to a key court ruling in that goes on within any government, primarily the of meeting the needs of social citizenship? He does 1988, led to a rapid increase in disability caseloads, conflict between the state’s left and right hands, the not say. with disability benefits rising to about 16 percent social affairs ministry and the finance department. He then leads the reader through a rich history of total CPP spending from about 12 percent in the He writes: of Canadian disability policies. The year 1943 saw previous decade. a small explosion of important work, a book by The rising cost of disability was just one item that Interestingly, much of federal disability policy Cassidy, a report by Marsh and a critique of both by quickly landed on the plate of the Liberal govern- making over the decades has been overseen Whitton. The first two laid the intellectual founda- ment under Jean Chrétien, with Paul Martin as his by finance ministers, most notably Michael tions of social insurance policies that blossomed in finance minister and successor as primeminister. ­ Wilson in the Mulroney prime ministerial era, the 1960s, while the third foreshadowed the oppos- By 1995, the government had already begun Paul Martin in the Chrétien governments, ing views that continued through and Jim Flaherty in the Harper age. subsequent decades. Prince rejects the idea that social National welfare ministers also The Lester Pearson years, of made distinctive contributions in course, featured a burst of social rights are sharply different from relation to CPP/D, in particular policy initiatives—medicare and the Judy LaMarsh in the Pearson era, Canada Pension Plan most promin- other human rights, like civil rights Monique Bégin in the final Trudeau ently. Disability was not included government, and Jake Epp in the in the initial CPP proposal in 1963, and political rights; they are much first Mulroneygovernment. ­ but that is where it wound up, partly because the provinces liked it there. too interconnected for that. Note the split here. Welfare min- It would save them money on social isters led the charge up until the late assistance and workers’ compensation outlays. tightening the rules for disability benefits. This 1980s; finance ministers dominated in the years Indexation also made this option more attractive coincided with a report from the chief actuary that since. The left and right hands have always tussled than provincial social assistance, which had never the CPP as a whole was in deep financial trouble over social policy, but control of social policy in been indexed to the cost of living. with a dwindling reserve fund and contribution Ottawa decisively shifted from the one hand to the Prince is very clear on one point. This was the rates that would have to rise to 14.2 percent by 2030 other around 1990 and has remained there ever only thing on offer: from 7.8 percent unless major financial changes since. One reason, surely, is that more and more were made. social programs are delivered via the tax system, A national disability income program would The resulting reform was almost entirely focused which the Department of Finance controls, but it is not have happened in Canada in the 1960s on the issue of financing the CPP. It was conducted not clear from this book what continuing role the without the larger reform project of establish- in the political context of a public that was growing social policy departments play or what this means ing a contributory retirement pension plan. increasingly worried over both the sustainability for the future. Prince might have usefully explored This larger scheme supplied the program of the CPP as a retirement income source and this very fundamental change. vehicle and the financing on which to add the large federal and provincial deficits and debts in As he wraps up, Prince makes a sweeping state- disability pension program, which provided general. Disability issues took the back seat. In the ment: “Large numbers of people with serious ill- income support for the non-elderly. Some end, contribution rates were ramped up quickly to nesses or disabilities are ineligible for EI and even federal government officials had favoured a 9.9 percent—the maximum the politicians would more so for CPP/D since the 1997 reforms. The separate national disability insurance pro- tolerate—and all benefits were cut significantly. consequences for individuals and their families gram, but the idea was not really on the polit- Prince chides me for describing the reform as a involve declining household incomes, depleting ical agenda of the country during this period. success story; this was “assuredly not how disabil- savings and possibly retirement funds, and taking ity organizations and individuals with disabilities” on debt to cover the cost of medical treatments.” The Pierre Trudeau era featured a number of saw it. This is a strong assertion, but it is only that. Since small amendments to the CPP and to its disability Fair enough. The outcome was indeed a sharp he does not define disability, we cannot be sure provisions, but no sweeping reforms. A 1970 white decline in disability caseloads and benefits, but how he is counting these large numbers of persons. paper on income security from welfare minister Prince is wrong when he argues that “retirement Moreover, there are no data on the large numbers John Munro went nowhere, as did a 1973 work- pensions were left virtually untouched.” Ordinary or declining household incomes and savings. ing paper on social security from his successor CPP pensioners lost out too through a very shrewd Indeed, there are few statistics at all in the entire Marc Lalonde; the finance department put paid to stealth cut in retirement benefits. These had been book, so one is never clear just how many people that. The 1978–84 period was marked by the Great based on a person’s average income in the final we are talking about. Without such data, the book Pension Debate but issues other than disability three years of employment; this was changed to the has a curiously detached feel. We are talking about grabbed most of the attention. Pension reform in final five years, which—since most people’s income policies but not about people who can be counted the early 1980s “was competing for attention and kept rising until they retired—reduced the base and their economic affairs assessed. resources against a new national energy policy, and thus the pension. The difference, small at first, Perhaps we should look elsewhere for an intense constitutional reform effects, and the would grow over time. It was the final piece of the ­economics-style treatment of the issue. There is mounting challenges associated with a serious puzzle that won support for the reform. The tight plenty here that will save social policy analysts economic recession.” Prince might have added that focus on financing likely had another huge benefit. some very tedious searching of the historical rec- both energy and the constitution pitted Ottawa The reform finally dealt with the CPP’s underlying ord. Prince has done that, for which we can be against several provinces, hardly conducive to long-term weakness; it was not collecting—and grateful. reforming social policies that required the cooper- saving—enough money from baby boomers to ation of both levels of government. finance their retirement years. At some point, this The Brian Mulroney years—and this may sur- could very well have killed the CPP entirely—or at Conversation prise some—were characterized by an enrichment least drastically reduced all benefits. Eventually, the of disability programs, including the CPP, despite baby bust generation would have balked at paying conservation: a preoccupation with deficit control and spend- huge contribution rates to support baby boomers in ing restraint in other areas of government. New retirement, an inequity that had already spawned LRC back issues legislation in 1986 increased disability benefits flickering of intergenerational conflict. and broadened eligibility, but this was not a one- Stephen Harper’s government made a number and subscriptions. shot effort. Over the next half-decade, “if the CPP of changes, mainly in its early budgets (before the www.reviewcanada.ca and the disability program were not continually financial crisis and recession) and its later budgets

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 7 The Rock, in a Hard Place Change in Newfoundland will come from the bottom up. Jeffrey F. Collins

government spending, from roughly $4 billion to journey through three years of political intrigue, Turmoil as Usual: $8 billion. Cash was awash: $1,000 baby bonuses, covering everything from political party leadership Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador and 20 percent pay increases for public servants, tax contests and conventions to intra-party strife, elec- the Road to the 2015 Election cuts and, perhaps most crucially, the building of a tioneering and scandal. James McLeod multi-billion–dollar hydroelectric dam in Labrador. McLeod’s book is peppered with sometimes Creative Publishers Still under construction today, the Muskrat Falls funny anecdotes on the absurdities common to 247 pages, softcover project is expected to cost $9 billion by the time it is politics throughout the country. For instance, there ISBN 9781771030816 completed in 2018. are his repeated run-ins with Marjorie, a hyper- With oil royalties soon accounting for a third of partisan who routinely threatens McLeod with all government revenue, flags were raised as early bodily harm unless he stops his critical coverage of t has been (half) jokingly said that the as 2008 that the province’s fiscal trajectory was her chosen tribe. Then there are party conventions, perennial misfortune of Newfoundlanders is unsustainable. The global financial crisis that year where serious policy is never debated and polit- Ito be governed by Newfoundland politicians. highlighted the pitfalls of the commodities’ market icians and card-carrying party members become Sadly, anyone looking at the “experts at voting ‘yes’ on what- political climate of the province ever [is] put in front of them.” over the last half decade would Although there is hope that things can More damning, though, be hard pressed to disagree with are those incidents in which such sentiment. With a collapse change, reform will not be elite driven. Newfoundland’s politicians con- in oil prices accentuated by poor flate their self-interest with the fiscal policy, the people of the province affection- when oil suddenly dropped from $147 to $44 a bar- public’s interests. Two examples (of many) stand ately known as the Rock are having to contend with rel. Likewise, Newfoundland’s three major oil fields out in this regard. The first involves Frank Coleman, one of the worst economic climates since Ottawa had well established production horizons of just 10 a business magnate and friend of former premier imposed a cod moratorium in 1992. to 25 years. Such factors should have induced cau- Danny Williams who, at the last minute in 2014, A have-not province for most of its 68 years tion on spending and taxation policy, but prudence made a move to become leader of the governing within the Canadian federation, Newfoundland was ignored and not one cent of the nearly $15 bil- PCs and therefore premier. Thanks to Williams’s is now seeing what appears to be the end of the lion in oil royalties was saved. Public spending and influence in the party, none of the PC caucus dared most lucrative years in both its pre- and post-­ vote getting proved too enticing a potion to discard contest the leadership, thus giving a total political Confederation history. Thanks in part to a hard- and little of substance was done. novice the go-ahead to become premier without fought struggle with Ottawa for offshore resource Consequently, when leadership was needed, ever having to contest “any democratic process.” rights in the 1980s, Newfoundlanders waited in none was forthcoming. None of the province’s Even more egregious was the interference of two long anticipation for the oil royalties to flow into three major political parties—the Progressive PC cabinet ministers in helping Coleman’s con- government coffers and see, what former premier Conservatives, Liberals and NDP—was willing to struction company avoid paying millions in bonds Brian Peckford so eloquently termed, that “have not vocally counteract the dangerous path the prov- on a highway project the day before Coleman will be no more.” ince was on, even after the resignation of the entered the leadership race. These acts, in addition In 1998 Newfoundlanders’ wish came true. popular nationalist premier Danny Williams in to Coleman’s refusal to talk about any vision or The first oil field, Hibernia, became commercially 2010 gave an opening for new ideas and bold pro- policy ideas, eventually led to him quitting as leader viable and production commenced. By 2008, two posals. Instead of telling voters what they needed of the PCs and throwing the party into its second more oil fields—Terra Nova and White Rose—had to hear, Newfoundland’s political class preferred to leadership contest in one year. The governing party entered into production. During that decade, tell Newfoundlanders what they wanted to hear and was in total turmoil and sound public policy went global oil prices skyrocketed, from roughly $26 continue moving toward the precipice of economic further to the wayside. What amazes McLeod and, a barrel in 2000 to $147 in 2008. The gush of oil disaster. indeed, the reader, is how someone like Coleman royalties literally changed the province’s economic With the advent of the new Liberal government’s could even get so close to holding the most power- fortunes overnight. In 2004, the then newly elected 2016 budget, Newfoundlanders are having to con- ful position in the province. In the end, McLeod Progressive Conservative government of premier tend with some $860 million in tax hikes (including rightly reminds us not to “feel bad” for Coleman as Danny Williams was rocked by the largest labour Canada’s first tax on books and a new income tax), “Newfoundland and Labrador should expect better strike in Newfoundland’s history as he attempted a $1.8 billion deficit, school closures, teacher layoffs than a guy who wasn’t even clever enough to think to implement an austere budget and come to grips and the removal of funding for 54 of the province’s that politics would be hard. He was a loser right with a nearly $1 billion deficit. 95 public libraries. Many are asking how it came from the beginning, and he got what he deserved.” Four years later, in 2008, the influx of oil dol- to this. The second incident involves Bill 29, a legisla- lars had not only erased the deficit but seduced While James McLeod did not set out to write an tive attempt in 2012 by the government to “keep the Williams administration into nearly doubling academic treatise on the province’s ills, his book basically anything they want secret.” If imple- Turmoil as Usual: Politics in Newfoundland and mented, Bill 29 would have allowed any file used Jeffrey F. Collins is a sessional lecturer at the Labrador and the Road to the 2015 Election cap- to develop a cabinet paper, including emails, University of Prince Edward Island and a PhD tures the machinations and small-mindedness of to be deemed secret. The Centre for Law and student in political science at Carleton University. Newfoundland’s political parties in the run-up to Democracy remarked that the bill would have A former political staffer at the federal and the November 2015 provincial election. McLeod, made Newfoundland’s access-to-information laws provincial levels he is originally from Placentia, a veteran political reporter and Ontario transplant weaker than those of Mexico, Ethiopia, Uganda Newfoundland. He now resides in Charlottetown, with Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest daily, and Bulgaria. A public outcry eventually forced an Prince Edward Island. The Telegram, takes the reader on a chronological inquiry and a reversal of the bill. But the issue of

8 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada transparency hardly went away. With the oppos- left with the feeling that leadership is permanently But although there is hope that things can ition Liberals ascending, McLeod caught their void in the province. After all, if there is a fault with change, reform will not be elite driven. When leader, wealthy businessman Dwight Ball, refusing the book it is that it leaves the reader looking for Bill 29 was announced, it was public protest—not to divulge who some of his campaign donors were answers on how to fix the status quo. the initiative of the political parties—that saw the even while Ball was simultaneously blasting the Hence, it is no surprise that today Newfound­ retrograde proposal thrown out and replaced with government for its secrecy. The only conclusion landers are circulating memes of Winston Churchill the most open access-to-information rules in the one can make about the whole affair is that “the quotes or signing a petition calling for the reinstate- country. As the province confronts its most chal- principles of transparency and accountability are ment of the Commission of Government, the lenging situation in a generation, it will again fall only really useful when you’re demanding that they unelected technocratic administration imposed on Newfoundlanders as a whole to demand higher should be applied to somebody else.” by Great Britain on the country between 1934 and standards, with an expectation that their leaders Upon reading Turmoil as Usual, one might be 1949 following another economic collapse. will listen and govern wisely.

For Elinor Greystone, the only way forward is back into the past. Tears in the Grass by Lynda A. Archer Three generations of Cree women set out to uncover a long-buried secret that will change all of their lives. $17.99

“The treatment of Elinor’s Native spirituality, though risky, adds a convincing dimension to the characters that makes this a story not just about a Native family, but of them.” —Ottawa Review of Books

“Lynda’s detailed and enthralling story-telling ability will have you captured from the very first page of the book. Her insight into the raw emotions and journey of each of the women is profound and endearing. These are the stories of strong, educated, successful, and compassionate modern-day Canadian Aboriginal women.” —Chastity Davis, Chair for the Minister’s Advisory Council for Aboriginal Women (MACAW) and member of the Sliammon First Nation, Powell River, BC

dundurnpress · @dundurnpress · dundurn.com

To the charity workers, Dadaab refugee camp is a humanitarian crisis.

To the Kenyan government, it’s a “Nursery for terrorists.”

To the Western media, a dangerous no-go area.

But to its half a million residents, it’s their last resort.

Combining intimate storytelling with investigative journalism, City of Thorns takes us inside Dadaab, the world’s biggest and most notorious refugee camp, through the stories of the people who live there.

Available today, where books are sold

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 9 ESSAY Not Wanted on the Voyage Resettlement alone will not slow the flow of refugees. Hunter McGill

ver the last year respect and fairness. In the case the global refugee of the refugee population fleeing Ocrisis has gone from an Somalia in the early 1990s, after ongoing and unresolved humani- the collapse of effective govern- tarian problem to an international ment, many now live in what is political challenge that threatens believed to be the largest refugee the stability of Europe, the sus- camp in the world, at Dadaab in tainability of international refugee northeast Kenya. Among the more law and the capacity of United than 800,000 people in this camp Nations institutions. It is timely are multiple generations of the to try to situate the mass move- same families—mother, daughter ment of affected populations in and granddaughter, existing in a the context of political instability, semi-desert environment, totally state insecurity and the resulting dependent on external support oppression and persecution of for food, water and basic social minorities, rather than be swept services, and vulnerable to attack along by the heart-rending stories from marauding groups of bandits and images, and to consider how or gender-based violence as they the international community can struggle day to day for food, water, respond to what will inevitably be access to proper sanitation facili- similar challenges in the future. ties, firewood and other essentials. As a result of the prolonged Markazi Camp in Djibouti conflict in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, fleeing persecution due to their ethnicity, polit- houses 4,000 of the 19,000 Yemeni refugees in that but also in Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan, hundreds ical affiliation, sexual identity or religious beliefs. country. There are an estimated 175,000 Yemeni of thousands of people have been forced from Conflict is frequently the trigger of mass population refugees as the result of the civil war in their home their homes and many of them have fled their movements that often generate refugees. Leaving country. Kakuma Camp in northeastern Kenya, countries, seeking asylum in neighbouring coun- one’s home country in search of a job or better near the border with South Sudan, was established tries or further afield. Although the conflict and economic prospects does not qualify a person as a in 1991. Among its population of 180,000 are resulting population movements have been going refugee. The formal definition of who is a refugee South Sudanese, Sudanese, Somalis, Ethiopians, on for more than five years, it is only within the last is set out in the 1951 Geneva Convention relating Burundians, Rwandans, Eritreans, Ugandans and 18 months that residents of developed, western to the Status of Refugees, which has been signed Congolese. The “Lost Boys of Sudan,” who found countries have become aware of the dimensions and ratified by 147 countries, including Canada. new lives in the United States, came from Kakuma of the situation, the numbers of people affected This forms the basis for the framework of inter- Camp. and the desperate circumstances the refugees find national refugee law setting out, inter alia, the rights Many refugees are unable or unwilling to live themselves in. Canadians and their government of refugees and the obligations and responsibil- in camps. They try to find accommodation and have shown compassion and generosity in recent ities of countries receiving these people, whether livelihoods in countries of first asylum, sometimes months in organizing the reception of thousands countries of first asylum or of permanent refuge. with relatives, often with little economic and social of Syrian refugees, but the Syrians are only the tip of Refugees, especially children, are among the most support. Lebanon is an example where a country an iceberg. Around the world, there are millions vulnerable populations in the world. Already with a population of four million is hosting 1.5 mil- more refugees, to say nothing of displaced persons traumatized by the circumstances they are fleeing, lion refugees. Not only do the refugees experience trapped in their home countries, who need help they are vulnerable to being preyed upon by smug- hardship but the host country population has to and protection. The Office of the United Nations glers, criminal gangs, and hostile populations in compete for employment opportunities and basic High Commissioner for Refugees says that the the countries of temporary or first asylum. In some shelter, food and other forms of support. numbers globally of people at risk, refugees and situations they are victimized by the police and Of particular concern is the effect on children. displaced persons are at their highest level ever, other security forces of countries of first asylum that There is trauma as the result of being wrenched reaching an estimated 60 million at the end of 2015. are not willing to meet their responsibilities under from the only homes they have ever known, fre- The movement of large numbers of a coun- international refugee and humanitarian law. Young quently witnessing violence against family mem- try’s population from their customary homes and male refugees, especially from Middle Eastern bers. There is loss of educational opportunities; regions is usually a signal that political processes countries, disenfranchised, marginalized and dis- despite the best efforts of international organ- and the rule of law are dysfunctional or have failed criminated against, are particularly susceptible to izations and civil society groups working in refu- altogether. People who become refugees are usually radicalization and the blandishments of recruiters gee camps, the building, staffing and operating of for extremist groups. schools are often not possible due to lack of funds Hunter McGill is a senior fellow at the University of Most people who become refugees want nothing and instability of the camp environment. There is Ottawa School of International Development and more than to return to their homes to re-establish also the impact on children’s health due to insuffi- Global Studies. He is also a member of the McLeod their lives and livelihoods and find peace and cient food availability and inappropriate types of Group. stability. They deserve to be treated with dignity, food to support growth, both physical and mental.

10 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Girl children are especially vulnerable to sexual have come to Canada over the years from the address the causes of conflict, reinforce the rule violence. It is very difficult to imagine the conse- violent, persecution-affected countries of Central of law, and speak out against human rights abuses quences for successive generations of refugees America, although these refugees have arrived in and act to reduce those abuses. Failure to act will living in camps that have existed for two or three much smaller, less visible groups or individually. mean that ever greater numbers of people will be decades, depending almost totally on external sup- Canadians understand the moral imperative to displaced from their homes around the world and port. In the early 1990s, the average length of stay in provide refuge and support to people forced to flee many of them will become refugees in need of (supposed) temporary refugee camps, with a much their homes, although they may not be aware of asylum and physical support. It is in Canada’s self- smaller refugee population in the world, was nine the obligations of their country under international interest, properly understood, to devote as much years. It is now almost 20 years. humanitarian and refugee law. They understand effort and resources to deal with the causes of Confronted with the unprecedented numbers that Canada has the capacity to receive and absorb refugee movements as it is currently committing to of refugees, especially those trying to reach asylum people at risk. They know it is the right thing to do. assist the refugees themselves. If Canada becomes in Europe, mass media have indulged in what can Is Canada doing it right? It would appear that for a member of the United Nations Security Council, only be described as hysterical pack behaviour. the refugees able to identify as Syrian, the selection as many hope, is it too much to ask that this be one Reporting has invoked the prospect of terrorist and support system is working as well as could be of our priorities? “sleepers” within the refugee populations and hoped. The reception of 25,000 Syrian refugees in As well as pursuing the long-term goal of peace, has played up the opposition of security and stability to reduce nationalist groups in some coun- The UNHCR says that the numbers the causes of population displace- tries of refuge to receiving refugee ment and refugees, Canada could populations, amid claims that the globally of people at risk, refugees in the near-term increase its fund- new arrivals will displace citizens ing and policy support for multi- from their jobs, increase criminal and displaced persons are at their lateral agencies assisting refugees. activity, and generally destabilize At the UNHCR program and the and threaten life in the receiv- highest level ever, reaching an estimated UN Relief and Works Agency ing countries. In some countries for Palestinian refugees, as well elected officials have gone to what 60 million at the end of 2015. as at the UN General Assembly, can only be described as ridicu- Canada could lead the process for lous lengths to raise barriers to refugee arrivals. just over two and a half months—with the inten- improved norms and legislation to protect refugees, In Denmark, in January this year the parliament tion to double this number by the end of 2016—is and ensure they are treated with dignity and that approved a new law allowing authorities to confis- a remarkable achievement, and the warmth of the their entitlement to asylum is respected. Although cate from arriving refugees valuables worth more welcome from individual and private group spon- this work is far less glitzy than announcements for than $2,000, and made it more difficult for asylum sors has been astonishing. Problems in finding the media of funds to run camps, feed clothe and seekers seeking to be reunited with their families. appropriate permanent accommodation and some house refugees, or mobilize mammoth exercises The large number of refugees entering Europe initial logistical glitches should not detract from to bring them to Canada, it is essential to refugees’ over the last 18 months has provoked fear and this accomplishment. For non-Syrian refugees the ability to gain asylum and eventually return home resentment and has been used by nationalist pol- picture is not as clear, however. It seems that there or establish their lives in a new country.­ iticians to advance their standing by encouraging are now two categories in the Canadian system: anti-immigrant sentiment. Although there is sup- Syrian-origin people and others. Special measures port for German chancellor Angela Merkel’s deci- are being taken for the first category, such as a sion to admit large numbers of refugees, in recent waiver from the requirement to repay, during the Coming up German state elections anti-­immigrant right-wing first year of residence here, the cost of travel from parties made significant gains. The European Union the country of initial refuge to Canada, and acceler- in the LRC has negotiated an agreement with Turkey to keep ated processing through the refugee determination refugees in that country and accept the return process administered by UNHCR and Immigration, of refugees from Greece, where they have been Refugees and Citizenship Canada. If these are Government and trapped by the closure of land borders to the rest short-term measures, it is understandable, but it the fourth estate of Europe. This comes close to refoulement—the does indicate shortcomings in the Canadian system forced return of refugees to their country of origin— that have to be fixed. As well as the logistical issues Madelaine Drohan which is prohibited under international law. related to accommodation, most refugees need In Canada, after an initial period of uncertainty assistance to learn one or the other of the official Bitcoin and beyond regarding the numbers of refugees the government languages, and many need help to deal with the Taylor Owen was willing to authorize, especially from Syria and trauma they have suffered in fleeing their home other conflict-affected countries in the Middle East, country and existing in temporary asylum before The human side of there has been a concentrated effort to accept pri- coming to Canada. global affairs vately sponsored and officially supported refugees Notable among the other group of refugee Hugh Winsor from that region, as well as ongoing reception of candidates are those who claimed asylum on asylum seekers from other parts of the world. In arriving in Canada before the end of 2012, when 50 years of queer 2014, Canada accepted 7,573 government-assisted procedural changes were implemented. There are refugees and 4,560 privately sponsored refugees, almost 6,500 people in this category, whose cases Susan Cole and 13,500 persons made a refugee claim on arriv- are to be decided by the Immigration and Refugee ing in Canada. People accepted for both govern- Board. Some of these claimants are in Canada while The seductions of ment and private sponsorship are recognized as immediate family members have to stay abroad. pre-war China refugees through a formal process administered They have to obtain work permits in order to seek Christopher Rae by UNHCR with the logistical support of the employment, and many live on the edge of poverty International Organization for Migration. The given the insecurity of their situation. The North America individuals claiming refugee status on arrival are In the broader, global context, Canada has subject to a determination process according to also to consider political and diplomatic actions that never was international law and the above-mentioned 1951 to protect the refugee populations who will never Richard Gwyn UN Convention on the Status of Refugees. reach Canadian territory, or other countries of Is Canada doing the right thing? We are a permanent asylum. As part of its examination Debating the right to die multicultural country of immigrants and we have of Canadian foreign policy, the government must Catherine Frazee a proud history of accepting populations at risk, identify actions it can take to reduce instability, going back to Hungarians in the 1950s, Ugandan state fragility and the abuse of human rights that Ice Age cryptographers Asians in the early 1970s, Vietnamese boat people result in the displacement of populations and cre- Salem Alaton in the mid 1970s, Somalis in the early 1990s and ation of refugee movements. Both on its own and Kosovars in the late 1990s. Also, many people with likeminded partners, Canada should work to

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 11 EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

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12URP Shared Ad ad for LRC.indd 1 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review2016-05-11 of Canada 10:19 AM Negative Exposure How a photographer helped demolish a neighbourhood. James Roots

them. The goals were to replace the slums with walls and ceiling within the frame, thus cramping Picturing Toronto: modern buildings, and to simultaneously shame the space visually. Compare that to the reverent, Photography and the Making of a Modern City the displaced (to the suburbs) immigrants into airy photo of a rich (English-born) man’s house Sarah Bassnett adapting to Canadian social expectations. standing in grand isolation along the Viaduct route McGill-Queen’s University Press It was with this in mind that Toronto hired and his meaning was bald but effective. 208 pages, hardcover Arthur Goss as its first official photographer in In talking about the recreation of a Ward as ISBN 9780773546714 1911. Goss took more than 3,000 pictures in his first an example of “liberal governance,” Bassnett year on the job, and more than 26,000 by the time insists on a distinction between photographs as he left in 1940. His photos, Bassnett asserts, were “at records of social reform (“illustrations of histor- oronto, contrary to popular deni- the heart of debates about what the city should look ical conditions”) and as stimulus for the planned gration, has never lacked for civic vision. like, how it should operate, who should live in what modern­ization of Toronto (“sources of historical TA 2016 exhibit at its archives, “No Little areas, and under what kinds of conditions it was meaning”). “This book treats images as a vital part Plans: Alternative Building and Transportation considered appropriate for people to live.” of cultural and political history, rather than as Visions for Toronto,” proved this point with its These are big claims to make for photographs, merely illustrations of people, places, and events,” display of ambitious plans, proposals and develop- but they were true of the 1900–20 era. Drawings she says. But photographs are illustrations. Being ment over the years. and watercolours, such as those used to twice integrated into the historical process is part and Most of these visions came to naught because unsuccessfully muster public support for the parcel of civic photography; the one does not the money simply was not there to implement spending necessary to build the Bloor Viaduct, undermine the other, nor can they be separated as them. Aside from their delirious faith in the Leafs, simply could not adequately convey either the per Bassnett’s false distinction. Torontonians are a practical breed obsessed with practical need for the project or the possibilities it Why did Bassnett pick Toronto for this exercise? their taxes and related hard-currency realities. offered for beautification and efficiency. Drawings Besides its being her home city, it seems the only Mark Osbaldeston, curator of the exhibit, are dreamy by nature; Torontonians needed to be reason is that “photography was rarely so central to wrote in the accompanying notes: “Post-war road persuaded by cold, hard, wide-awake, inarguable the constitution of modernity as it was in Toronto.” schemes focused less on creating beautiful civic photographic proof. In Montreal, to take one comparison that Bassnett spaces, and more on moving automobiles.” But in Goss accordingly photographed the entire pro- somewhat undervalues (she prefers to compare truth, the exhibit showed that this tendency goes posed route of the Viaduct to help the city calculate Toronto to Chicago), official photography roman- back at least 50 years earlier, when the primary how to build it and how much it would cost. With ticized the historical urban environment, whereas goal was to get people out of their buggies and this groundwork in hand, the politicians finally suc- Toronto’s official photography was used to map out into streetcars. Toronto civic planners have seldom ceeded in selling the idea to the public. a future urban environment. This goes a long way been interested in any other reason for planning. Toronto’s population more than doubled toward explaining why Toronto architecture is rigid, It can be argued that there has been only one between the turn of the century and the Great hard, boxy, unwelcoming—consciously planned— successful civic development that did not have War (the construction jobs created by the Viaduct whereas Montreal’s cultural-reverence attitude to transportation as its primary focus: the renovation certainly helped attract new residents). The influx civic photography allowed its citizens to develop of the downtown area known as the Ward, which came mostly from non-British European countries, soft, curvy, graceful and occasionally turbulent took place in the years immediately following the who were associated with indifferent hygiene and architecture. No wonder Montrealers disparage Great War. moral depravity. Charles Hastings, the medical Toronto as a “soulless” city. Sarah Bassnett, in Picturing Toronto: Photog­ health officer and a tremendous influence on Interesting and informative as this book is, raphy and the Making of a Modern City, attributes Toronto’s social reform movement, reported in I am not persuaded by Bassnett’s political agenda, this unique success to the concerted use of photog- 1911 on downtown (Ward) slum conditions and the especially her correlation of portraiture with liberal raphy to build the case for razing the Ward’s slummy attendant health threats, tying them directly to a governance. In the last chapter, she tries to estab- neighbourhoods and replacing them with buildings failure to integrate East European immigrants. lish this latter point by contrasting a trio of Goss’s and streets designed to prevent habitation by less Being familiar with the effectiveness of Goss’s photos of his own family members with a matching desirable elements of humanity (or, a curmudgeon photographs in visibly articulating the case for trio of portraits taken of children enrolled at Orde might argue, any elements of humanity). building the Viaduct, Hastings made prodigious Street School, an open-air sanatorium school for In her two-pronged rationale, photographs use of photographic evidence to urge removal of children with tuberculosis. This is not clean, bright were adroitly used to illustrate the embarrassing “foreign” slovenliness, filth and overcrowding from liberalism versus filthy, diseased ethnicity; this is eyesores that existed right behind (Old) City Hall, the Ward, and to prevent their recrudescence by the tenderly personal versus the dispassionately and simultaneously, to adhere these architectural constructing vehicle-moving arteries and forbid- objective (or the deliberately denigrating). humiliations to the un-Canadian social habits of dingly blocky office and government buildings. He By the early 1920s, Toronto’s drive for social the immigrants and ethnic enclaves who lived in ensured that the newspapers and magazines of the reform was petering out, not only because of shift- day reproduced the photos on a regular basis to ing priorities in the post-war era, but also because drive home to the public that the very survival of Torontonians, in their complacent way, decided James Roots, although currently living in Kanata, their city depended upon this course of action. the goal had been achieved. With unintentional Ontario, is a born and bred Torontonian. He Goss was a clever photographer in the service humour, Bassnett notes that thenceforth “instead learned photography from his father, one of of Hastings. He would emphasize the overcrowded of investing in ambitious city-building schemes, Toronto’s most popular wedding and portrait pho- conditions of slum housing—twelve men squashed [Toronto’s] politicians tended to focus on keeping tographers for half a century. into two tiny rooms, for example—by including the the tax rate low.” Plus ça change…

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 13 A History of Silence Examining aboriginal deaths in prison. Stevie Cameron

dumped in the alley, Paul died of hypothermia. in residential schools, disappearing Indigenous Dying from Improvement: Inquests and Although there was an inquiry and several reviews people and disappearing Indigenous children, rap- Inquiries into Indigenous Deaths in Custody of Paul’s treatment by the police, the officers were ing, pillaging, and a culture of exploitation.” Sherene Razack not charged. A major theme in Razack’s book is the dis- University of Toronto Press But who was Frank Paul, really? As Razack tance between what she calls “the settlers” and 309 pages, softcover explains, he had come to Vancouver “from his “the Indigenous people.” With this, she ties in ISBN 9781442628915 reserve in New Brunswick as a person already the way indigenous people in custody are treated branded from the violence of residential school and by the police. In her seven years of research, she the alcoholism and mental illness it has so often explains, people who were non-indigenous were y now, most Canadians are acutely produced in its wake.” startled to hear her statistics about indigenous aware of the disadvantages, suffering Another egregious example cited by Razack is deaths in custody—deaths such as those of Frank Band neglect experienced by our country’s the death of Saskatoon’s Neil Stonechild, a bright Paul and Neil Stonechild. indigenous communities. In Dying “Surely there can’t be that from Improvement: Inquests and many Aboriginal people dying Inquiries into Indigenous Deaths People who were non-indigenous were in police custody!” they told her. in Custody, Sherene Razack, a pro- As one example, Razack notes fessor in the Department of Social startled to hear Razack’s statistics about that between 1971 and 2003, “at Justice Education at the Ontario least nineteen people in British Institute for Studies in Education, indigenous deaths in custody—deaths Columbia were shot by the police has produced an uncomfort- such as those of Frank Paul and Neil or died in custody or died as a able but valuable account of the result of police action or inaction suffering and deaths of many Stonechild. … Sixty per cent of these deaths indigenous people who were occurred in police custody, as arrested, frequently beaten by the opposed to prison, indicating that police and left in perilous circumstances after being and talented 17-year-old indigenous boy with many police/Aboriginal relations are extremely fraught.” dumped in freezing alleys or country roadsides. friends, as well as teachers and social workers who And how do they die? “Police Tasers and guns,” Others, desperately ill, died in police cells when liked him, believed in him and encouraged his states Razack, as well as “deaths from asphyxiation, they should have been in hospitals. talent as an artist. However, he also had a police and deaths arising from being breached (police Razack defines the conflict between what she record for drug and alcohol use. At the time of his transport of individuals from one area to another), calls “the white settler society” and Canada’s death, Stonechild was in Alcoholics Anonymous for example, Frank Paul.” Native Court Workers and “Indigenous society”—especially when it comes to and living in a group home, but he kept in regular Counselling Association of British Columbia has the way indigenous people are treated in custody. touch with his family and friends. Because of his stated that “there was no systematic compilation It makes for painful reading, but she has chosen record the police began searching for him when of information about Aboriginal deaths in custody examples that should be known and understood he did not turn up at the group home; a few days … [and that] this in itself is significant, betraying across Canada. later, on November 25, 1990, two police officers the state’s deep reluctance to examine too closely Nor surprisingly, Razack begins with—and found him, beat him, handcuffed him, took him what happens to Indigenous people in the criminal frequently references in later chapters—one of to the outskirts of the city and dumped him in a justice system.” the worst examples of police neglect: the story field. A friend had seen him in the police car and Razack also cites statistics and comments from of Frank Paul, an indigenous man—a Mi’kmaq yelled at the police to stop, but they drove on—with Howard Sapers, Canada’s correctional investiga- well known in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Stonechild screaming at his friend that they were tor, who said, in his 2009–10 annual report, “that A homeless alcoholic, he had been taken by two going to kill him. It was well below freezing and while Aboriginal people comprise less that four Vancouver police officers to the city’s drunk tank his body was not found until November 29. This per cent of the Canadian population, they account on December 5, 1998, but was turned away because was not the first time Saskatoon police had taken for twenty per cent of the total prison population. he had already been there earlier that evening indigenous men to the outskirts of the city; such Aboriginal women offenders … grew by ninety- and had left. The officers decided to leave Frank, events were noted as “skylight tours.” The officers seven percent between 2002 and 2012 and consti- whose clothes were soaking wet by this time, in the were fired but not prosecuted. tute the fastest growing segment of the offender alley beside the drunk tank. Not long after being When it comes to the disappearance of women population.” in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Razack does Sherene Razack’s Dying from Improvement is a Stevie Cameron is a Toronto-based journalist who not hold back in insisting that the causes are not valuable addition for those of us who write about has published two books about Robert Pickton just drugs and alcohol. crime and punishment. It is packed with statistics and Vancouver’s missing women. During the eight “Terrible silences remain,” she states. “They are and useful references, and it is also a grim survey of years she spent in British Columbia on this project, only penetrated at inopportune moments, as jokes, practices that would shock most Canadians. I only she interviewed the families and friends of most of anecdotes, and personal asides, but these moments wish it had been available when I was working in Pickton’s victims, many of whom were indigenous, enable us to trace what has been declared out of British Columbia on my books about the Robert and attended the preliminary hearing and trial. bounds: dispossession, sexual and physical abuse Pickton/missing women case.

14 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Hobby Horse A perennial loser becomes one of horse racing’s biggest legends. Shelley Peterson

lated five working thoroughbred racehorses. loss, Felix believed that next time would be the big The Legend of Zippy Chippy: Life Lessons Enter Zippy Chippy. The horse had already lost pay-off. from the World’s Most Lovable Loser his 20th race and had gone through three owners Felix’s devotion was validated in a surprising William Thomas and several trainers. When his latest owner finally way, but not in the way he had imagined. By the McClelland and Stewart gave up on him and planned to send the horse to end of the book Zippy has become a folk legend, 304 pages the glue factory, Felix intervened. He had become drawing thousands of visitors and filling the coffers isbn 9780771081590 attached to Zippy because of their shared fondness of Old Friends farm for retired thoroughbreds with for hanging out with a beer, so he traded his beat-up sales of Zippy Chippy memorabilia, including hats 1988 Ford van for him. Zippy was saved. He showed and belts and t-shirts, and a coffee mug captioned ward-winning humourist William his gratitude by biting Felix in the back, leaving with “Winners Don’t Always Finish First.” Zippy Thomas has written ten books featuring permanent scars. Chippy was a star. Ahis dogs, his mother, his brother-in-law In spite of Zippy’s bad temper and lack of speed, Thomas understands the horse-human dynamic and/or his cats. The Legend of Zippy Chippy: Life Felix never lost hope that one day his horse would very well and writes about horses in a most enjoy- Lessons from the World’s Most Lovable Loser is his win a race. He defends Zippy with passion and dog- able way. I confess that, as a horse lover and author first book about horses, but as the subtitle suggests, gedness, like a parent. “Say you have three children. of horse books, I found myself searching for more it is not so much a horse story as a about the story of Zippy and less philosophy of life wound around about the meaning of life illus- a tale of two characters. One is a Felix had become attached to Zippy trated by assorted sports stories. man, trainer Felix Monserrate. The This author certainly knows other character happens to be a because of their shared fondness for his trivia. He peppers the book horse. with unusual facts about golf and The horse in question is a hanging out with a beer. He showed his baseball and flying lawn chairs. thoroughbred racehorse named gratitude by biting Felix in the back, He writes about fun-loving catcher Zippy Chippy, who began his Dave Bresnahan, who threw a career at prestigious Belmont leaving permanent scars. potato to third while touching Park but was raced mostly at the home base with the ball. And Finger Lakes Racetrack in upstate how Sammy Snead faked out an New York. He was a cantankerous troublemaker One is a lawyer, doing well. The other a doctor, very, impressionable rookie by boasting that he placed who was expected to live up to his stellar lineage— very successful. But the third one is not so smart, a ball over the trees when he was his age, not Northern Dancer, Buckpasser, Nearctic, Native so he’s working at McDonald’s. What do you do? mentioning that those trees had been growing for Dancer, Nearco, Man O’War, War Admiral—and Ignore him? … That’s the one you gotta help the 30 years. Not to forget Eddie the Eagle, who became leave his competition in the dust. Instead, as losses most! That’s Zippy Chippy.” an Olympic hero because of his shocking incompe- piled up with head-shaking regularity, he became His wife and partner, Emily Schoeneman, did tence and stubborn persistence. the holder of the world record for losing races. not share his optimism and saw no point in con- Different people find different things funny, In this sweet, meandering story, Thomas cre- tinuing to race him, but Felix maintained that he which makes humour the most difficult art form ates an old-fashioned, comfortable world of could turn Zippy Chippy into a star. One day, of all. Hats off to William Thomas for taking up homey wisdom and praiseworthy parables. This is he would break his maiden and turn his losing the challenge. He does not shrink from puns and a sitting-back-relaxing look at life at the track and streak upside down. groaners (e.g., Zippy Chippy, the poet in motion. its denizens, with the story of Zippy Chippy tucked Zippy Chippy never lost faith in himself, either. Okay, then: slow motion), and shows no fear of between nonchalant observations about the mean- This horse held people prisoner in his stall overused punch lines (e.g., Seriously? and One ing of life and random sports analogies. and bit them for fun. He struck fear into seasoned of these days, Alice). He repeats himself until he Thomas writes with sympathy and admiration horsemen with his unpredictable antics, like pick- thinks he must finally have gotten through to his about the relationship between this unproductive ing them up by their collars and not letting them readers, then tries one more time. horse and his eccentric trainer, who came from down. Conversely, he played hide-and-seek with As heavily underlined in the final chapters, the Puerto Rico at the age of 20 to become an exercise Felix’s eight-year-old daughter Melissa, and loved story of Zippy Chippy is a philosophical treatise. rider. By the time he was 52, his stable had accumu- to eat doughnuts, Doritos and pizza with his beer. It is the journey, not the destination. Winning is Zippy thought he was a tough guy, but really not important; it is how you enjoy the game. Fame Shelley Peterson has written seven novels about he was the Charlie Chaplin of the track. He puffed comes from unexpected places. In the end, if you social issues and coming-of-age problems with himself up before each race, strutting his stuff for all lose well enough, you are a winner. horses playing central roles: Dancer (Porcupine’s to see like a champion. He would get into the start- Not a bad way to live your life. Quill, 1996), Abby Malone (Porcupine’s Quill, ing gate with much fanfare, but then decide to wait Zippy Chippy, the horse who lost one hundred 1999), Stagestruck (Key Porter, 2002), Sundancer a bit, “to see how the horses were running,” accord- races, is the archetype for smelling the roses along (Key Porter, 2006), Mystery at Saddle Creek ing to Felix. Or he would fight his jockey and take the way. He loved his job so much that he did not (Cormorant, 2012), Dark Days at Saddle Creek the long way around the track. One way or another want the finish line to come too soon. (Dancing Cat Books, 2012) and, just released, he would lose the race, time after time after time. In the writing of The Legend of Zippy Chippy, Jockey Girl (Dundurn, 2016). She owns and oper- After each loss, he left the track as if he had won William Thomas shares this ideology with the ates a horse-breeding and stabling facility called the Triple Crown, head high and snorting. One horse. He loved writing this book so much he did Fox Ridge in Caledon, Ontario. hundred races, one hundred losses. And with each not want it to end.

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 15 An Air

I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong, little thing. Wrong about the lights, planes, orbiting gongs, and that the rushed sky above, it says nothing.

You say yeah and right, what does it all mean? You think the cloud drift and day shift are long. I’m here to tell you you’re wrong, little thing, that no matter what you suspend or dream, a blimp, a Boeing, that sigh is just a con, and that the rushed sky above does, says, nothing. Sunken Treasure Nothing about airfares and signals through rings of smog circling the pad where you belong. All precious dreams must someday slide, I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong, little thing, flotsam and jetsam, scattered as waste into the ocean, blue and wide, as you gape up to a Kevlar wing, that jet streams have the running time of pop songs, to wash up on the evening’s tide, and that that rushed sky above? it says nothing. driftwood reminders, now debased — all precious dreams must someday slide You think the scene is forever: the spring luncheons, necktie functions — long after you’re gone, like Polaris, who, once a guide but I’m here to tell you you’re wrong, little thing, on land and sea, was also placed though the rushed sky above, it says nothing. into the ocean, blue and wide,

William Buchan for charts and maps, now set aside, and electronically replaced — all precious dreams must someday slide

to sink as lagan, a loss denied, and we ourselves, the derelict placed into the ocean, blue and wide.

We founder in the great divide of sea and sky, our pasts erased — all precious dreams must someday slide into the ocean, blue and wide.

Lisa McCreary

Lisa McCreary grew up in Ontario, Anna Wärje’s writing has appeared or Rebecca Pa˘pucaru’s poetry has been William Buchan has published has lived in both Alberta and Quebec, is forthcoming in Room, Event, CV2, shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the poems and reviews in journals across and moved to Newfoundland in 2013 carte blanche, Descant, Open Minds Year. Her poems have appeared in Canada, most recently in Queen’s where she enrolled in creative writ- Quarterly and The Dalhousie Review, Event, The Dalhousie Review, PRISM Quarterly. His poetry has been pro- ing courses at Memorial University. as well as in the anthologies Rocksalt international and The Antigonish duced for broadcast on CBC Radio She is a former journalist and a (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2008) Review, among others, and three and has been longlisted for The Best founding member of a writers’ group and Cleavage (Sumach Press, 2008). poems will appear in the summer Canadian Poetry in English. He is in Gatineau (Aylmer), Quebec. She Anna has published one collection of 2016 issue of The Malahat Review. currently reading The Selected Poems became interested in poetry at the poetry, On Lost Roads (Country Light Her poetry has been anthologized in of Donald Hall and is making a age of twelve, and she has written Publishing). Anna holds a master’s Canadian Ginger (Oolichan Books, leisurely tour of William Makepeace and collected poems ever since. She degree from the UBC Institute for 2017), I Found It at the Movies: Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. recently read the novel Itsuka by Joy Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social An Anthology of Film Poems Kogawa, which she enjoyed for its Justice and is reading For Your Own (Guernica Editions, 2014) and The perspective of the struggle of Japanese Good, by Leah Horlick, and Gender Best Canadian Poetry in English Canadians who lived in Canada Failure, by Rae Spoon and Ivan E. (Tightrope Books, 2010). She is cur- during the Second World War. She is Coyote. rently editing her poetry manuscript. currently reading Ken Babstock’s Days into Flatspin.

16 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Rare

She sucks, she nips it gently, your red heart, a tart, wet feast she snares with pointed teeth, then reaches up and takes your skull apart.

Wrists opened wide, you willingly impart the knotted snarl of budding vines beneath. She sucks, she nips it gently, your red heart.

With men you kept your bone cage tightly barred, but she finds out the secrets underneath, then reaches up and takes your skull apart. Ninety-One Years A Rorschach smear of rebirth is her art, her fisted hand re-teaching you to breathe. For Murray Libman, 1917–2008 She sucks, she nips it gently, your red heart. Strike while the iron’s hot; so he thought best. Inside you deep she comes, your counterpart. Here for his effects, I find Hollywood’s glow. She draws your thoughts around her like a sheath, Ninety-one years of life stowed in one chest, then reaches up and takes your skull apart. While at Union Station, stand-ins take their rest. And you, so rare and bloody from the start, Newsboys trumpet dust and crops that won’t grow. what succubus did you invite, what thief? Strike while the iron’s hot; so he thought best. She sucks, she nips it gently, your red heart, then reaches up and takes your skull apart. A betting man, Grandfather liked to test His luck at card tables; all at one go, Anna Wärje Ninety-one years of life stowed in one chest. Extras in fedoras and cloche hats jest. Grandfather waits for the last train to show. Strike while the iron’s hot; so he thought best.

At sixteen, he knew which trains travelled west. Hobos, shoeshiners. A trickster on furlough, Ninety-one years of life stowed in one chest.

The star leaps at his director’s behest. Grandfather on the ledge grows in sorrow. Strike while the iron’s hot; so he thought best. Ninety-one years of life stowed in one chest.

Rebecca Pa˘pucaru

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 17 Faith and Loss Across the Generations Yann Martel’s return to an abandoned novel. Miranda Newman

so mired in grief he has literally turned his back time she saw her husband’s penis: “I didn’t know The High Mountains of Portugal on the world; he walks backwards everywhere he what a cucumber was or what it was for.” Just as the Yann Martel goes. Tomás’s wife, young son and father die in the reader begins to relax in this gleefully strange scene, Knopf Canada course of just one week. These sudden blows, and we find out Maria’s son, a blond-haired boy with 332 pages, softcover the discovery of a long-forgotten diary, send him on light eyes was killed in a hit-and-run some years ISBN 9780345809438 an expedition through what he refers to as the High ago—1904, to be exact—in yet another example of Mountains of Portugal (a semi-fictional portion of Martel keeping his readers on their toes. Despite the Sistema Central system of mountain ranges), the repeated loss of love in her life, Maria has car- ann Martel’s latest novel, The High which are really “nothing beyond mere hills” and ried her grief much better than Tomás or Eusebio. Mountains of Portugal, has been about were once home to the Iberian rhinoceros. The She is the only living female character in the novel, Y30 years in the mak- yet Martel grants her one of the ing. He began work on the strongest and most fantastical story, a century-spanning odys- The idea that the lives of our ancestors storylines in The High Mountains sey, long before he released his inform our journey through life is not a of Portugal. divisive Beatrice and Virgil, and “Home,” the final section, before his best-selling Life of new one. This book demonstrates that explores grief in the presence of Pi became a critically acclaimed full-swing belief. Peter, a Canadian movie. The long gestation has the actions that caused a wrong can senator, has lost his wife. He already paid off—within the first sets out in the 1980s on his own month of The High Mountains of eventually be righted, although it may redemptive journey that finds Portugal’s release, it had made him leaving the life he created in The New York Times bestseller list. take several lifetimes to do so. Ottawa behind to return to his Readers might recall from birthplace, the High Mountains of Life of Pi the “author’s note” that acknowledged geography and mythology of Portugal subverts Portugal, in the most unusual company—that of a an abandoned novel set in Portugal in 1939. Here expectations, much like the rest of the novel, as chimpanzee he bought on an impulse. Peter and he has returned to that abandoned novel and to Tomás pilots his uncle’s brand-new car in search the chimp, Odo—a veiled symbol of the evolution explorations of faith in trying times, and the roles of a prize crucifix so rare and valuable that “it of Martel’s characters’ grief—settle into life in the played by imagination and storytelling in our reac- shines, it shrieks, it barks, it roars.” As in the other same small village Tomás once visited, attracting tions to losing someone we love. But, what sets this sections in the novel, most of the traumatic events the curiosity of its local residents. Peter learns he new work apart from Life of Pi, and other contem- in Tomás’s story happen before it begins—save for has inadvertently moved into the house he was porary loss narratives such as Billie Livingston’s The his accidental hit-and-run of a blond boy—letting born in, and is related to Maria and her boy with the Crooked Heart of Mercy, is its sheer scale. “Homeless” concern itself with what happens when light eyes. Here, Martel does away with the ques- The High Mountains of Portugal is a tripartite a person’s faith follows his loved ones to the grave. tioning of faith and religion, and instead focuses narrative that unfolds across three generations. The Just as Tomás slams about the bench seat of his on unwavering belief in the present moment. Peter book is actually three novellas all set, for the most uncle’s car on his journey into the mountains, the becomes the only protagonist to achieve something part, in Portugal. Although Martel’s own fascination reader is thrown into the next story in the novel— close to healing. with the country may stem from having lived there “Homeward.” This section focuses on Eusebio, a The idea that the lives of our ancestors inform as a child, the setting lends itself very well to an Portuguese pathologist practising in 1938. He too is our journey through life is not a new one. This book exploration of faith and mourning. In addition to dealing with the loss of a cherished love. Although demonstrates that the actions that caused a wrong a predominantly Roman Catholic population, the the shortest of the three stories, “Homeward” is can eventually be righted, although it may take country is also home to the miracle of Our Lady of where Martel really finds his stride. He explores several lifetimes to do so. The final section ends on Fatima—an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary uncertainty in faith through an unreliable narra- a hopeful note, showing that while there can be life witnessed by three children. Martel balances this tor making his readers question just as much as after the loss of love, true healing can be as hard to belief in the miraculous with a deep Portuguese Eusebio does in this section. In the tradition of Life find as the Iberian rhinoceros so mythologized in the melancholy called saudade, which is introduced of Pi, “Homeward” underlines our preference for High Mountains of Portugal. Peter alone manages to in relation to how the Portuguese people feel the magical over the macabre—reminding us that find both, in a tidy but deeply satisfying conclusion. about the Iberian rhinoceros: “It was hunted and sometimes it is better to accept a fantastical version Although he explores the role of faith in griev- hounded to extinction and vanished, as ridiculous of trying events than to live with their truths. ing through three similar male characters, Martel’s as an old idea—only to be mourned and missed the Even the novel’s secondary characters are not grasp on voice allows for distinct and unique per- moment it was gone.” In a setting rich with mythol- immune to grief. As Eusebio works through the New sonalities to emerge in each section of the book. ogy and malaise, Martel is able to explore loss in Year, a widow visits him from the mountains. She The reader is drawn into each protagonist’s life three protagonists’ lives through varying lenses of has not come alone. She has hauled her husband’s just long enough to get his message across before belief in a place that most allows for it. corpse down the mountain in a suitcase. Eusebio meeting the next. Martel places the fates of his The first story, “Homeless,” opens in 1904 and quickly discovers this is an atypical autopsy, as he characters entirely in their own hands. He colours follows Tomás, a museum employee from Lisbon opens the body to find, among other things, a flute, each story with varying levels of belief and lets the mud, coins and a lifeless chimpanzee holding a characters lead us through their sorrows in a thrill- Miranda Newman is a writer and event producer small dead bear cub. As he works, Maria tells him ing and winding read that charts the evolution of in Toronto. the story of her marriage even detailing the first grieving.

18 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Music and Politics in China Madeleine Thien has written her most ambitious work to date. Bronwyn Drainie

ernists such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich, while young mathematician growing up in Vancouver, Do Not Say We Have Nothing the more specialized Chinese ethnomusicologists and through those of Ai-Ming, the daughter of Madeleine Thien are up on the top floor, composing for the erhu and Sparrow, who flees China after the Tiananmen Knopf Canada the guqin. (Once the Cultural Revolution begins, of Square debacle and fetches up first in Canada, then 473 pages, hardcover course, all 500 of the pianos in the conservatory are the United States, and then China again, before ISBN 9780345810427 gleefully destroyed, the place is emptied, a number vanishing into thin air. These young women cannot of the faculty commit suicide. Songs such as “Night stop asking questions: about the real nature of the Bell from the Old Temple” and “Young Soldier’s relationship between their two fathers, for example, t is extraordinary that Montreal- Joy” replace the Emperor Concerto and Glenn and about their ability to move forward with so based author Madeleine Thien has the guts Gould’s version of the Goldberg Variations.) many dead, invisible weights behind them. Ai-Ming Iand stamina to keep writing longs to share her questions with about the things she keeps writing other students of the Tiananmen about. Her first novel, Certainty, Kai the pianist is a genuine son of the generation: “Doesn’t it all seem explored the trauma of life in absurd to you? Why do we have Northern Borneo under Japanese soil who has watched his entire family no words for what we truly feel? occupation in the Second World What’s wrong with our parents?” War. She followed that with Dogs die of starvation in their poverty-stricken Thien has an answer of her at the Perimeter, a searing dis- own to these agonizing existen- section of Cambodia during the village in 1959. He is devoted to music, tial questions, which may satisfy nightmarish Khmer Rouge years some readers while leaving others of the 1970s. Now, in Do Not Say but even more to survival. frustrated. Using the Chinese art We Have Nothing, her most ambi- of calligraphy as an overriding tious work to date, she tracks the metaphor, she posits the idea that lives of three gifted musicians, plus their families Although Sparrow is the son of a blustery and telling the story and writing it down in beautifully and friends, through the tumultuous decades of hilarious pair of parents named Big Mother Knife crafted Chinese characters, then copying it over Mao Zedong’s China and its troubled aftermath. All and Ba Lute, he grows up shy and nervous and only and over and circulating it, then subtly changing these novels use as their framework the quiet, enig- happy when alone and composing in one of the con- it as time goes by, may be as close as we can ever matic lives of survivors or their children in Canada, servatory studios. Once the Red Guards arrive, his come to touching the truth about others’ lives and where characters mine the past incessantly even as strategy is simply to vanish into the proletariat, first our own. they try to envisage a healthier, more hopeful, more working in a box-making factory and then soldering A great deal of Thien’s narrative is taken up with “normal” future. radios for 20 years. Zhuli shares her uncle’s obses- a mysterious Book of Records, in 42 chapters, which For readers who prefer their novels to be about sion with music and is equally appalled when the many of the book’s characters are constantly read- something rather than an ever deeper excavation of full force of the Cultural Revolution descends on ing, copying, distributing, hiding, and searching the solipsistic western self, Thien delivers in spades. her slim shoulders: although her mother has good for and embedding with coded names and infor- She has clearly done years of historical research political credentials, her father Wen the dreamer mation. When Ai-Ming makes her dash for North into the turbulent timelines of 20th-century China, comes from the despised landlord class, which America, with the book in her suitcase, she muses: and it is not a bad idea to have Wikipedia nearby seals Zhuli’s fate as a musician. In some ways most while reading her (“Hmmm … I’d forgotten that interesting of the three is Kai the pianist, a genuine Could it be that everything in this life has the Hundred Flowers Campaign happened as early son of the soil who has watched his entire family been written from the beginning? Ai-Ming as 1956, and that it was really a trick to uncover die of starvation in their poverty-stricken village could not accept this. I am taking this written dissidents by encouraging criticisms of the gov- in 1959. He is devoted to music, but even more record with me, she thought. I am keeping it ernment and the party”). At the same time, Thien to survival, and he ends up—after denouncing safe. Even if everything repeats, it is not the cares deeply about her characters’ inner lives and many of his colleagues, including Zhuli—moving same … She could take the names of the dead presents them with a full panoply of pain, humour, to Beijing to become a member of Madame Mao’s and hide them, one by one, in the Book of neuroses, memory and imagination so that they showcase orchestra. Compromise, the idiotic par- Records … She would populate this fictional cease appearing as “others” and more as we our- roting of political slogans, betrayal, guilt—and the world with true names and true deeds. They selves might feel in like situations. occasional fragile moments of solace from music would live on, as dangerous as revolutionaries Thien’s plots are always complicated, but the or love—these are the components of Sparrow, Kai but as intangible as ghosts. challenge of untangling them is part of the pleas- and Zhuli’s lives, and to follow them through these ure. In this third novel, the three main characters pages is not a pleasant or easy fictional journey, but This is exactly what Thien is doing in her novel. are Sparrow, a composer; his niece Zhuli, a gifted it is an eye-opening one. Even though she focuses on just two or three fam- violinist; and his student Kai, a brilliant but also In interviews, Thien has chafed somewhat at ilies linked by their love of music, in a much larger very political pianist. The centre of their lives being pigeon-holed as a historical novelist and sense she is creating a memorial for the millions of is the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where rightly so. It is clear that Do Not Say We Have lives lost, disappeared, shrivelled or wasted during giants of the western canon—especially Bach and Nothing employs the full toolbox of modern self- not just the years of Mao’s reign but back to the Beethoven—share space with great Russian mod- referential fiction techniques as well as classical famine of 1910 and forward to the dashed hopes of narrative. The framework of the book is seen Tiananmen in 1989. Bronwyn Drainie is the former editor of the LRC. through the eyes of Marie, the daughter of Kai, a That is some accomplishment.

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 19 Plainclothes Diplomats Inside the practices of track two diplomacy. John Bell

Today, as traditional diplomacy gets more practitioners do not much like theory, while theor- Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice hurried due to the pressures of technology and ists insist the practitioners need to be more rigorous Peter Jones media-driven politics, track two can become in their processes. Stanford University Press more relevant because of its more leisurely pace However, this book shines best in the chapter 237 pages, softcover and reflective approach. Track one rarely has the on “People,” in the practice portion. Jones writes ISBN 9780804796248 inclination or the luxury to delve into what track fluidly here showing a great command of track two pursues. two operations. He is very good on the role of the As Jones points out, the benefits of a construct- mediator, the “repository of trust” in the process, eter Jones has written an interesting ive track two operation can be many: from devel- who requires the cultivation of an “‘innocent’ eye book on a subject most people do not know oping advice for policy makers to incubating new … that enables one to ask searching, fundamental Peven exists. Jones is well placed to have processes and ideas, to the socialization of key questions.” done so, putting together Track Two Diplomacy in people into new paradigms. Track two, if properly I have also found that disciplined observation Theory and Practice after decades of work in the implemented, can even increase the complexity of is key to mediation. The mediator often has to hold Middle East, South Asia and elsewhere, as well as understanding between enemies, which is neither a back from saying anything, permitting answers an accompanying academic career teaching and mean feat nor an unworthy goal. to come to participants, and to himself or herself. researching on the issue. Jones’s book has a foreword by former U.S. sec- In this section on people, the living and textured The book is a comprehensive effort to describe retary of state George P. Shultz, who admits that he, dimensions of track two—the attempt to bridge the ins and outs of this kind of diplomacy. I have like many officials, was often suspicious of track two conflicted peoples—comes to life due very much to been a practitioner of track two diplomacy for more efforts, wary that they would get in the way, damage Jones’s direct experience. than 15 years, and before that an official diplomat, sensitive processes or simply reach great heights of Indeed, the book is also useful in its almost and the book has proven to be quite enlightening irrelevance. However, Shultz, like many officials, encyclopedic approach of recording all possible for my own experiences. became a fan of track two through exposure to it. theories and approaches to track two diplomacy. However, first and foremost, what is track two My own experience is that tracks one and two can It stands as a reference, and certainly it explained diplomacy? Most people are unfamiliar with the work together almost seamlessly if one has the right much of my own past behaviour, which was mostly term, and, if described otherwise (private or informal people on board, and the right lack of pretension intuitive judgements at the time of action. diplomacy), it can even sound almost shady. on all sides. There are also other more subtle lessons than Jones defines the term as unofficial dialogues Jones describes the origins of track two among the articulated theories of change and compendia between conflicted parties often facilitated by a the academics and former diplomats who aimed of frameworks. Jones fell into track two diplomacy third party aimed at new ways to resolve differ- to extend international relations beyond an by accident. He was working on arms control issues ences. He also makes clear the difference between approach of realism fundamentally based on when one of his participants told him “you are run- diplomacy and conflict resolution: the former is the power. However, one should also not forget the ning quite a good Track Two here” when he had not official pursuit of interests while the latter occupies many informal, if less academically framed, efforts even heard of the term. a narrower, if complex, band of activities. More by private citizens who pursued diplomacy under I also fell into track two by accident. I was a spe- casually, track two can be described as unofficial the radar, and quietly humanized the relations and cialist in the Middle East, working on policy issues (versus official) diplomacy encompassing a range softened tensions, especially between the United related to Lebanon, Egypt, and Israel and Palestine. of efforts from grass roots level dialogue to hard- States and the Soviet Union. The recent film Bridge My work also took me slowly but surely toward core talks that can lead to official negotiations. One of Spies highlights a masterful example of such track two, mediation and conflict resolution. of the most famous of track two operations, the Oslo informal diplomacy. In the Middle East, private Indeed, one of the most successful track Process, began as track two and ended as track one. citizens have also played similar unheralded roles two operations I have been involved with was Why would track two even need to exist? Can between enemy states. unplanned and evolved by accident. During the official diplomacy not do the job? It can, but offi- These, however, are not the structured efforts early days of the Arab spring, I had a meeting with cials are often preoccupied by the crises of the day that Jones describes as track two, but they are individuals from the Middle East aimed at develop- and narrower state agendas. They are often hesitant examples nevertheless of the power of unofficial ing greater understanding of the sea change that to engage in sensitive and taboo subjects that have diplomacy. They may even sometimes be more had just occurred, especially the rise of Islamists risky political implications or might even get them effective than more formal track two due to their at the time. During that meeting, a couple of “ene- fired. organic and personal nature. mies” decided spontaneously to meet and talk As Jones recounts, the genesis of track two was a This book is made up of two parts: theory and about their conflict—a three-year process then desire by some, such as the Australian John Burton practice. It intentionally bridges the two worlds, ensued with many worthy fruits. and others, to go deeper into the roots of conflict seeking to make them more familiar to each other, This emphasis on accident is important because, and derive more sustainable solutions. These because Jones understands both. I am a practi- often, political processes simply cannot be planned, individuals believed that “dialogue, values, and tioner and found much of the theory interesting, let alone organized. They often happen by a seren- relationships were as important in international but sometimes odd. dipity arising out of a context and contacts that affairs as power.” Jones presents the need for theories of change defy definition. Indeed, to my knowledge, the Oslo (a theoretical understanding of how one will Process, for better or worse, also arose out of similar John Bell is the director of the Middle East achieve one’s goal) in track two and lists many such serendipitous meetings on the ground between its and Mediterranean Programme at the Toledo paradigms, each vying to better explain what the Norwegian creator and Israelis and Palestinians. If International Centre for Peace in Madrid. He practitioner is doing. It seemed to me that these the role of accident and coincidence is key, then so has led many track two initiatives in the Middle were like complicated attempts to describe various is a degree of operating flexibility that no theory of East and North Africa, and is a co-founder of aspects of the same weather system, an interest- change can encompass. the Jerusalem Old City Initiative (based at the ing but ultimately futile exercise given the level of Jones admits that he himself errs on the side University of Windsor). complexity at play. Jones admits in his book that of the organic, rather than the structured and

20 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada ­academic, but he still believes that a healthy com- In recent years, there has been a proliferation of above all on the quality of the participants involved. bination of intuitive judgement and scientific disci- track two activities and a great dilution and range The higher the quality, the better the results and pline works best for track two—theory and practice. of quality. “The field can be open to unrestricted potential ripple effect—and that’s that. I, on the other hand, abide more by the idea that experimentation and amateurish even destructive In that sense, there is an ongoing debate on “in theory, there is no difference between theory practices,” writes Jones. Conflict resolution is a sexy whether track two is more art or science. Jones and practice, but in practice there is.” In my view, and challenging subject and many believe that, concludes, as I do, that it is more the former, but he practice is the trump. with an idea, goodwill and a few good contacts, they does make the case to add some science to improve Structure and theoretical understanding are all can give it a try. predictability and results. well and good, but lean and flexible operations The reaction is therefore the desire to profes- I would also add that anyone wishing to enter may be the essence of success. There is a constant sionalize the field, an attempt to give it rigour, even the field ensure not only a high degree of humil- argument in track two circles about ripeness, that through dreaded evaluation processes, which Jones ity but also the self-discipline and reflective rigour is, whether a conflict is ripe for discussions and correctly demolishes. Direct observation of a dia- needed to regularly decide whether a process progress. Some believe that processes need to be logue, which is the best evaluation method, affects should go ahead or not. maintained no matter the context. Indeed, Jones its nature and the quality of the event. The practice of track two is as much learning for and others say, mediation may even help create There is almost no way around this conundrum, the practitioners as for the participants, and that that right moment. except through intelligent and careful reporting of learning is in the doing, not the study. The reality I am less convinced. It may not always be neces- findings by the facilitators. “We must accept the fact may well be that such processes are primarily intui- sary to have an ongoing formal process, Instead, that in complex political situations,” Jones quotes tive in their creation, and only appear rational post there are ways of maintaining contact with key former U.S. diplomat Harold Saunders as saying, facto, in reflection (and these two states should not actors, some of which can be very indirect and “exact cause and effect or the precise contribution be conflated). some, truth be told, are social rather than profes- of ideas may be unknowable in any measurable “Real peace is made of a complex and inter- sional—or certainly mix the two heavily. With this terms.” locking web of factors,” Jones has written. Track approach, one needs to be ready to dive like an The danger of professionalization is also that it two can be an important element in that web if its eagle on to the prey when the time comes, when risks taking the guts out of this very human process, designers can perceive the key parts of the pattern. ripeness ensues. This may seem far too loose for leaving it in the realm of rote interaction, emptied Nothing can replace the accumulation of experi- many, but it may reflect reality more than a poten- of its essential life. Track two work, even more than ence, failures, dead ends, and a determined and tially artificial process. track one diplomacy, is profoundly personal and disciplined process of learning in an area of one’s Of course, the bogeyman behind any approach yet connected to larger human dynamics. It is very passion; the rest is narrative. If all this is true, the is funding and the need to maintain a career. Some hard for the more empirically minded (and the hard truth is also that the space for track two is in track two are looking to justify their time and accountants) to accept this, but so it is. probably smaller than it looks. make a living and this is part of the natural drive Therefore it is fundamentally guesswork, hard to Through this book, Jones has delivered a solid for articulated (and funded) processes. Funders, on pin down, and its benefits are in the process itself. It and highly comprehensive reference for this field, the other hand, often have unreasonable demands is for this reason that the field should be approached something for academics to be challenged by, and, with their target obsessions, and boxes to be filled with a delicate mix of humility, well-defined goals to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, for practitioners, looking in to demonstrate concrete results where there may and no pretence of social engineering. The most back on their work, to “arrive where they started be none. effective track twos I have been involved in relied and know the place for the first time.” 2016 Leacock SUMMER FESTIVAL AUTHORS ▪ BOOKS ▪ READERS July 19 - A Celtic Temperament: Robertson Davies as Diarist with Jennifer Surridge and Ramsay Derry July 20 - IFOA Orillia New Fiction with Lynne Kutsukake & Gary Barwin July 21 - K Valerie Connor Poetry Celebration - Awards & Readings Poetry Pub Night with Roger Bell, Betsy Struthers Susan McMaster and Marty Gervais July 22 - Leacock Medal Humour Showcase July 23 - First Nations Readings at Rama First Nation July 23 - Happy Hour with Dan Needles with Craig Herron: BOOZE: A Distilled History July 24 - RBC Charles Taylor Prize Readings presented in association with IFOA and featuring Rosemary Sullivan Stalin’s Daughter & Iain Reid I’m Thinking of Ending Things Plus: July 30 - Harry Potter Children’s Day August 6 - Poet BILLY COLLINS Returns to Orillia Live at the Orillia Opera House Tickets & Information: 705-329-1908 leacockmuseum.com CITY OF ORILLIA - PARKS, RECREATION & CULTURE DEPARTMENT

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 21 ESSAY The Arrow of Digital Disruption It’s adapt or die in the new digital economy. Dan Dunsky

n the fall of 2014, just after UberX as paradigmatic as other technological launched in Toronto, I asked a cab changes (which may or may not be true) Idriver what he thought of the on- is cold comfort to those whose lives have demand ride-sharing service. Mishearing been turned inside out in the space of less “Uber” he asked: “Super? What’s that?” than a decade. Fast forward to March 2016, and a This feeling of dislocation may have different cab but the same question. This something to do with the nature of digital time, there was no mistaking Uber for any- technologies and the speed at which they thing else and my driver had plenty to say are changing the patterns of our activities. about it and why the city’s mayor was not At their core, digital technologies are stopping the company from destroying his a revolution in information and com- livelihood: “John Tory’s wife owns shares munications, allowing billions of people in Uber, I’ve heard. That’s why he’s not to create and share vast amounts of data, doing anything to help us, the bastard!” almost instantaneously, and certain Conspiracy theories aside (Uber is not clever companies and organizations to currently a publicly traded company), aggregate and measure that data and my cabbie’s anger is understandable. In market products and services based on the space of just 18 months, a new digital it. Like previous revolutions in informa- product had upended a well-­established tion and communications technology, business and the regulatory regime on this challenges our view of authority. which it was based, and was now threat- Homer—using a new technology called ening the incomes of thousands of people, the alphabet—challenged the clout of the including him. bards and poets who passed on know- UberX is just one recent example of the ledge orally. Gutenberg’s printing press changes in business models, consumer displaced the authority of the monks and value propositions and social interactions priests who wrote and interpreted the caused by digital technologies—a phe- bible. In each case, new information and nomenon commonly known as digital communication technologies empow- disruption—that are roiling our busi- ered a different (and larger) set of indi- ness, social and political landscapes and viduals at the expense of those who had having a profound effect on the people established themselves as the arbiters of living through it. But it is hardly the only what mattered and what did not. one. In the past few years, millions of As for the pace of change, it took Canadians have come face to face with more than 60 years to distribute elec- digital products and platforms that have tricity across Canada, and, as Dorotea replaced established habits in the way we Gucciardo points out in The Powered communicate (iPhone), work (cloud ser- Generation: Canadians, Electricity, and vices), learn (Coursera), play (virtual reality), watch process change the way we live our daily lives,” as Everyday Life, the “changes brought by electricity TV (Netflix), shop (Amazon), research (advanced the blurb on Amazon says. That is quite a claim were gradual, [and] did not occur for everyone at analytics), make things (3D printing), find work and some will accuse Case and his fellow digital the same time.”1 Contrast that with Google, which (Indeed), monitor our health (Fitbit) and engage evangelists of hubris. (Digital entrepreneurs are has not yet been around for 20 years, or Uber, which in literally dozens of other activities. Advances in not exactly known for their modesty.) Others will is not yet ten years old. No one thinks digital change artificial intelligence, digital currencies, robot- point out that technology is always changing our is occurring gradually. ics, autonomous vehicles and smart networks are lives, and it is not yet clear whether digital tech- Rather than a technology we are nurturing into poised to further disrupt the status quo. nologies are changing them as much as other use, our digital world, it sometimes seems, is a In his new book, The Third Wave: An Entre­ ­technologies have in the past. Electrification, for revolutionary force that is happening to us, leaving preneur’s Vision of the Future, Steve Case, the instance, in the late 19th century and first half of many of our friends, neighbours, co-workers and founder of AOL, argues that we are entering “a the 20th century, accelerated the industrialization family members feeling bewildered and vulnerable period in which entrepreneurs will vastly trans- and urbanization of the west and massively trans- in its face. form major ‘real world’ sectors like health, educa- formed “the way we live our daily lives.” Surely that I have come to see digital technologies as an tion, transportation, energy, and food—and in the was a bigger change than YouTube. arrow slicing through the air. At the sharp end are These are questions for historians and social those who are leading digital change, the ones who Dan Dunsky is the founder of Dunsky Insight, a scientists to decide. What seems beyond dispute, get it. At the back, following in the arrow’s path, are strategic communications consultancy. He created however, is that people feel the change digital our established institutions, which largely came and was executive producer of The Agenda with technologies have brought to their daily lives, into being in a pre-digital era, and are scrambling Steve Paikin at TVOntario. and intensely so. Merely saying that digital is not to keep up with this new world. And the shaft of the

22 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada arrow, unable to direct its trajectory, is the majority 45 percent of companies it surveyed do not see Political parties. People born as the web was of ordinary people, just along for the ride. digital disruption “as worthy of board-level atten- coming into its own in the mid 1990s are now tion.”5 entering their twenties. They, and the generation t the head of the arrow are the disruptors, I am sure banks are thinking of this at the board coming up behind them, are used to making deci- Athose who understand the nature of digital level. An acquaintance of mine is a senior manager sions by clicking an app on their phone. They are technologies, the economics of digital platforms at one of the big Canadian banks, responsible for not dazzled by the magic of the technology; this is and the behaviour of digital technology users. the rollout of that bank’s mobile (digital) payments just how things are done. These are the people who are quite literally system. I asked him who his main competitors These digital natives, as they are sometimes inventing, designing, funding and marketing the were. He told me the names of some start-ups called, are accustomed to making a single, rather products that are shaping our world. that are moving into this market. Then I asked him than a bundled, choice to suit their needs. Why Often describing themselves as optimists or about the big guys: what did he think of Apple Pay would they ever pay for cable and all those chan- idealists, digital entrepreneurs seem to have a and Google Wallet? He would not even mention nels they never watch when there is Netflix? preternatural belief that change is almost always the names Apple and Google, preferring to call Why would this generation not begin to expect good. “The best of Silicon Valley,” writes Julie them Cupertino and Mountain View. That speaks that same straightforward choice in the political Zhuo, product design director at Facebook, “can volumes. In one sense, banks have three core busi- arena? If 22-year-old Mary is in favour of legalizing be captured in two words: of course. Of course the nesses: they hold money, they lend money, they marijuana but against running deficits outside best idea will win. Of course this problem can be transfer money: deposits, loans, payments. Mobile of recessions, why does she have to choose from solved. Of course you can do it. Change is the road pay apps are already eating into their payments a party system that does not accommodate her beneath our feet, and in this state, we are curious, business. How long before someone—backed positions? Big tent political parties’ brokerage func- eager to learn, happy to debate, fueled by exuber- by deep pockets—develops an app marketed to tion may not be palatable to digitally sophisticated ance. It’s grandiose to claim that one is changing the low-hanging fruit in the mortgage market—the young people as they become politically active. As the world. But the best of Silicon Valley is the belief straightforward loans that do not require a lot of Canadians begin to wrestle with electoral reform, that you can — and should — try.”2 The digital tech- time, or people, to process? Of course, they will we should not be surprised if this becomes an nology venture capitalist Om Malik summed up have to figure out the “know your customer” rules important point among younger voters. this mindset best when he titled an essay “What and other regulations. But, if you were a bank, That brings us to the middle of the arrow: ordin- Makes Silicon Valley Special? Eternal Optimism of would it not be prudent to assume that those deep ary people. the Innovative Mind.”3 pockets—if this is a business they want to be in— The most apparent consequence of digital dis- Writing last fall in Fast Company, Greg are already considering how to have those regula- ruption on people has been in the labour market. Ferenstein, a San-Francisco based author and tions changed? There is a lively current debate as to whether or journalist who has written extensively on the belief Beyond banks and the business activities listed not digital technologies are leading to productivity system of Silicon Valley, the hot sun of the digital earlier, here are a few other examples to consider. growth, with plenty of experts lining up on both world, says this “breed of optimism or idealism is Colleges and universities. A report published sides of the argument. (See, for example, Robert rooted in a belief that most of humanity have the by the Ontario government in 2015 on the future Gordon’s The Rise and Fall of American Growth: same goals—and anytime we think we’ve found of this sector points out that student expectations The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War and a good solution toward those goals, there’s always a are changing.6 Unsurprisingly, students want to be Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee’s The Second better solution worth exploring … To disrupt simply involved in the development of their studies, new Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a means to shed imperfection, exposing ever more delivery models for courses, more hands-on learn- Time of Brilliant Technologies.) Whichever way that perfect solutions beneath.” ing, affordability and value for money—in other debate turns out, two trends seems clear today: This view of change implies that most—if not words, jobs. Those surveyed do not give particularly many people without digital skills—or a digital all—problems can be solved by a better exchange high marks to today’s colleges and universities in mindset—are suffering job losses, or reduced of information. Thus Sean Parker, the internet these areas. Today, however, these institutions can upward job mobility, and the benefits of this innovator behind Napster and the first president rely on the monopoly they have over the granting of new economy are not being widely shared. “The of Facebook, recently launched Brigade, a social degrees. You want that job? You are going to need digital economy,” reported The Economistin 2014, network designed, as the Huffington Post described this piece of paper that says you graduated. “far from pushing up wages across the board in it, to bring a “profoundly polarized (American) But what happens when that is no longer the response to higher productivity, is keeping them electorate that has lost faith in its institutions back case? Coursera and Udacity are online educational flat for the mass of workers while extravagantly into civic life.” In an interview with Fast Company institutions with approximately three million rewarding the most talented ones.” last year, Parker put it more succinctly: he cre- students between them, and growing. The Khan Nor, as is sometimes thought, are jobs in the dig- ated Brigade “to repair democracy.” According to Academy—which now offers some 5,000 courses— ital economy replacing the ones being lost in the old Ferenstein, digital leaders “believe that the solu- is a not-for-profit educational organization dedi- economy. Citing sectoral employment statistics, the tion to nearly every problem is more innovation, cated to a “free, world-class education for anyone, political scientist Ronald Inglehart wrote this in the conversation, or education. That is, they believe anywhere.” What happens when employers deter- January/February 2016 issue of Foreign Affairs: that all problems are information problems.” In mine that a degree from one of these online institu- another article, he quotes Eric Schmidt, Google tions is sufficient for employment? At that point, Some assume that the high-tech sector will (now Alphabet) executive chair as saying, “If you our existing institutions of higher learning may be produce large numbers of high-paying jobs in take a large number of people and you empower disrupted out of existence. the future. But employment in this area does them with communication tools and opportunities Politics. As part of what is referred to as not seem to be increasing; the sector’s share to be created, society gets better.”4 e‑­government, e-gov or government 2.0, some of total employment has been essentially con- At the other end of the arrow are the disrupted, governments have begun adapting to the world of stant since statistics became available about those institutions that matured in a pre-digital age digital, mostly in the area of access: citizens want three decades ago. Unlike the transition from and are struggling to remain relevant in the world to access public services digitally and their percep- an agricultural to an industrial society, in the disruptors have unleashed. tions of government utility are increasingly tied other words, the rise of the knowledge society Some existing institutions are succeeding in this to that measure. Access, however, is only part of is not generating a lot of good new jobs. transition better than others but many organiza- the digital equation; including citizens in decision tions still rely on pre-digital work cultures, systems making is another, and numerous studies have Beyond this are other factors contributing to the and procedures that prevent them from succeeding shown that people—especially young people— anxieties ordinary people are feeling in the face of in the digital era—like traditional cab companies increasingly expect to be able to do this as part of digital disruption. in the face of Uber—and rely on the inertia of their their civic responsibilities. Progress on this culture First is the issue of privacy. The four principal incumbency to stay relevant. Clay Christensen, the of participation has been less evident, despite our digital platforms—Google, Apple, Facebook and Harvard Business School professor and author of elected officials’ near-constant announcements of Amazon—have accrued enormous power by vir- The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies citizen consultations, forums or conversations. In tue of how much they know about us. But this has Cause Great Firms to Fail, has argued that incum- a world where digital technologies make informa- profound consequences for us beyond our status bents rarely survive such “disruptive innovation” tion available to anyone with internet access, gov- as consumers. Apple’s recent refusal to help the unscathed. Yet, as a study by the Global Center ernment decision–making-as-usual threatens to FBI crack the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone for Digital Business Transformation has it, about reduce the legitimacy of political choices. (which the Bureau cracked anyway) may have

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 23 “A TOUR DE

FORCE”Boyd Cothran

Holy War: Cowboys, Indians, and 9/11s by Mark Cronlund Anderson

“Original and innovative.” David McNab, author of No Place for Fairness and Walking a Tightrope

“A timely reminder of how Americans, for centuries, have understood their wars of aggression as ultimately justified and fundamentally innocent.” Boyd Cothran, author of Remembering the Modoc War: Redemptive Violence and the Making of American Innocence

24LRC HOLY WAR ad U of R Press.indd 1 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review2016-05-11 of Canada 10:20 AM been motivated by good intentions. But surely the Disruptors should heed Kranzberg’s first law: of a well-regarded organization asked me what company’s sheer size makes this more than merely technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neu- social media platforms do we need to be on. After a corporate decision. Who elected Apple CEO tral. By that he meant that “technology’s interaction listening to her describe the challenges she faced Tim Cook to make decisions between privacy and with the social ecology is such that technical in this new digital world, I suggested she was ask- national security? It is dangerous in a democracy developments frequently have environmental, ing the wrong question. The right question to ask to hand such power to a technocratic elite and for social, and human consequences that go far was, to my mind, how is your business changing as our behaviours—as captured digitally—to become beyond the immediate purposes of the technical a result of digital technologies. Unfortunately, too commoditized. devices and practices themselves, and the same many institutions are asking the wrong question, Second, there is no new status quo. Digital tech- technology can have quite different results when and merely reacting to digital change, rather than nologies are changing so rapidly that many cannot introduced into different contexts or under differ- adapting to it. As Christensen suggested, many will seem to catch their breath before the next innova- ent circumstances.” probably not survive. tion is upon us. As one city planner told me, “we Nuclear power is a good example of this If this were merely a case of business trans- can’t even figure out how to regulate Uber and now context-dependent value of technology. Nuclear formation, the results would be difficult, but man- we have to think about driverless cars and drones?” medicine is good. Nuclear warheads, not so much. ageable. But digital disruption is affecting all our One lesson of history is that change, if it is to be But Facebook is a good example, too. The social institutions, the very entities that provide us with a broadly and deeply accepted—and not provoke a network’s 1.6 billion users attest to its popularity sense of stability and predictability during periods backlash—should proceed slowly. The digital play- among all age groups. It helps people stay in touch, of change. This is dangerous and suggests a reason book, however, seems to be based on overwhelm- it reunites long-lost friends, it provides an outlet for populist demagogues are succeeding in a number ing, and continuous, change. Echoing the Romantic shy or house-bound people to communicate and of European countries and in the United States. reaction to the industrial revolution, it is perhaps interact with others. But, as C.J. Chivers reported Many people really do believe the system is broken. not surprising that we are living To counteract that belief, exist- in a period of heightened environ- ing institutions must work much mental awareness, or that both the This view of change implies that most— harder to prove their worth. digital revolution and the modern They must adapt to the changing environmental movement began if not all—problems can be solved by a environment while still deliv- in California. ering on their purpose—to firmly Third, there is a disconnect better exchange of information. answer the questions “why are you between digital leaders’ utopian here” and “who are you here for” belief in the transformative power while readjusting the way in which of technology to bring about unambiguously posi- in The New York Times in April, it can also have they work. Is the purpose of a university to teach tive change and people’s more realistic view of more nefarious uses: “A terrorist hoping to buy an students or to have them attend classes in certain things. Most people—whether by temperament, antiaircraft weapon in recent years needed to look buildings, in certain neighbourhoods, in certain cit- belief or experience—can see very clearly that no further than Facebook, which has been hosting ies? I do not know the answer to that question, but digital technologies offer a mixed bag of conse- sprawling online arms bazaars, offering weapons I know it must be asked. quences. For every iPhone that helps a child stay ranging from handguns and grenades to heavy I am not a Luddite. I use and enjoy certain digital in touch, there is a parent cursing the device as a machine guns and guided missiles.” technologies and appreciate the many ways my life distraction from homework. Digital entrepreneurs—and their numerous benefits from them. Nor am I a grumpy middle- Finally, I believe there is a growing suspicion cheerleaders—should remember that the tech- aged man who is worried that digital technologies among ordinary people that the institutions they nologies they are developing and marketing, and are making me redundant (although there are interact with on a daily basis—corporations, not- the speed at which they are doing so, mean that plenty of people who do have those worries). But for-profits, government ministries and agencies, we are less able to digest, understand and plan for I am also aware that these technologies come with schools—have no answers to this disruption, and the technologies’ consequences—some of which a cost. And that cost may, at some point, not be a are as bewildered about where we are headed as will be unforeseen. If they do not, they should not price I am willing to pay. they are. If you have children in the public educa- be surprised of a growing backlash against them. A Where is the arrow of digital disruption point- tion system, ask yourself: aside from a handful of little modesty would not hurt, either. Nobody likes ing? No one really knows. But it is important for us innovative educators, do you think that the teach- know-it-alls, especially self-righteous ones. to understand how we can guide its flight into the ers, principals, boards and ministries of education Kranzberg’s fourth law is wordier: Although future. really have any idea how to teach children for the technology might be a prime element in many pub- 21st-century digital world? lic issues, non-technical factors take precedence in Notes Caught between the utopian dreams (and much technology-policy decisions. By non-technical he 1 Dorotea Gucciardo (2011), The Powered Generation: more prosaic reality) of the digital disruptors on the meant political and social forces. Let’s come back Canadians, Electricity and Everyday Life, PhD thesis one hand and the rear-guard action of familiar, but to nuclear power. There is a straight line between submitted to Western University. http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=1376&context=etd. faltering, institutions on the other, ordinary indi- Japan’s 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis and 2 Julie Zhuo (2015), “The Best and Worst of Silicon Valley,” viduals fully trust neither. Is it any wonder many Germany’s decision to abandon nuclear power— The Year of the Looking Glass, July 22. https://medium. people feel stressed out? the astonishing decision to replace nearly a quarter com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/the-best-and-worst-of- Of course, digital technologies are not the only of the country’s electricity supply by 2022. That silicon-valley-7b337e9a3fd1#.3ejtsjzdb. 3 Om Malik (2009), “What Makes Silicon Valley Special? force leaving people feeling vulnerable. Accelerated decision was a political one, taken by a government Eternal Optimism of the Innovative Mind,” Gigaom, globalization, climate change, urbanization, ter- in response to its public’s refusal to accept the December 2. https://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/what- rorism and other forces are having deep impacts potential consequences of a hitherto widely used makes-silicon-valley-special-eternal-optimism-of-the- innovative-mind. on our sense of control over our lives, as well. technology. 4 Greg Ferenstein (2015), “An Attempt to Measure What Yet, given their ubiquity, they are undoubtedly an The lesson here is for those of us at the centre Silicon Valley Really Thinks about Politics and the World important factor. of the arrow. Ultimately—whether as individual (in 14 Graphs),” Ferenstein Wire, November 6. https:// consumers or citizens—these technologies exist medium.com/the-ferenstein-wire/what-silicon-valley- really-thinks-about-politics-an-attempted-measurement- he historian Melvin Kranzberg was the for us and it is up to us to determine how—or even d37ed96a9251#.60xigj1qm. Tfounding editor of Technology and Culture, whether—we want them in our lives. Do we want 5 Joseph Bradley, Jeff Loucks, James Macaulay, Andy an influential academic quarterly, and one of driverless cars on our roads? Do we want drones Noronha and Michael Wade (2015), Digital Vortex: How Digital Disruption Is Redefining Industries, Global Center the founders of the Society for the History in the skies above our cities? Only by debating the for Digital Business Transformation. http://www.imd.org/ of Technology. In a 1985 address to the society, merits of these technologies—by trying to under- uupload/IMD.WebSite/DBT/Digital_Vortex_06182015.pdf. he outlined what had already begun to be called stand what we gain and lose in adopting them— 6 Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities “Kranzberg’s laws,” which he described as “a series can we decide. In his speech, Kranzberg quotes (2015), “Focus on Outcomes — Centre on Students: Perspectives on Evolving Ontario’s University Funding of truisms deriving from a longtime immersion in the historian Lynn White Jr. in saying technology Model.” http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/pepg/audiences/­ the study of the development of technology and “opens a door, it does not compel one to enter.” That universities/uff/report.html. its interactions with sociocultural change.”7 All of is exactly right and we should all remember our 7 Melvin Kranzberg (1986), “Technology and History: ‘Kranzberg’s Laws.’” Presidential address to the Society Kranzberg’s six laws deserve attention, but two power to affect policy outcomes. for the History of Technology, October 19, 1985. http://­ strike me as especially relevant here. Finally, the disrupted. About a year ago, the CEO lifecourses.ca/sites/default/files/KranzbergLaws.pdf.

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 25 Political Cola Wars Brand-centred parties ignore the voter at their peril. Clive Veroni

must also dismiss the Liberal party’s Brand Command: Canadian promise of a more open and trans- Politics and Democracy in the parent government, a promise the Age of Message Control party campaigned on aggressively Alex Marland in the last election. Despite this, UBC Press Marland insists, “the mantra that 496 pages, hardcover the party leadership and central ISBN 9780774832038 messages rule supreme will carry over to Parliament and governance no matter who is in command.” But ith every change in in the face of sincere attempts to federal government unmuzzle both ministers and civil Wcomes a changing of servants, this remains simply an the palace guard and also of the assertion. courtiers that surround it—the dau- Nevertheless, Marland’s argu- phins and princelings, the patrons ment is that in the modern age and flatterers. Fashions change governments filter all their com- too (hello colourful socks!) and so munications through a “branding do the secret gathering places and lens.” This has several negative con- favoured watering holes. So, per- sequences. Most notably, because haps it was not a surprise that in late brand control demands consistency February, just a few months after of image and messaging, it creates a the swearing in of the new Liberal centripetal force that draws power government, Hy’s Steakhouse near toward “The Centre,” putting it in Parliament Hill announced last call the hands of a few elites. This vor- and shut its doors for good. tex of power sucks up not just the Hy’s was a decades-old institution whose pass- political science at Memorial University, posits a political players but also the government in power ing was mourned by Ottawa insiders. Less noticed, theory of government guided by centralized brand and even the senior civil service. And atop it all sits but perhaps no less mourned, was the passing of control. And he attempts to bring the academic’s the prime minister, who becomes the most visible another Ottawa institution, a small cottage indus- unbiased view to the subject. Centralized brand symbol of a blended political and civil brand. The try that grew up outside the palace walls during a control, he assures us, can be both good and bad, branding impulse imposes complete command decade of tight-fisted Conservative rule. I refer to but mostly ugly as practised by the Harper govern- and control over the entire apparatus of govern- a series of dystopian books decrying the irrepar- ment. The mask of objectivity slips early on as he ment. Thus it diminishes the role of parliamentar- able damage inflicted on Canadian democracy by describes government branding as “nefarious” and ians, undermines the independence of the civil Stephen Harper’s authoritarian regime. There are “sinister” and “unsettling”—a dark art carried out service and degrades our democracy. It is a pretty too many to catalogue here. by those who are “distorting truth” and seeking to scary scenario. In this analysis the centre takes on A common theme in all those books is how “evade detection.” the qualities of “SPECTRE,” the tentacled menace obsessive, centralized message control stifled Herein lies the dilemma of this thesis: is it from the Bond films, a collection of unseen evil democratic debate, limited access to information describing a general phenomenon or simply the geniuses intent on controlling the world. and moulded public opinion, all in the service of quirks of a former control freak prime minister? What is missing from this theoretical model, keeping Harper in power. These critiques made for Marland is at pains to assure us that his point is a however, is the figure at the still point in middle of good reading because they provided a necessary larger one: that an impulse toward branding is driv- the maelstrom: the voter. In Marland’s analysis the catharsis for those Canadians who felt that Harper’s ing a dangerous trend toward centralized control, voter is a cipher, a clay figure waiting to be moulded vision of the country did not reflect their own. which, in turn, might encourage anti-democratic to the will of the political elites. Like prelapsar- Alex Marland’s new book, Brand Command: tendencies. To do so, he must assert that branding ian innocents, voters seem devoid of agency and Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of is the cause, not the symptom. unable to resist the sinister influence of all those Message Control, comes to this genre a tad late but Thus, branding is painted as the culprit for voter political serpents. with no less vigour and enthusiasm for its subject, dissatisfaction with our previous prime minister. It is an oddly passive view of voters, especially and with a slight twist. The challenge he faces, of Here is the problem, as Marland sees it, “By most for someone arguing for greater democratic free- course, is that the dark days of Harperland have accounts, Canadians have been unhappy in recent dom. At best, this places the voter on the margins quickly faded in the bright light of Justin Trudeau’s years with their system of government. One public of the political process. At worst, it is patronizing. sunny optimism. So how to satisfy a reader’s lust to opinion study found that their foremost dissatis- As most seasoned marketers will attest, at the heart see the picador draw blood when the old bull has faction is a perception that too much power rests of what they do is not the brand but the consumer, already shuffled out of the arena? with the prime minister.” And here is the cause: a figure not to be manipulated but obeyed. Ignore Marland, who teaches in the department of “The displeasure appears to be connected to a new the consumer at your peril. And never more so than style of disciplined communications management now, in the age of social media. Despite conspiracy Clive Veroni is a branding and marketing consul- known as branding.” This argument seems to fly in theories to the contrary, marketers do not manufac- tant. He is the author of Spin: How Politics Has the face of Occam’s razor, by entirely bypassing the ture desire. They attempt to divine consumer needs the Power to Turn Marketing on Its Head (House simplest explanation, which is that people simply and wants and then cater to them. Less Svengali of Anansi, 2014), which was a finalist for the 2015 thought the prime minister was an unpleasant and and more headwaiter. National Business Book Award. Read more at www. overbearing control freak. The other consequence of adhering to the spinthebook.com. To prove the general theory about branding, one brand command theory is that it misreads the role

26 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada of social media in the digital age. No matter how formed the basis of a comprehensive branding out. The EAP propaganda train was actually rolling strong the centripetal forces of branding are, the effort so elaborate that it required a 35-page visual backward. countervailing centrifugal forces of social media style guide plus a 15-page project signage guide for If you are going to be an evil genius, intent on are pushing power outward toward voters and all those billboards that went up next to any pro- controlling the world, it helps to first be a genius. consumers. Brand managers have had to learn ject where the Harper government was spending The propagandists behind this effort, along with this lesson the hard way. The old top-down model a penny of taxpayers’ money. In addition, the gov- their troops of boys in short pants, were more of communications, where the brand had almost ernment launched a massive ad campaign, spend- Colonel Klink than Joseph Goebbels. full control of its messaging, is gone. Today, any- ing tens of millions annually to trumpet its plan. That is not to say we should rely on the incompe- one with a smartphone is a potential broadcaster This advertising continued to run long after the tence of our political masters to save us from or publisher. A simple tweet or YouTube video or program itself ended. Marland rightly condemns democratic collapse. It means we should challenge Facebook post can have a profound impact on a these excesses. They amount to a brazen attempt to the misappropriation of public funds for party brand’s image. promote the party’s brand with public money. But promotion wherever we find it and use our power Marketers are having to share control over brand do they amount to a dangerous insurgency from as voters to counter it. The Liberals recognized the communications with consumers—even with con- within our parliamentary democracy? public’s anger at Conservative attempts to rebrand sumers who might not use their brand but still have The first thing to note about the promotion of the government and re-educate the Canadian pub- an opinion about it. A new, democratized model the EAP is that it was met with howls of derision lic (and civil service) after years of Liberal rule. That of communication is dispersing control outward. by both the media and opposition parties. Even is why they made Conservative ad spending a focus Political branding is no different. And yet, Marland the right-leaning Canadian Taxpayers Federation in the last election, running ads on Hockey Night attempts to argue precisely the opposite. Digital called it an affront and a waste of precious financial in Canada mocking the fact that Harper had spent media, he says, is a tool for the tightening of polit- resources. In other words, the counterbalancing some $750 million on government advertising dur- ical control that can lead to even greater concentra- voices that operate in an open democracy made ing his tenure. tion of power. themselves heard. The Liberals also made greater government The trend toward message control is not a quirk But more than that, the communications pro- transparency a key part of their platform, even pro- of Harper’s personality but a general phenomenon; gram failed on every level. Let’s begin with that ducing a 14-page brochure on the subject, entitled things will not change under Trudeau, despite logo. It violated every principle of graphic design “A Fair and Open Government.” Among its many actions to the contrary; the internet is a tool for cen- and good taste, and appeared to have been cre- recommendations is a promise to pass Bill C-544 tralized control rather than for liberating individual ated by someone whose full-time job was making which seeks to end partisan government advertising voices. The more these unlikely explanations pile flyers for church bake sales. It may have done the by appointing an advertising commissioner who will up, the more the reader is left with the uncomfort- Conservatives more harm than good. Every time evaluate all government ads to ensure they are non- able feeling that the facts have been stretched or I saw those three bent arrows lurching upward on partisan and related to actual government needs. amputated to fit the Procrustean bed on which the a billboard beside some government infrastructure We can choose to dismiss all of this as mere thesis rests. project they induced, not a sense of confidence in opportunism and accept Marland’s view that the Brand Command provides a comprehensive list the administration, but rather a vague feeling of impulse to impose politicized brand control over of Conservative government attempts to conflate nausea. all government communications will be too hard the party brand with the government brand, from Apparently I was not alone. A government to resist, even for the new government. Or we can switching official correspondence to read “Harper ­survey of the television advertising created to see the past decade of government rebranding as Government,” to painting the prime minister’s support the EAP (obtained by the Canadian Press just the work of a controlling and obsessive man plane predominantly Tory blue. But Exhibit A in through the Access to Information Act) showed whose era has now passed, a man who has faded so the drive toward blurring the lines between party the campaign had failed on every key meas- completely into the wallpaper that occasional sight- and state is the infamous Economic Action Plan. ure. The 2013 study showed that of more than ings at airports or donut shops are reported as news. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the 2,000 Canadians surveyed only three (that is three Either way, in the end it is hard to muster up the government embarked on a multi-billion dollar individuals, not three percent) had actually gone energy to be fretful about Harper’s domineering economic stimulus plan, with much of the money to the EAP website, which was the stated objective ways, when the tone in Ottawa has changed so dra- going to infrastructure projects in communities of the campaign. Only six percent of those who matically and the new young courtiers are flashing across the country. The Conservatives were deter- recalled seeing the ad had taken any action. And for their open smiles and fancy socks. In this atmos- mined to milk these investments for as much publi- most of them the action was to lodge a complaint. phere it is difficult not to view Brand Command as city and goodwill as they could. Most significantly, when asked to evaluate the a guest who has arrived late at the party, standing A logo was designed for EAP, consisting of three government’s overall performance only 38 percent with his nose pressed against the now shuttered oddly proportioned arrows, that are inexplicably rated it as good to excellent, down from an aver- windows of Hy’s, unaware of where everyone has bent at the bottom and thrusting upward. The logo age of 43 percent when the program first rolled moved on to.

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 27 The Gates of La Francophonie Mobilizing Quebec’s Haitian diaspora. Emilie Nicolas

various reasons. First, it creates A Place in the Sun: blueprints of what success and Haiti, Haitians and the achievement look like that are, more Remaking of Quebec often than not, unattainable. In a Sean Mills world where black youth desper- McGill-Queen’s University Press ately need models to project them- 304 pages, softcover selves onto, celebrating only those ISBN 9780773546445 of us who become governor general is both silly and counterproductive. Second, such role model–based n January 2010, just as he narratives are often used to counter was finishing a book on the those who speak of continuous, sys- Ihistory of social movements temic anti-black racism in Canada. in Quebec, Sean Mills decided to If a black woman can become go to Haiti. Before he had a chance Canada’s head of state, everything to leave, the January 12 earthquake is possible for all our black youth, struck the country, ending the right? Finally, insisting on the lives of hundreds of thousands of success of only some immigrant Haitians, and dramatically changing individuals completely erases any the destiny of millions of others. impact that collective mobilizations, In the wake of tragedy, Haitians such as the one Mills witnessed after in Montreal mobilized, rendering the Port-au-Prince earthquake, can visible all the complex connections have on policy, economics, demo- between Quebec and Haiti. Leaders graphics, public discourse and the of the diaspora successfully pres- collective imagination of a country. sured politicians to remove barri- Wisely, then, Mills does not fall ers to the migration process and into the trap of the Canadian dream. organized resources to support and He focuses on the symbolic impor- welcome relatives. tance of Haiti for French Canada, Meanwhile, Quebec media and on the ways that Haitians in relayed images of the devastation, Montreal have both shaped and spurring the public to make dona- contested their representation tions. The strength of the collective and that of their homeland over the mobilization left a deep impression on Mills, and of Toronto, thus became part of his subject. His decades. Building on his earlier book, The Empire so he set out to write a history of the multifaceted engagement with Haitians and with Haiti has trans- Within: Postcolonial Thought and Political Activism relationships between Haiti, Haitians and Quebec. formed his perspectives as a Quebec scholar just in Sixties Montreal, Mills shatters simplistic, main- Moving away from a long tradition of studies that like—and that is the main argument of his book— stream understandings of North-South relation- seek to make sense of western influence on Haitian the engagement with Haitians and with Haiti has ships, describes the colonial legacy of Quebecers history, Mills endeavoured to shed light on how transformed Quebec. in Haiti, and shows the responses from Haitians Haiti and Haitian migrants have shaped a western That claim is bold, and could easily be misun- and their allies in Quebec to such colonialism and society. derstood. Indeed, one can point out how certain racism. “At some point in the middle of the project, streams of migration have transformed or con- Relationships between the West and the rest however, I began to realize that the process of tributed to a western society in several ways. In are typically portrayed as a generous “developed” researching and writing this history was having Canada, we usually celebrate immigrant contri- country that provides aid to the “under-developed” an important effect on me,” he writes in A Place bution by exalting the life of certain role models. country and selflessly welcomes its immigrants in the Sun: Haiti, Haitians and the Remaking of Of course, Haitians have contributed to Canada, and refugees. This paradigm certainly applies to Quebec. “Haiti is a country that leaves few people because after all, Michaëlle Jean was our head of Canada’s self-image in most of its relationships indifferent.”­ state for five years, and Dany Laferrière is now to the global South, and Haiti is no exception. Mills, an anglo Montrealer who is now a profes- the first Canadian to become an Immortal of the A Place in the Sun extensively describes how, start- sor in the Department of History at the University French Academy. Several books celebrate this par- ing in the 1940s, French-Canadian missionaries ticipation of Haitians in Quebec society, drawing settled in Haiti to re-educate its “child-like,” “sexual Emilie Nicolas is a PhD candidate in anthropology portraits of exceptional individuals whose profes- deviant,” “superstitious” and “primitive” popula- at the University of Toronto. She is the co-founder sional successes have left a mark in government, tion in desperate need of assistance and tutoring. and president of Québec inclusif, a movement that academe, sports, arts or culture. Haiti hence emerged as a “powerful Other against fights racism and the social exclusion of minorities This individualistic, Canadian dream approach which ideas of civilization were built,” writes Mills. in Quebec society. to immigrant contribution is unsatisfying for In his first chapters, he describes the ways in which

28 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada accounts of such missionaries circulated back into the Canadian International Development Agency, rarely get the political attention they deserve. Such parishes across Quebec, forming an image of Haiti and the Canadian tourist industry, all of which lent a discourse may have also contributed to the two that endures to this day. The durability of such rep- legitimacy to the notoriously violent regime by their solitudes of Canada between French-speaking and resentations is remarkable. Just this April, Radio- continuous, active presence in a country that hun- English-speaking blacks in Montreal, complicating Canada broke a story on Québécois police officers dreds of thousands were fleeing. some forms of organizing against enduring sys- who had sexually abused Haitian women and aban- This question of how Haitians are represented temic anti-black racism in the city. doned them with their babies while part of the UN illustrates well how experiences of racism are Of course, not all Haitian activism has fol- mission to Haiti. André Arthur, a former member informed by language, class and gender, all of lowed this path. Mills recounts how “in the face of Parliament for Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier and a which determine access to schooling and to cer- of ongoing racial discrimination, Haitian activists, Quebec City–based radio host, commented that tain milieus. This is true of Haitians in Quebec but like other social groups with whom their struggles this “hopeless,” “sexually deviant” country popu- also of diaspora politics throughout francophone were at times intertwined, worked to open up a lated by thieves and prostitutes and responsible for countries, where social stratification often follows new space where their voices could be heard and HIV/AIDS should be recolonized. Despite a public exposure to French as a language of instruction their perspectives understood.” Over the decades, outcry from the Black Coalition of Quebec and the and a language of prestige, rather than as a mother many have convinced those on the Quebec left Haitian consulate in Montreal, the declaration was tongue. of the ills of aid and traditional missionary work, mostly met with a shrug. The second part of A Place in the Sun focuses progressively transforming the ethics and practices I would love to say that this is shocking. on the Haitian response to the French-Canadian of international cooperation NGOs. Others have But in 2004, Carole Beaulieu, editor-in-chief at imagination through an exploration of key events of drawn the attention of the Québécois feminist L’Actualité, suggested that Haiti become the elev- the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. While Canada was reform- movement to the specific challenges facing black enth Canadian province. That same year, a coup ing its racist immigration laws and slowly allowing women, and Haitian feminists have organized col- d’état forced Haitian president Jean-Bertrand in more people of colour, many Haitians started to lectives to work at the intersections of the different Aristide from power, and many have pointed since flee the Duvalier regime, which became more and oppressions affecting their lives. Others yet have to Canada’s role in that political crisis. It seems more violent and dictatorial over the course of the challenged systemic racism in the job market, and that, periodically, Québécois and Canadian elites 1960s. In this first wave of migration—often referred in the taxi industry more specifically. “In doing so, think of Haiti as their own personal version of to as a brain drain—were many high-­profile they contributed to the development of a counter- Puerto Rico. Mills is absolutely right in stressing political exiles who founded key institutions of the narrative of Quebec society,” says Mills. Haiti, and how this colonial discourse, originally circulated nascent Montreal Haitian community, some of Haitians, have participated in remaking Quebec. by the church, has survived the Catholic hegemony which are well into their fourth decade today. Since over Quebec society. the 1970s, this group of exiles has been followed aitians in Montreal, their children and their However, mainstream representations of Haiti by mass migrations of poorer, more rural, more Hchildren’s children are still today, every day, are not always so gloomy and, as with most things Creole-speaking Haitians, who experience harsher remaking Quebec. Some are raising awareness in Quebec politics, the complete reality is not that racism due to their socioeconomic background. about the involvement of the Canadian mining simple. Facing housing discrimination and often excluded industry in Haitian politics. Some are lobbying Parallel to the idea of the country as a child, from Montreal’s downtown cultural life, they have elected officials to boycott the Dominican Republic Haiti has also been seen as a brother or a sister located in peripheral neighbourhoods such as for human rights abuses against its citizens of society both by French-Canadian intellectuals and St-Michel and Montréal-Nord, which is one of the Haitian descent. Some are mobilizing to end police Haitian elites who have been living in each other’s poorest communities in Canada. brutality and reform the criminal justice system. countries since the 1930s. Mills explains: In the face of shared struggles, powerful cross- Some are denouncing their under-representation class solidarities have emerged among Montreal’s and misrepresentation in mainstream Quebec Constructed as the only French-speaking Haitians. Mills forcefully retells 1974’s “crisis of media. Some are building alliances with the emerg- country in the Americas (although the vast the 1,500,” when Haitians successfully stopped ing generation of indigenous leaders and anti- majority of its population actually spoke the deportation of as many as 1,500 individuals Islamophobia activists to fight racism. Haitian Creole, not French), Haiti was said who had arrived in Canada to escape the poverty There is a tendency in Quebec and across to be tied to Quebec by a special bond, one and the political repression of Haiti. According to Canada to look to the United States for models of that French-Canadian intellectuals concep- Mills, the campaign succeeded “partly because of black leadership and black identity. There is a dan- tualized in familiar terms. Since the Second [Haitian leaders’] appeals to the conscience of the ger in this. Although black diasporas around the World War, Haiti has therefore been central to population and partly because of their ability to world share a common history and many struggles, French Canada’s international presence. position themselves as ideal francophone immi- they also interact with different institutions and grants for modern Quebec.” In other words, some come from different traditions of organizing. One In other words, while the vast majority of the leaders have been able to play on their personal must be careful not to let the giant of African- Haitian population, who are Creole speaking, are francophone “privilege” to organize on behalf of American history erase other ways of being black portrayed as barbaric primitives, some Haitians more vulnerable immigrants. in North America, such as those of Haitians in who could present as francophones have been This strategic appeal to Frenchness has often Quebec. able to insert themselves into Quebec’s intellec- been repeated in the history of Montreal’s Haitian Many things have changed in Quebec since the tual, literary and political life. Together with some community. Mills writes that Laferrière consciously 1980s—where A Place in the Sun ends. Perhaps Quebecers—mostly in Montreal—they have used adopted the strategy to create and promote his most important, minorities have had an argu- aspects of Quebec’s linguistic nationalism to cre- ground-breaking literary success, How to Make ably lesser, and at least a very different, place in ate a more equal representation of their country, Love to a Negro without Getting Tired. According Quebec nationalist circles and in language politics. as another “beacon of French civilization” in the to Mills, Laferrière’s instant popularity needs to be Individual French-English bilingualism has also hemisphere and as a comrade-in-arms in the fight explained by his ability to toy skilfully with the trap- increased, so blacks in Montreal can join forces against Anglo-American hegemony. pings of Québécois nationalism. Mills explains the in ways that perhaps would not have been pos- This sibling relationship draws on the rich tradi- historical proximity of some Haitian leaders to sible before. Yet, although the historical context has tion of exchanges between Québécois and Haitian the Parti Québécois in a similar fashion. evolved, this rising generation of Haitian activists is authors and intellectuals, of which Dany Laferrière From the vantage point of history, one can see definitely following in the footsteps of the founders is the most well known, but not the most repre- that such a strategy comes with a price. Engaging of those movements and institutions that Mills so sentative. It also bridges the exiles of the Haitian with linguistic nationalism has allowed some vividly describes. To move forward more wisely, the Left and some nationalist leaders in Quebec of Haitian leaders to bring some stories to a broader new generation needs to understand its local con- the 1960s and the ’70s, who used the metaphors Québécois public with great success. Yet the broad texts and local histories and the legacies on which of the South and blackness to describe the eco- penetration of this image of Haitians as model it is building. nomic marginalization of francophones within francophones in the collective imagination may As a Quebec scholar and as an activist of Haitian Canada—while often ignoring the marginalization have complicated equally important issues—such descent, I make sense of who I am and of the work of so many blacks at home. And it has been built, as as employment and housing discrimination, police I do in relation to the history of the communities Mills reminds us, between envoys of the Duvalier brutality, the racial and gender pay gap, illiteracy, to which I am bound. As such, Sean Mills deserves dictatorship (1957–86) and some Québécois mis- chronic political and media under-representation, great credit for his contribution to the story of how sionaries and non-governmental organizations, and endemic poverty. To this day, these challenges my generation has emerged.

June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 29 Many thanks to our generous supporters

elizabethii loon 1 review 2 Qu Ln 1.0079 4.0026 macdonald atwood 1991 arctic mountain barley juniper pine moose 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ma At Ar Mn By Jn Pn Mo 6.941 9.012 10.811 12.011 14.007 15.999 18.998 20.180 laurier richler tundra canshield wheat cedar poohbear 11 12 Lrc 13 14 15 16 17 18 La Ri 2015 Tu Cs Wh Fr Cr Po 22.990 24.31 26.982 28.086 30.974 32.065 35.543 39.948 borden coupland bethune bondar rush garneau grant douglas moosejaw nickel copper glacebay coast prairie rye maple haddock beaver 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Bo Co Be Bn Ru Gr Gt Dg Mj Ni Cu Gb Ct Pr Ry Mp Hk Bv 39.098 40.08 44.956 47.867 50.942 51.996 54.938 55.845 58.933 58.693 63.546 65.39 69.723 72.61 74.922 78.96 79.904 83.80 diefenbaker mcluhan secord champlain guesswho lightfoot cockburn gould levesque vimy greyowl victoria ocean degrassi blackberry birch bass caribou 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Df Ml Se Bo Gw Lf Ck Gd Lv Vy Go Vi Oc De Bb Bh Bs Cr 85.468 87.62 88.906 91.224 92.906 95.94 98 101.07 102.91 106.42 107.87 112.41 114.82 118.71 121.76 127.60 126.90 139.29 pearson munro riel henderson cohen leacock hawkins furtrade socred referenda gold algonquin nunavut bombardier canadarm spruce franklin 55 56 57–70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Pr Mu * Ri He Ch Lk Hw Fd Sc Rf Au Aq Nn Cd Ca Sp Fg Fn 132.91 137.33 174.97 178.49 180.95 183.84 186.21 190.23 192.22 195.08 196.97 200.59 204.38 207.2 208.98 209 210 222 trudeau ondaatje mcclung lepage carr young cbc railway review pei whitehorse avroarrow graphite 87 88 89–102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 1991 111 112 114 2014 Tr On ** Mc Lp Ca Yg Nfb Cbc Rl Lrc Pei Wh Av Gr 223 226 262 261 262 266 264 269 268 2015 272 277 289 2015

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They provide a steady stream of base funding for the magazine that elizabethii loon supplements our grants, advertising sales, subscription and ticket income, and other forms of revenue. Their 1 review 2 Qu Ln sustained support is deeply appreciated. 1.0079 4.0026 Michael Adams J. Alexander Houston Alan & Geri Moon macdonald atwood 1991 arctic mountain barley juniper pine moose 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gr Alan Broadbent Colin Jackson Hon. Hugh Segal Ma At Ar Mn By Jn Pn Mo 2015 Alastair Cheng Mary Janigan & Tom Kierans Richard Rooney 6.941 9.012 10.811 12.011 14.007 15.999 18.998 20.180 Michael Decter Mark Lovewell David Young laurier richler tundra canshield wheat cedar poohbear 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Hon. William C. Graham Trina McQueen Lrc John Honderich Jack Mintz La Ri 2015 Tu Cs Wh Fr Cr Po 22.990 24.31 26.982 28.086 30.974 32.065 35.543 39.948 borden coupland bethune bondar rush garneau grant douglas moosejaw nickel copper glacebay coast prairie rye maple haddock beaver 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Bo Co Be Bn Ru Gr Gt Dg Mj Ni Cu Gb Ct Pr Ry Mp Hk Bv 39.098 40.08 44.956 47.867 50.942 51.996 54.938 55.845 58.933 58.693 63.546 65.39 69.723 72.61 74.922 78.96 79.904 83.80 diefenbaker mcluhan secord champlain guesswho lightfoot cockburn gould levesque vimy greyowl victoria ocean degrassi blackberry birch bass caribou 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Df Ml Se Bo Gw Lf Ck Gd Lv Vy Go Vi Oc De Bb Bh Bs Cr 85.468 87.62 88.906 91.224 92.906 95.94 98 101.07 102.91 106.42 107.87 112.41 114.82 118.71 121.76 127.60 126.90 139.29 pearson munro riel henderson cohen leacock hawkins furtrade socred referenda gold algonquin nunavut bombardier canadarm spruce franklin 55 56 57–70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Pr Mu * Ri He Ch Lk Hw Fd Sc Rf Au Aq Nn Cd Ca Sp Fg Fn “Th e LRC is both a linchpin for civilized refl ection and public debate 132.91 137.33 174.97 178.49 180.95 183.84 186.21 190.23 192.22 195.08 196.97 200.59 204.38 207.2 208.98 209 210 222 trudeau ondaatje mcclung lepage carr young cbc railway review pei whitehorse avroarrow graphite 87 88 89–102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 1991 111 112 114 2014 and a bridge between diff erent disciplines and walks of life; as such Tr On ** Mc Lp Ca Yg Nfb Cbc Rl Lrc Pei Wh Av Gr it is a vital part of the architecture of informed civility so important 223 226 262 261 262 266 264 269 268 2015 272 277 289 2015 to a society of ideas, dissent, consensus and engagement. 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June 2016 reviewcanada.ca 31 20th Annual Letters Saskatchewan Festival of

Re: “A Fine Balance,” by Victor Re: “Thought Crimes,” by Raymond Words Rabinovitch (May 2016) Blake (April 2016) t is something of a relief to read Victor aymond Blake rather overstates his asser- IRabinovitch’s response to the Canadian Rtion that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg: “the made a “determined effort to silence dissent” new CMHR is fulfilling its promise brilliantly.” during the October Crisis of 1970. There were grounds for worry during its difficult My dictionary defines dissent as “to differ  INSPIRATION gestation, where groups competing for space and in sentiment or opinion.” To broaden dissent to status about historic traumas risked transforming include revolutionary actions such as kidnapping  INVESTIGATION the place into a “museum of human wrongs.” An and murder, both of which were perpetrated by  appropriate balance has apparently been struck the Front de libération du Québec, is somewhat INSTRUCTION and expressed—no small achievement in such an of an overreach. emotive context. Also, Pierre Trudeau did not introduce the Museums come in several species, and War Measures Act, nor did it suspend “civil Rabinovitch properly asks whether the CMHR liberties.” This act was introduced by the Borden is a museum at all in the classic sense. It is Conservative government in 1914; Trudeau not. It is among the storytelling museums of invoked it. The act empowered the federal the world, such as city museums in Tokyo and government to “govern by decree under cir- Shanghai, or Holocaust museums in Jerusalem cumstances of war or insurrection, real or and Washington DC that offer a distinct narra- apprehended.”­ tive as their public purpose. While some his- As Blake writes, Trudeau used the apprehen- toric artifacts may be part of these expositions, sion of insurrection as his reason for taking this such museums rely on text, audiovisual assets action. The FLQ was outlawed, arrest and deten- and re-creations to get their stories across. As tion without charge was permitted, but by no Rabinovitch says, the emphasis is on “education, means was dissent throughout Canada silenced. explanation and discussion.” The museum is a The New Democratic Party, editorialists and civil didactic instrument where almost nothing speaks liberties groups all spoke out forcefully against Confirmed Presenters for itself. Trudeau’s actions. A subsequent inquiry estab- Classic museums are defined by their col- lished that many actions taken by the RCMP, Angie Abdou Susan Juby lections and research into those collections. including break-ins, thefts and electronic surveil- Brenda Baker Connie Kaldor Traditionally, artifacts and specimens are dis- lance, had been illegal. Giles Blunt Ian Keteku played with efficient labels that offer basic but It is clear that the government overreacted, Lana Button Tracey Lindberg limited information about the context of their possibly motivated by political considerations, existence. Fundamentally, they speak for them- but to reduce Trudeau’s response to armed vio- Sharon Butala Ernie Louttit selves through authenticity, beauty and rarity— lence against the state to a broad and generalized David Carpenter Jody Mitic like paintings and sculpture in art museums. attempt to silence dissent is a gross misreading Lorna Crozier Zarqa Nawaz The exception is special exhibitions, such as of history. Trudeau was a lifelong civil libertar- Robert Currie Pierrette Requier Art Deco, Terracotta Warriors or Dead Sea Scrolls ian (remember the asbestos strike) and of course Farzana Doctor Nino Ricci at the Royal Ontario Museum in recent years. is memorialized in his creation, the Charter of Connie Gault Robert J. Sawyer Special exhibitions come with a storyline that is Rights and Freedoms. told through the usual means of text and media, Blake is on sounder ground in his comments Douglas Gibson Anakana Schofield which bring life and context to the objects. In on Brock Millman’s book, Polarity, Patriotism Tracy Hamon Arthur Slade contrast, collections in permanent galleries and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914–1919. Gerald Hill Shayna Stock remain largely splendid in their isolation from But does Millman really think Canada con- Harold Johnson context. sists of three communities: British, French and Splendid perhaps, but this leaves great value New Canadian? What about our indigenous untapped and beyond the experience of the population?­ visitor. Behind a thousand artworks in a gallery By the way, the War Measures Act was super- July 14 - 17, 2016 of China lies a powerful story of a precocious seded by the Emergencies Act in 1988. culture over millennia, from which they came. Ray Argyle Moose Jaw, SK Beyond the thrill of dinosaur skeletons beauti- Kingston, Ontario fully arrayed in origami space lies an arresting story of evolution and distinct ecosystems within The LRC welcomes letters—and more are avail- a warm and fecund world. able on our website at www.reviewcanada.ca. Happily, classic museums are now embracing We reserve the right to publish such letters and digital technology to leap beyond labels and to edit them for length, clarity and accuracy. E-mail www.festivalofwords.com offer powerful narratives in ways that do not ­[email protected]. For all other comments devalue artifacts and specimens themselves. and queries, contact [email protected]. Indeed, that is the new job description for the best museums in the world—to emerge as potent storytellers themselves with tales of a thousand wonders. William Thorsell Toronto, Ontario

32 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada POWER & INFLUENCE

Making a Scene Made in Nunavut Framed Lesbians and Community across An Experiment in Decentralized Media and the Coverage of Race in Canada, 1964-84 Government Canadian Politics Liz Millward Jack Hicks and Graham White Erin Tolley A celebratory history of how lesbians The definitive account of how a Framed is a groundbreaking empirical found one another and created political decentralized form of government was study that examines the links between and social scenes across Canada. designed and implemented in Canada’s racialized news coverage and politics Eastern and Central Arctic. in Canada. June 2016 | 978-0-7748-3067-6 | pb June 2016 | 978-0-7748-3104-8 | pb June 2016 | 978-0-7748-3124-6 | pb

Hearts and Mines The Call of the World North to Bondage The US Empire’s Culture Industry A Political Memoir Loyalist Slavery in the Maritimes Tanner Mirrlees Bill Graham Harvey Amani Whitfield A fascinating look at the symbiotic In this insightful and wryly humorous North to Bondage is a startling relationships between the US security memoir, Bill Graham steers his readers corrective to the enduring myth of state and the US culture industry. through an astonishing array of domestic Canada as a land of freedom at the end and global events as he recalls his life of the Underground Railroad. June 2016 | 978-0-7748-3015-7 | pb as international lawyer and prominent February 2016 | 978-0-7748-3229-8 | pb Canadian politician.

April 2016 | 978-0-7748-9000-7 | trade hc

www.ubcpress.ca stay connected thought that counts MQUP Congratulates WINNER: CANADA PRIZE IN THE HUMANITIES Patrician Families and the Making of Quebec our The Taschereaus and McCords BRIAN YOUNG Authors From the jury’s citation “Brian Young masterfully shows how the McCords and Taschereaus were closely tied to the economic, cultural, social and religious forces in Quebec, both shaping and being shaped by them. In addition to the impressive body of research that Young brings to this study, readers will also be drawn in by a book which has been beautifully produced with attractive illustrations that help make the story come alive.”

WINNER: PRIX DU CANADA EN SCIENCES HUMAINES WINNER: CANADA PRIZE IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Nourrir la machine humaine Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge Nutrition et alimentation au Québec, 1860–1945 Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous CAROLINE DURAND Peoples of Northwestern North America Vol. 1 & 2 NANCY J. TURNER From the jury’s citation “A culmination of research that is remarkably comprehensive, From the jury’s citation Nourrir la machine humaine compares, in a direct and vigorous style, “Nancy Turner’s Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge is an astonishing a host of discourses about nutrition and cooking practices. Thanks work of scholarship, the culmination of 40 years of collaborative to Caroline Durand, neither the research community engagement with indigenous communities and natural ecosystems nor the general public of history buffs will see the content of of the Pacific Northwest. Written in a straightforward, jargon-free their cupboards in the same way.” style, generously interspersed with photographs, illustrations and tables, the resulting work is surprisingly accessible, given the depth and intensity of the scholarship on display. An extraordinary achievement.”

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