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Ben Levin Getting to better schools The promise—and pitfalls— of educational reform
ALso In this issue
Gerald White Nationalist nuances in Quebec, Scotland and Ireland
Joy Roberts An epic war over garbage
John Degen Cosmopolitan CanLit
PLUS: non-fiction Andrew Heintzman on the pros and cons of eco-business + Ibi Kaslik on an alcoholic’s memoir of child rearing + Graeme Cook and Patti Tamara Lenard on why non-citizen residents should have the municipal vote fiction Publications Mail Agreement #40032362 Kamal Al-Solaylee reviews The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai + Norm Ravvin Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to LRC, Circulation Dept. reviews The Iron Bridge by Anton Piatigorsky PO Box 8, Station K Toronto, ON M4P 2G1 poetry Catherine Owen + Bruce Meyer + Dale Matthews + Lesley Pasquin + Sue Chenette New from University of Toronto Press
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Editor Bronwyn Drainie 3 Getting to Better 14 Woman’s Work 21 Trujillo’s Bottle Caps [email protected] A review of Journeywoman: A review of The Iron Bridge, Contributing EditorS Schools Mark Lovewell, Molly Peacock, Anthony An essay Swinging a Hammer in a by Anton Piatigorsky Westell Man’s World, by Kate Braid Norm Ravvin Ben Levin Associate editor Frances Lankin 6 Hellfire in Shediac 22 Political Inheritance Robin Roger A review of The Ballad of 15 Revolutionary Aid A review of Les Nouveaux Poetry Editor Moira MacDougall Jacob Peck, by Debra Komar A review of Where No Visages du nationalisme copy editor Margaret Conrad Doctor Has Gone Before: conservateur au Québec, by Madeline Koch Cuba’s Place in the Global Jean-Marc Piotte and Jean- 7 Healthy Business, Health Landscape, by Robert Pierre Couture, and Liberal Online Editors Healthy Planet? Diana Kuprel, Jack Mitchell, Huish Nationalisms: Empire, State Donald Rickerd, C.M. A review of Eco-Business: Kevin Patterson and Civil Society in Scotland ProofReaders A Big-Brand Takeover of 17 A Right to Healthy and Quebec, by James Rob Tilley Sustainability, by Peter Kennedy Eating research Dauvergne and Jane Lister Gerald White Lindsay Jolivet, Rob Tilley Andrew Heintzman A review of The Stop: How Editorial AssistantS the Fight for Good Food 25 Making Politics More Prerana Das, Lindsay Jolivet, Rahel Nega 9 The Trashiad Transformed a Community Welcoming A review of Unlikely Design and Inspired a Movement, by An essay James Harbeck Radicals: The Story of the Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis Graeme Cook and Patti Adams Mine Dump War, ADVERTISING/SALES Peter Ladner Tamara Lenard Michael Wile by Charlie Angus [email protected] Joy S. Roberts 18 Obsessive Compulsive 27 New Baby, Old Vice Vista with Tragedy A review of Drunk Mom: Director, Special Projects 11 Crusader of the Michael Booth A poem A Memoir, by Jowita publishers Woodlands Bydlowska Catherine Owen Alastair Cheng A review of Vladimir Krajina: Ibi Kaslik [email protected] World War II Hero and 18 Elizabeth Taylor Banal Injustice Helen Walsh Ecology Pioneer, by Jan A poem 28 [email protected] A review of Unjust Drabek Bruce Meyer Board of Directors by Design: Canada’s J.B. MacKinnon 19 I’m a country girl John Honderich, C.M., Administrative Justice System, J. Alexander Houston, Frances Lankin, 12 In Search of the Good A poem by Ron Ellis Jack Mintz, Trina McQueen Dale Matthews Life Bob Tarantino Advisory Council A review of Human 19 Calling the Dead Michael Adams, Ronald G. Atkey, P.C., 30 Cultural Nationalism Q.C., Alan Broadbent, C.M., Chris Ellis, Happiness, by Brian Fawcett A poem 3.0 Drew Fagan, James Gillies, C.M., Norbert Ruebsaat Lesley Pasquin An essay Carol Hansell, Donald Macdonald, P.C., C.C., Susan Reisler, Grant Reuber, 13 Legislation by Sewing Song John Degen 19 O.C., Don Rickerd, C.M., Rana Sarkar, Thunderbolt A poem 32 Letters and Responses Mark Sarner, Bernard Schiff, A review of The Art of the Sue Chenette Reed Scowen Jatin Nathwani, Sarah Impossible: Dave Barrett 20 Insatiable Spirits Glassford and Amy Shaw, Poetry Submissions and the NDP in Power, For poetry submission guidelines, please see A review of The Hungry William Hayes
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2 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Essay Getting to Better Schools The promise—and pitfalls—of educational reform. Ben Levin
lthough many Canadians do not financing levels for schools, and a good com- fessionals (as my home province of Manitoba has believe it, the international evidence bination of local and provincial governance with done for many years now). Ashows that Canada has one of the most balanced lay and professional input. In order to However, just maintaining the status quo will effective public education systems in the world. In attract and retain talented and committed teach- also, obviously, not yield improvement. In the various international studies, Canadian students ers, schools have to pay decently, but even more remainder of this essay I want to urge two fur- rank well compared to most other countries. Just as importantly must provide working conditions that ther developments that are essential to strong importantly, the gap between our best and weak- are attractive to educators, notably good leadership public education but that are less discussed and est students is smaller than in most other coun- and opportunities to grow and develop on the job. developed in Canada right now: stronger rela- tries. This excellent performance, especially given It will be important to maintain financing systems tionships with communities and a more robust Canada’s diverse population, is a approach to research, develop- main reason that so many delega- Sweden, which adopted massive ment and innovation. In each of tions from other countries come to these areas there is also a particu- look at our education system with decentralization and privatization of its larly important role for what is a view to learning what they could sometimes called civil society to do differently. As someone who schools, has seen its school outcomes help make our education system meets with many visitors, I know stronger and more effective. Civil that outsiders are impressed decline and inequalities worsen. society includes ethnic organiza- with the consistent quality of our tions, religious communities, arts schools. In short, there are no grounds for thinking that provide additional resources—not just money, groups, sports teams and clubs, unions, employers, that there is some kind of education crisis in public but also talented and committed people—to the other education providers (whether early child- education in this country. highest-need schools and communities, and to hood, adult or post-secondary), foundations and That we have much to be proud of in public edu- retain governance systems that balance local input so on. cation does not mean improvement is impossible. with system-wide direction. Although good, our system is far from perfect. Too Schools and Their Communities many children still do not get the benefits we wish he public discussion of schooling is full of A few years ago I worked with a school in a from public education, and those who do not are Tcalls for the “transformation” of schools, Canadian city on improving graduation rates. Part disproportionately from some groups—particularly whether through greater use of technology, new of the work involved surveying students on their the poor, certain minorities, aboriginal people and forms of learning or other means. Yet it is hard to backgrounds and experience in the school. The those with disabilities. Moreover, because the world see a convincing rationale for throwing out what school staff was surprised, and not happily, to is changing, what brought success in the past will has worked quite well on the basis of guesses about discover that they did not know how many minor- not necessarily do so in the future. Continuous the future. So far, Canada has avoided some of the ity students they had in the school, nor that those adaptation is necessary to meet new challenges and simplistic and counterproductive approaches to students felt that they were often seen as deficient take advantage of new opportunities. education policy that have dominated in other by the school. They realized that they did not really The success of our education system is not just English-speaking countries. We have not, for know their students or the community around the a matter of what schools do. Student outcomes in example, adopted the logic of the marketplace in school, and as a result were not providing the right education are deeply affected by factors outside education. Charter schools in the United States, programs and supports to help students succeed. the school, such as good health care for children supposedly freed from the restraints of bureaucracy Consider, on the other hand, another school in and supports for parents that allow them to help and collective agreements, do not perform better the same city, whose students were mostly aborig- their children grow and develop. Access to good on average than do public schools. Sweden, which inal and poor. This school was deeply engaged with jobs with decent pay and benefits for parents, and adopted massive decentralization and privatization the community, organizing a food co-op so that to adequate housing, are important for children. of its schools, has seen its school outcomes decline families could eat better, providing adult literacy Environments that respect diversity and support and inequalities worsen. We have not gone for a to mothers and looking for ways to generate more different kinds of students (and families) are also heavy-handed accountability that assumes that if employment for parents in that community. helpful in ensuring that all young people have the people are punished for lack of success, they will The first example is common, the second one possibility of a good outcome from their school- work harder and more effectively. Systems that unusual in Canadian schools. At one level, every- ing. So the growing income inequality in Canada, have adopted such punitive approaches, notably one in education recognizes that links to parents, especially when it is linked to such things as immi- in the United States but also in England, have not families and communities are essential to school grant status, is clearly a threat to the quality of our shown greater success. success. Children who grow up without family schools. Instead of punishing people for failure, Canada supports, such as children in care, have some of Other features of the Canadian school system has embraced an approach similar to other high- the worst outcomes in our system. A consistent are also important to our success. These include performing countries, taking the view that individ- research finding in education is that teachers often well-educated and committed teachers, equitable uals are most likely to improve their performance think parents are uninterested in their children’s when encouraged and helped to do so. We have education, while parents (and students) have the Ben Levin is a professor and Canada Research focused on a positive approach to building a high- opposite view—that schools are not very inter- Chair at the Ontario Institute for Studies in quality system for all students—for example, by ested in them. Many minority families feel that the Education. He previously served as deputy minister helping non-English speaking students learn Eng- schools see them as problems while not focusing of education in Manitoba and in Ontario. This lish (or French) as well as their native languages, on unfair school practices. Each side tends to blame essay was written with the generous support by trying to include as wide a range of students as the other, and the result is a missed opportunity to of Max Bell Foundation, as part of the 40th possible in neighbourhood schools, or by providing build the strong partnerships that will truly benefit Anniversary Max Bell Essays and Lectures. extra supports to train hundreds of aboriginal pro- students.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 3 While widely seen as important, lasting value but having consumed the work of creating and maintaining time, energy and money. these connections is typically a low Let’s take an example out of many priority for school boards. To say that could be chosen—the develop- this is not to cast blame on any- ment of middle schools. About body. Teachers and principals are 25 years ago a movement began to busy. They are responsible for many advocate that students from ages 11 children, often with very diverse to 15 needed a different form of backgrounds and views. Finding schooling and should be housed in the time to do the work of building separate schools. Children in that these relationships is a real chal- age bracket had distinct develop- lenge, especially when that work is mental needs, it was claimed. Asso- seen as something one does on top ciations were set up to promote the of everything else that is part of an idea; books were written, confer- educator’s job. But the same is true ences organized. And many school for parents. Rather than not being districts adopted the approach. They interested, many are struggling just changed their school configura- to make ends meet, or have their tions, reorganized schools, built new own unhappy memories of school schools, created new programs. Yet it that make them reluctant to engage. gradually became clear that none of In fact, virtually all parents care this made much discernible differ- about their children’s education, ence to student outcomes. Indeed, it even if their ability to turn that caring is clear from research that changing into effective action may vary a lot. school organizational practices such Many groups and organizations as timetables or grade configurations have an interest in working with does not produce much in the way schools to support students. For of results, especially considering the example, ethnic associations can be cost in time and money. powerful allies in helping schools Or take a second example— recognize the particular needs of schools’ ongoing fascination with students with diverse backgrounds, technology. For 30 years we have whether recent immigrants or Can- been hearing that computers would ada’s first peoples, and in helping transform education (the same was educators learn about cultures, histories and various rules with good intentions but sometimes said even earlier about radio and television). But languages. Schools with a focus on aboriginal or bad consequences, such as the requirement that all after all the effort and expenditure, the research Afro-Canadian or other cultural heritages (of which adults working with students must undergo crim- shows no real effect of computer use on student there are quite a few across Canada) often have inal record checks. learning. And yet we continue to hear calls for more these connections, but other schools could as well. Still, with some modest effort, more can be technology in schools, and many school systems These groups can also help schools build connec- done. Since 2005, tens of thousands of Ontario continue to invest in laptops or tablets. tions with more parents, as happens where schools students are now taking college courses or explor- Many more examples could be cited. Schools engage aboriginal elders. ing workplaces through co-op education or the are urged to take up these projects only to find To take another example, the arts are increas- Specialist High Skills Majors program now, that that they either do not have any value or cannot be ingly recognized as an important vehicle for stu- the province is supporting these initiatives. A huge sustained. Parents rightly worry that their children dent expression, with potentially powerful links to amount of human effort and goodwill, leading to are being subjected to someone’s pet idea. Indeed, students’ sense of worth and engagement. Many many more successful students, can be generated schools are not resistant to innovation; they are community groups work with schools to offer such by a small amount of investment, a few million dol- inundated with it. programs as hip hop music or street theatre that lars in a system that spends billions each year, if the The problem with innovation in any field is offer students opportunities to shine in new ways. money is carefully allotted to support lasting part- that most innovations are failures. Most new busi- For some aboriginal students, art has been an nerships. Ontario generates each year a significant nesses fail, most new products do not generate important vehicle for self-expression and positive amount of activity for parent engagement by giving much return, most inventions are never put into development. parent councils grants of $1,000 or less. production. One common estimate is that it may Then there is getting students involved in com- Because these ideas are broadly accepted by take 3,000 ideas to generate one really valuable out- munity issues. For example, students work with an educators and the public, making progress depends come. But with children’s futures involved, some environmental organization to extend their know- primarily on putting in place the systems and habits caution is surely advisable. ledge and engage in public action on local issues. required to make this kind of work a standard part The answer is not to have less innovation, but Or a partnership with a food co-op and an adult of what schools do. Provincial governments, local to be more thoughtful and careful about how we education program creates engagement for poor districts and community groups can work together approach innovation in education. If new ideas families around both literacy and improved nutri- to this end, and the leadership could come from were less a matter of someone’s enthusiasm and tion. Or a community centre uses local college stu- any one of those sectors. more strongly related to the evidence on what really dents to provide tutoring as part of an after-school makes a difference to students, there would be a program. Innovation, Research and Development stronger basis for assessing potential innovations. In none of these areas is it reasonable to expect The second area I propose for further development If we evaluated new approaches carefully and then schools to have full knowledge or provide all the has to do with a stronger and more disciplined ensured that those with strong support were spread services students might want, but working with approach to educational research and develop- across the entire system, we would get more benefit community groups can make all parties stronger ment. In Canadian education, innovation has from our efforts. and benefit students. consisted of the adoption, typically in one or a few Look at the business model. In successful com- Many such partnerships already exist in Can- schools, of some new program or approach that is panies new products typically come from intensive adian schools, but they are not yet an organic part trumpeted as answering some critical need. Often research and development and then are subject to of the way we conduct schooling. Typically they these programs garner significant public attention careful testing of effects and value. The many that depend on the extra energy and commitment of when first launched. However, most of the time do not measure up are quickly dropped; the few people in and out of the school, and anything they lack supporting evidence, are not effective, or that truly add value are spread rapidly throughout that depends on special commitment is unlikely do not last or spread. Indeed, it is quite possible the entire organization—and usually taken up to be sustained over long periods of time or to be to see schooling as having been subject to far too as well by competitors. These systems are not, of extended to all the people and places who could much innovation, to too many ideas that arrive, course, perfect. But the basic approach is much benefit. And they can be made more difficult by occupy the stage briefly and then vanish leaving no more thoughtful than is the case in education,
4 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada where there seems to be a willingness to consider als, but even then the contest of competing ideas tively large benefits. They are not highly disruptive, seriously whatever ideas are put forward regardless can be valuable to educators and the public in would not engender strong resistance, can be done of history or evidence. sharpening points of agreement and disagreement. with current knowledge and are not expensive. That The obverse point is that schools are not strongly Even in areas of strong conflict, consensus will seems to me a good list of favourable points. A small linked to the increasing body of solid research gradually emerge even over hotly contested topics, step in the right direction seems better than a big evidence about good practice, so that we lose the such as the role of phonics in teaching reading and expensive step that is unlikely to produce posi- opportunity to take advantage of the kind of reli- (important but not sufficient in itself), or the effect tive outcomes, whatever the rhetoric. able knowledge that guides other professions. of failing on later performance (mostly negative). What would it actually take to generate these Education systems would benefit from stronger Making progress on this goal is somewhat more improvements? Education is a large and complex connections with research, and from research complicated than the community involvement enterprise. Lasting change rarely happens through that was strongly focused on important problems issue. It requires concerted effort on the part of the issuing of orders or adoption of policies because of practice. In their absence, existing research is quite a few organizations. There is a potential role practice is so much controlled by individual schools not necessarily broadly known or well used. For here for the federal government as a major sup- and even individual teachers. So even though example, practices with strong the ideas being put forward here empirical support, such as finding are not particularly remarkable, ways to engage students in their Schools are not resistant to innovation; achieving them consistently own learning, or helping students across the whole country presents develop higher expectations for they are inundated with it. a large challenge. Space does not their own skills, or focusing on permit a full discussion of these formative assessment that helps students improve porter of R&D in Canada, but only in partnership issues. However, it can be said that effective adop- rather than giving grades, are still far from ubiqui- with provinces, universities and the many other tion of new practices requires political leadership at tous in Canadian schools. Yet small increases in the actors who share this interest. And producing multiple levels, public support or at least tolerance, application of knowledge can yield very large divi- research is not enough; most school systems in consistency of policy over time and ongoing efforts, dends in terms of better outcomes for students, just Canada have virtually no capacity to find, evalu- over years, to help people learn to do things in new as knowledge of prevention or diagnosis in health ate and make use of research even where strong ways and then make those practices habitual. Mak- can yield huge benefits. evidence exists. ing progress is by no means beyond our intellectual In other areas, the challenge is the lack of evi- Resource requirements to do better would be and financial capacities, even at a time of intense dence. For example, special education is a huge modest; it is more a matter of creating the models pressures on the public purse. concern in our schools and absorbs increasing and systems that would lead to a stronger, more I hope that readers take away from this essay a shares of education budgets. Yet there is virtually no focused research effort with a much stronger sense of optimism about what schools in Canada research on which to base policies and programs in connection to school practice. Canada is an inter- currently are and about what they could be. Our special education; billions of dollars are spent every national leader in this area in health, and we could education system does not require revolution, year without any significant effort to determine if do the same in education. which often leaves a trail of disappointment and they are making a difference, or if there are ways of destruction. It does need the thoughtful application doing better. hese two ideas are not new. So why rehash of ideas for improvement grounded in evidence. This is partly a matter of money; spending on Tthem again here? First, because they repre- Many people and organizations outside the school education research and development in Canada sent areas where modest efforts could yield rela- stand ready to help in this work. is a tiny fraction of spending on education—a far smaller share than is the case in health or in vari- ous industries. But money is not the only, or even Continue this conversation in person! the most important, issue. In reality, Canada has neither enough skilled researchers nor the neces- sary systems to connect research knowledge to the daily work of schools. Join the article’s author, Ben Levin, for more Making more effective use of research is another on building K-12 schools that learn and grow area where organizations outside the school can with their communities play a vital role. In fact, most of us, including pro- fessionals, learn about research primarily from the June 10, 2013 efforts of such third parties, including lobby groups, professional development providers and the mass 6:00 PM media, to name just a few. These “knowledge brok- The Gardiner Museum ers” play a critical role in linking people to relevant 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto knowledge. Consider the powerful work done in Canada in the last decade or so on early childhood develop- ment. Important research on this issue was mobil- Please join us for a thought-provoking talk, Q&A and reception, as ized by a group of impressive advocates, including part of the 40th Anniversary Max Bell Essays and Lectures. In this Fraser Mustard and Margaret McCain in Ontario, series, four exceptional Canadians will each publish an essay and and Clyde Hertzman and his team in British Col- deliver a public lecture about a policy issue critical to the country’s umbia, and also many others. Through persistent future. It was announced in celebration of Max Bell Foundation’s effort in working with governments, community groups and the media, and enlisting influential 40th Anniversary, and in honour of the thousands of charities across individuals, such as David Dodge when he was Canada that work every day to improve society. governor of the Bank of Canada, research evidence was brought into the mainstream to the point that For more about the foundation and its work, several provincial governments have made signifi- visit www.maxbell.org cant investments in strengthening early childhood development in Canada (although we still lag behind many other countries in this area). Places at this free event are limited, so RSVP to This example illustrates the potential power of [email protected] by June 6, 2013! research, but also the need for strong and persis- tent advocacy so that evidence gradually influences public policy. Inevitably, some organizations will This event is presented by Max Bell Foundation be more interested in research that supports their and the Literary Review of Canada. positions than they will in more balanced portray-
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 5 Hellfire in Shediac A lurid murder illuminates the 19th-century Atlantic world. Margaret Conrad
were inspired by Peck. Dorcas proclaimed that her In the meantime, British, European and New The Ballad of Jacob Peck family would be “saved” but only through the inter- England settlers migrated to the region, seeking Debra Komar cession of her aunt, Mercy Hall, who as a winged free land grants on a troubled frontier where social Goose Lane angel would carry them to their Heavenly Father. conditions sometimes bordered on anarchy. When 258 pages, softcover Believing that the “End of Days” was imminent, 35,000 Loyalists arrived in the Maritimes, the British ISBN 9780864929037 Babcock became violent, bashing his three-year- government created the colony of New Brunswick old daughter against the wall, ordering his brother in 1784 especially to accommodate many of the and sister at knife point to strip naked, and kill- refugees and gave the newcomers precedence over n February 13, 1805, Amos Babcock, ing his sister Mercy so that she could perform her earlier inhabitants in land grants and appointed in a fit of religious frenzy, scalped and preordained role. The grisly details of the murder, offices. Resentment and rumour, ambition and eth- Odisembowelled his sister Mercy Hall, documented in writing at Peck’s command by local nic conflict, religious belief and rebellious notions while his wife, their nine children and neighbours squire William Hanington, would be difficult for are the stuff in which this tragedy is embedded. And looked on in horror. Babcock was hanged for this even the most fertile mind to imagine. as Komar’s genealogical research shows, all major outrage, becoming only the third convicted mur- Komar parses the circumstances around Amos ethnic groups are present in the Mercy Hall story. derer in New Brunswick’s history. A subject of pass- Babcock’s trial—in which he had no legal counsel Not as isolated as often portrayed, the people ing interest among historians and crime writers, and his wife testified against him—and pursues of Shediac were keenly aware, if only through Mercy Hall’s murder also inspired rumour, of developments in the larger song-writer John Bottomley to write If subsequent publications of Komar’s Atlantic world. When Dorcas Babcock “The Ballad of Jacob Peck” in 1992, shouted that she saw “the French all pointing to a shadowy figure deeply are as engaging as this one, she will going down to hell,” she was referring implicated in the crime and provid- not only to the Acadians who played ing this publication with a catchy title. soon have a devoted following and a role in this drama, but also to the The wonder of this book is that French and Napoleonic Wars that Debra Komar ever connected with perhaps even a television series. had been raging since 1793. Indeed, Mercy Hall. A forensic anthropologist Peck claimed that he personally had with a PhD from the University of Alberta, Komar the case against Peck, who was formally indicted received word from the king of England, conveyed has taught at universities in the United States and for the crimes of blasphemy and sedition but in a private letter from Saint John, that a great the United Kingdom, investigated human rights never brought to trial. While guilty on both of these reformation was about to take place in England violations for the United Nations and testified as counts, Komar argues that he also could have been or France, a revelation that Babcock took to mean an expert witness in the Hague and across North charged with a more serious offence—solicitation that there would soon be no crowned heads left in America. Now based in Nova Scotia, she plans to of murder—and she presents a good argument for a Europe. Many people in Shediac would have had write a series of books on Canadian cold cases. If guilty verdict on all charges. first-hand experience with the threat that priva- subsequent publications are as engaging as this The author also does justice to Mercy Hall by teers, impressment officers and other oppressive one, she will soon have a devoted following and focusing on the gendered context in which she forces posed in wartime conditions. perhaps even a television series. became a victim. Upon the birth of her eighth child Nor are the issues raised by Mercy Hall’s murder In this case, there is no mystery about who- in less than 14 years, Mercy succumbed to what was only of local and forensic interest. The historian dunit. Amos Babcock was guilty as charged and likely postpartum depression. She was cast out by David Bell argues that local elites—among them sufficiently compos mentis to cover his tracks as he her husband, who soon replaced her with a more Loyalist Ward Chipman, who served as prosecutor retreated from burying his sister’s mutilated body energetic partner. Seeking shelter with her brother, in the Babcock trial—used the case to discount the in a snow bank. What intrigues Komar is a question Mercy became a major irritant in the cramped extreme evangelical positions that smacked of the that concerns legal experts now as then: to what Babcock household that could scarcely contain its excesses of the American and French revolutions, extent can one person be held accountable for own growing brood. Without sympathetic support and threatened the stability of established churches another person’s actions? Jacob Peck, an illiterate, from kin, church and community, she was vulner- and monarchical governments. The good people itinerant preacher, was perceived at the time as the able to hostility and resentment. of Shediac may have expressed their anxieties in agent-provocateur in Babcock’s crime. This book Komar describes the multicultural layers that a vocabulary soaked with religious references, but explores the social and legal contexts in which Peck defined Shediac in 1805, but even more might their actions—informed by messianic preachers, eluded punishment. be made of events in the burned-over district of prophesying women and ineffective community Preaching hellfire and damnation, Peck lived southeastern New Brunswick. Not only was the leaders—were harbingers of the new democratic with the Babcocks while ministering in the com- region the focus of the Second Great Awakening, order that was turning the world upside down. munity of Shediac in the early winter of 1805. He a Protestant revival movement that swept North Komar’s narrative is fast paced and grounded quickly developed a hypnotic effect on his host and America in the early 19th century, but it was also in extensive genealogical and historical research, other members of the community. On the evening an epicentre for the power struggle between Great giving it a surefootedness not always found in true of the murder, Peck presided over a revival meeting Britain and France that played out between 1689 crime writing. While the author occasionally slips in the Babcock home, where two young women, and 1815. Aboriginal and Acadian guerrillas fought on matters of detail—suggesting, for example, that one of whom was Babcock’s daughter Dorcas, lay British forces that pursued them after the capture the judge who presided over the case was elected in a religious trance, spouting prophecies that of Fort Beauséjour in 1755, and Shediac served as a to the appointed legislative council—the major refuge for Acadians who briefly escaped expulsion. thrust of her argument remains grounded and her Margaret Conrad is professor emerita of history The region was also the site in 1776 of the so-called imaginative recreation of events, which may make at the University of New Brunswick. Her most Eddy Rebellion, the only attack against a British hide-bound historians wince, kept me turning the recent publication is A Concise History of Canada, stronghold in Nova Scotia during the American pages. published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. Revolutionary War.
6 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Healthy Business, Healthy Planet? The case against green companies is hard to prove. Andrew Heintzman
many worrisome consequences.” Eco-Business: A Big-Brand The principle problem with the Takeover of Sustainability book, then, is that it does not provide Peter Dauvergne and Jane Lister enough evidence to support its own MIT Press central thesis. The “worrisome con- 207 pages, hardcover sequences” are poorly documented ISBN 9780262018760 compared to the many vivid examples of eco-business doing some good. And so the critique ends up being a hat is an environ- hint, a suggestion, but never more mentalist to do? Life than that. Wused to be so simple. We The book’s principle case against knew who the bad guys were: large eco-business seems to boil down to corporations like General Electric the fact that businesses are motiv- and Walmart that were leading the ated primarily by money, not by world toward inevitable collapse. The environmental sustainability. When environmentalist’s job was to publicly corporations are reducing energy shame them and to insist on govern- costs, or water costs, or greenhouse mental regulation for the public good. gas emissions, they are really motiv- Simple. ated to squeeze costs out of their sup- Those were the good old days. ply chain, get more control over their Today, things are not so easy. The black hats ing to an ever-mounting global crisis.” Ah, finally, suppliers and increase profitability. When they have been reinvented as white hats. Corporations someone who can see through the thin disguise of support sustainable agriculture, what they really that were formerly thought of as the baddest of the these corporate charlatans. Perhaps now we can want to do is get control of their supply chain and bad—companies such as Shell (which earned go back to the simplicity of the good guys and the ensure they have sufficient quantity and quality of the wrath of activists for its activities in Nigeria), bad guys. products to sell. And all the while they are doing GE (which polluted the Hudson River with PCBs), The problem is that, on the whole, the book goes this to ingratiate themselves to consumers and sell Walmart (responsible for the growth of consumer- on to do a very different thing from what it prom- them more stuff. ism, car culture and the decline of small towns), ises. The authors are fond of making statements A secondary critique is that governments and Nike (accused of using child labour at its factor- to the effect that eco-business—sustainability as a non-governmental organizations are giving over ies) and Nestlé (of the infant formula in Africa core business practice—has a malevolent face that too much power to eco-businesses to set the debacle)—have been reinvented as paragons of is often hidden. But for a book that is unearthing environmental agenda, watering down the goals environmental virtue. It is like The Return of the this shadow side of global business, much of it is of sustainable development in the process and Night of the Living Dead, with the zombies coming given over to incredible facts that seem to suggest providing insufficient oversight over the corporate back as fresh-faced college football players and the very opposite thing: that many corporations behemoths. cheerleaders. are having remarkable success in reducing their While these are reasonable critiques, up to a Into this confusing mess strides Eco-Business: own environmental footprints. The book is full point, they are really more critiques of business in A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability by Peter of examples of corporations that have made real general than they are critiques of eco-business in Dauvergne and Jane Lister. The bias of the book is meaningful ecological commitments and seen particular. If one accepts that businesses are estab- apparent right from the beginning, from the title, them through: from Nestlé sourcing its coffee from lished for the purpose of making profits for their in fact. It will be about unmasking a co-opting, a sustainable suppliers to Walmart’s single-minded shareholders, and that in doing so they will try to takeover, perhaps even a hijacking. And indeed, determination to reduce greenhouse gas emissions market their brands to consumers, influence regu- through much of the first chapter, “The Politics of from its operations, to Unilever working with World lators and mute their critics—if we accept this as a Big-Brand Sustainability,” the authors promise to Wildlife Fund to found the Marine Stewardship general truth of business, as I think it is—then the show the real motivations behind the paragons Council as an oversight body to validate sustain- specific claims against eco-business seem muted. of the new era of eco-business: “As this book will able fisheries and fishery practices. It is odd then to In the end Dauvergne and Lister’s central point, reveal, much of what big brands are doing involves hear the authors return to their default position that it seems to me, can be summarized as such: even defining and using sustainability as a business tool these corporate actions hide more nefarious inten- when eco-businesses talk about environmentalism, in ways that are actually increasing risks and add- tions that have the potential to set back the cause they are still in the end primarily motivated by the of sustainability. The authors often end their chap- goal of making money. While this is true, I am not Andrew Heintzman is the president of Investeco ters on these dark notes, as they do in Chapter 5: convinced it is really salient. To me a more valid cri- Capital, the first Canadian investment firm to “Walmart’s decision [to introduce healthy foods tique of eco-businesses would be to show how they invest exclusively in environmental companies. He to its stores], like other eco-business efforts, could are no better than businesses that do not commit to is also author of The New Entrepreneurs: Building well do some good … Yet, although big brand eco- any ecological principles. On this more important a Green Economy for the Future (House of Anansi business as a governance lever for change offers comparison, the authors say surprisingly little. Press, 2010). some prospects, it also has significant limits and The question is not whether eco-business
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 7 can save the world. The more germane question It becomes very difficult for those companies that This is not to say that all corporations that is whether eco-business is on the whole a posi- have publicly committed to a sustainability agenda embrace environmental goals see them through. tive or a negative trend. And on this ground, the to oppose positive environmental legislation. The book notes several examples where corpora- authors’ own examples generally promote the A further argument the authors make—that tions did not achieve the goals they set for them- view that eco-business should be embraced. And NGOs have been co-opted by large global corpora- selves. For example, by 2011 IKEA was still only Dauvergne and Lister provide very few examples of tions—is also not well substantiated. In fact, the auditing 16 percent of its global wood suppliers, how an environmental initiative by a corporation book lists a number of instances where NGOs have and in 2009 Dell came under criticism for failing has actually resulted in a negative outcome. They worked effectively with corporations and criticized to meet its own commitment to phase out certain imply negative outcomes from eco-business by them, too. One example is Greenpeace’s compli- dangerous plastic components from its computer citing general examples: the world’s use of energy cated relationship with Nestlé. Greenpeace has products. But the question the authors avoid is is growing dramatically; we are consuming more been an active and loud critic of Nestlé, while part- whether on balance we would prefer to have busi- and more products, leading to more waste. But it is nering with it in developing greener refrigerants nesses that are committed to ecological goals rather not clear to me, and not demonstrated in this book, and praising it for its work in minimizing tropical than businesses that are not, even if they do not why these general truths should be laid at the feet of deforestation. The book quotes the chief executive always succeed in achieving their self-imposed tar- eco-business. In fact, most of the specific evidence officer of Greenpeace speaking to this nuanced gets. The book’s own evidence suggests we would. in the book itself seems to lead to the opposite relationship: “No NGO remains a permanent friend A primary point of this book may be that we conclusion to the one Dauvergne and Lister have or has a fixed position with regard to a company like should remain vigilant and hold corporations to reached, namely that we should encourage more Nestlé.” In fact, one could argue that the commit- high standards. This is a fair argument, and a useful businesses to move in the direction of GE, Walmart ment of large corporations to environmental goals one to be sure. But this is true of all corporations, and Unilever. gives NGOs more power over large businesses. As eco-business or not. In the end, all businesses must Moreover, business is only one part of the larger large companies like Nestlé, Unilever and Walmart rely on a basic social licence to operate, and society solution to the world’s ecological challenges, and have committed to environmental goals, they rely has a strong interest in ensuring that their activities can only be effective within a broader ecosystem more than ever on the third-party support and are on the whole beneficial that includes strong government regulation and an approval of environmental groups. Without that Surprisingly, the authors only once mention effective civil society. The book seems to argue— support, the companies will never reap the full the author/thinker who, to my mind, has done the again without much evidence in my view—that the rewards of their large investments into environ- most to understand the complicated link between strength of governments to regulate environmental mental positioning. And the companies remain business and environment. Here I am referring to problems is being eroded by the power of large vulnerable to attacks by environmental groups if Michael Porter, a business professor from Harvard global corporations. I do not see that. If anything, it they fail to live up to the standards they have set University. It was the Porter hypothesis, now more strikes me that eco-business makes it dramatically for themselves. So while there is a potential risk than 20 years old, that turned the old relationship easier for governments to bring in environmental that partnerships between corporations and NGOs between business and sustainability on its head. legislation, because legislators know they will not could compromise NGOs and make it harder for The Porter hypothesis advanced the counterintui- face a monolithic opposition by business. Many them to attack or criticize their partners, in my view tive premise that environmental regulation can businesses are likely to line up in support of sens- it is more likely that the corporations will go out of actually increase the profitability of companies ible environmental legislation, particularly those their way to ensure that they are not open to criti- through something he called the innovation effect. corporations that have staked their public reputa- cism for failing to live up to the objectives they have Essentially, Porter felt that environmental legisla- tions and “brands” on the notion of sustainability. set for themselves. tion, when it was properly framed, pushed com- panies to find efficiencies in order to reduce their footprint; often this led to unexpected operational improvements—and sometimes to entirely new business models and ideas—that actually increased Subscribe! the firm’s profitability. This premise of course upset the previous dictum that all environmental regula- tion comes at the expense of economic growth. 1 year (10 issues) *Rates including GST/HST by province By turning this axiom on its head, Porter showed (individuals) (libraries and Individuals Libraries a new way for business and government to work institutions) ($56 + tax) ($68 + tax) together for their mutual benefit, and for the bene- Canadian addresses* $56 + tax $68 + tax ON, NB, NL (13%) $63.28 $76.84 fit of society and the world. It is amazing that even PE (14%) $63.84 $77.52 Outside Canada $86 $98 two decades later Porter’s remarkable hypothesis NS (15%) $64.40 $78.20 remains largely unknown to the general public. It is Prices include shipping and postage. Rest of Canada (5%) $58.80 $71.40 unfortunate too, as a broader awareness of his ideas might unlock new opportunities for government Name Suite/Apt. and industry to work together to increase economic activity while reducing environmental damage. Street City The authors of Eco-Business have shone a light Province or State Country on the interesting relationship between business and the environment, and this is a worthy object- Postal/Zip Code E-mail ive. Those who are interested in the subject will likely enjoy the book, for it does provide numer- Telephone Fax ous interesting examples of the activities of large NH1306 eco-businesses that have a tremendous impact on Please bill me! My cheque (payable to the Literary Review of Canada) is enclosed. the world we live in. But the book falls short of its Charge my Visa or MasterCard. stated objective to clearly identify the risks of eco- Card number Expiry business. On two points Dauvergne and Lister are absolutely right: our ecological problems are Signature continuing and in fact growing, and business itself will not be able to solve these problems on its own. Fax or mail completed form to Literary Review of Canada, PO Box 8, Station K Indeed, we should continue to strengthen the gov- Toronto on m4p 2g1 • fax: 416-932-1620 • tel: 416-932-5081 ernment and civil society oversight that is neces- email: [email protected] sary to ensure that our natural capital is protected. To subscribe online, visit
8 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada The Trashiad A Canadian politician leads the environmental charge in an epic battle. Joy S. Roberts
and directed the iron ore to its Hamilton factory. Radicals made me curious to learn more about Unlikely Radicals: A proposal to ship Toronto’s garbage to these him as well as to hear his arguments in favour of The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War abandoned pits launched a battle of epic propor- the dump. I tracked down McGuinty’s own book, Charlie Angus tions. In five separate campaigns over a 14-year Trashed: How Political Garbage Made the United Between the Lines period, Angus and hundreds of his fellow com- States Canada’s Largest Dump, published in 2010, 206 pages, softcover munity members, along with a dedicated and vocal six years after his cousin Dalton brought the Adams ISBN 9781771130400 group in Toronto, fought the battle on many fronts. Mine war to an abrupt end by passing the Adams Their primary environmental concern was water Mine Lake Act, prohibiting the dumping of garbage contamination. South Pit is more than 185 meters “in any site that was, or had taken on, the attributes s fictional organized crime boss deep—think of the height of a 60-storey office of a lake.” That is not a family reunion I would like Tony Soprano likes to say, “I’m in the tower—with a significant proportion below the to attend. Awaste management business. Everybody water table. Central Pit, mined out in the 1980s, For anyone with an interest in rhetorical theory, immediately assumes you’re mobbed up. It’s a began to fill with water as soon as the pumps that the Adams Mine story is rich with examples. Begin- stereotype, and it’s offensive.” Links ning with the metaphor of war that between the garbage business and There does seem to be some both sides adopt, the language then mob activity have been well founded, diverges as the warriors stake out as exposed by Kenneth Prendergast heartening evidence that without a their territory. And while McGuinty in his history of Cleveland, Ohio, and is a bad guy in Unlikely Radicals, more famously by Rick Cowan in his big hole to fill, we might actually start he is a full-fledged superhero in his undercover sting operation in New own book, with the Adams Mine a York City, to name just a couple of reducing the amount we produce. mere example of his personal desire the most celebrated cases in North to live a life filled with good deeds. America. Cowan’s exposé is credited with busting kept it open for mining were turned off. Signifi- Perhaps if his own book had been shorter by half the mob’s hold on garbage and resulting in the big cantly, according to Larry Jensen, the provincial (it is almost 400 pages), his appeal to ethos would business industry that has since developed. geologist for the region, the water in this pit rose have been stronger. As it is, one is left bemused. There is no denying that garbage is big busi- and then levelled off before it became full, indi- Take, for example, the many times and many ness. According to a January 2013 Conference cating that groundwater flowed in through the ways that McGuinty asserts that “it was not about Board of Canada report, Canada generates 34 mil- fractures in the north rock wall and out the other the money; it was about a safer environment lion tonnes of waste per year or 777 kilograms per side, forming part of a much larger aquifer, situated for the north” and it “would have been a win- person, well above the average of 17 industrialized below the continental dividing point known as the win for the environment.” countries, with only Australia and the United States Arctic watershed. Should leachate, the contamin- But then, tired and truncated clichés aside, generating more waste per capita. Waste disposal ated liquid running off mounds of garbage, follow McGuinty frequently emphasizes the economic companies attempt to achieve economies of scale the same course, the damage to groundwater would benefits to the area, playing to those who have lost by buying up their smaller, local counterparts. The extend far and wide. jobs in the mining industry, and sells the project larger these companies become the more influ- In just over 200 pages, Angus relates a gripping based on its financial rewards. He estimates the ence they have on the public policies that attempt tale of high intrigue that extends from meeting Adams Mine to be capable of producing more to regulate them and the more money they have to rooms in Timiskaming and council chambers in than $3 billion in revenue and attracts a number of fund their fights against city councillors and con- Toronto all the way to a North American Free Trade investors, including wealthy developer Mario Cor- cerned citizens. Ironically, they are also often the Agreement hearing, with a cameo appearance in tellucci—whom Angus calls the “Daddy Warbucks only companies that can afford to comply with new Switzerland as the protestors attempted to scuttle of the Common Sense Revolution” because of his legislation designed to protect the environment. Toronto’s bid for the 2008 Olympics on the grounds generous donations to Mike Harris’s Conservatives One of the most vivid illustrations of how large that the city did not meet the environmental cri- in Ontario. It is not long before McGuinty’s contra- and complex our struggle with garbage has become terion of the selection committee. The action is dictions are fully blown as he says “remember this is given by Charlie Angus in his latest book, Unlikely fast-paced, almost swashbuckling. Angus takes us was a business” and “my new partners were not Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War. through myriad meetings, lobbying efforts, expert afraid to spend the money necessary to make sure Located in the Timiskaming region of Northern testimony, undercover investigations, activist train- Ontario knew that the Adams Mine was still the best Ontario, 11 kilometres southeast of Kirkland Lake ing sessions, media campaigns and civil disobedi- new alternative for waste disposal.” and 20 kilometres west of the border with Quebec, ence protests. If the story is breathtaking for read- In Unlikely Radicals, a parade of experts in the Adams Mine is a massive site, with five large pits ers, it is hard to imagine what it must have been for fields of engineering, ecology and health opine on and mounds of waste rock and tailings. From 1964 those on the front lines, a group of citizens from a how likely the mine is to be safe as a massive gar- until it closed in 1990, Adams Mine was an open pit remote area finding the stamina and resources to bage disposal site. Ken Howard from the University mine, involving almost daily blasting to produce put a protracted campaign into effect. of Toronto led the hydro-geological investigation iron ore pellets that were shipped by rail to Pennsyl- But epic tales need more than virtuous heroes into the Walkerton E. coli tragedy in 2000, where vania, until 1971 when Dofasco purchased the mine and their inspired ranks of followers; they benefit seven people died and more than 2,500 became from the presence of villains as well. Enter Gordon seriously ill from farm runoff that contaminated a Joy Roberts built and sold a small software McGuinty, who can safely be called the driving well and the connected groundwater. With impec- company and now consults wherever her academic force behind the effort to create a big business out cable credentials and no funding ties to any cor- interests in rhetoric are needed. She is chair of the of garbage at Adams Mine. McGuinty is a truly fas- poration, Howard spoke out strongly about the risks Board of the Musagetes Foundation and a founder cinating character with astounding ambition. See- of the Adams Mine proposal and blasted Ontario’s of the Eramosa Institute. ing him through Charlie Angus’s eyes in Unlikely Ministry of the Environment for giving any level of
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 9 approval for the project “based on the findings of And as for our garbage? It is not all good news, Coming up two seriously flawed models that should have been but there is some. In 2007, Toronto purchased the rejected without hesitation.” Green Lane Landfill, southwest of London, Ontario. in the LRC In Trashed, McGuinty claims Howard is just It has been in operation since 1978 and has a giving his “personal opinion.” He also says that it proven record of onsite treatment of leachate and is “impossible to find any credible link between a methane gas collection and flaring system. And the Adams Mine project and the tragic events at there does seem to be some heartening evidence Locavore vs. globavore: Walkerton.” After all there “are no farms anywhere that without a big hole to fill, we might actually start a Spur debate near the Adams Mine.” But he does ponder using reducing the amount we produce. According to the an attack on Timiskaming dairy farmers as a diver- City of Toronto website, the 2012 audit measur- Sarah Elton & sion tactic and, considering that one of them, John ing litter at 298 street locations noted that “large” Vanthof, was a key organizer of the opposition, litter items were reduced by almost 21 percent Pierre Desrochers McGuinty says it was tempting. But “after a little and “small” litter items decreased by 67 percent thought” he decided against it: “It wasn’t how we in comparison with 2006 data. However, Toronto The Baha’i exodus treated people … [and] the dairy farmers in Timisk- Council rescinded the plastic bag fee as of July 1, aming, well, they had enough problems making 2012, leaving it to businesses to charge for them as Geoffrey Cameron a living without my adding to their burden.” But they see fit. And now we have started tossing mas- when, just a few years later, Vanthof was one of sive numbers of coffee pods, those wasteful little Ontario from a group that exposed a plan to sell 2,000 acres of inserts that produce one cup of coffee without us Crown land adjacent to the Adams Mine for $22 ever having to get anywhere near ground coffee the outside per acre and linked the sale to Cortellucci, Angus or actual beans. Recycling machinery cannot sort tells us that their opponents “followed up with a them out and the grounds left behind contaminate Barbara Yaffe $10 million lawsuit against both John Vanthof and everything else. As well, so much of our fruit now the Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture.” comes in benign-sounding “clams,” adding to the Burning books When McGuinty is most exasperated with the problem of how to dispose of plastics. A group of “Dirty Dozen” or the “political terrorists,” as he scientists, writing in the journal Nature, has come Rinaldo Walcott calls those who oppose him, reframing the oppos- up with a proposal to stop the huge proportion of ition as a small group of criminals, he says “Where plastic we produce from ending up in our rivers and did these people find the time? Who the hell was oceans: reclassify the most harmful plastic waste as Can the CBC be saved? paying them?” He seems blind to what his read- hazardous material. That simple adjustment could ers cannot help but notice: McGuinty has made trigger sweeping changes in how environmental Rudy Buttignol this his full-time business and a source of money agencies clean up plastic waste, spur innovation in while his opposition is made up of citizens who polymer research and replace problematic plastics Seagram’s modernist have quite separate livelihoods to juggle as they with safer ones. mount a full-time fight over 14 years. While Angus Like most epics, the story of the Adams Mine landmark and his supporters won their environmental battle, dump war may be in media res with lots yet to McGuinty’s consolation prize amounted to millions come. After all, in 2006, two years after it was Judy Stoffman of dollars in compensation for expenses that the supposed to be over once and for all, more high government allowed when it killed the project. intrigue developed as one Vito Gallo, an American John Meisel: There is so much more to the story that I will citizen, launched a NAFTA challenge, claiming to not give away here. Readers will meet the United be sole owner of the Adams Mine property and thinking in public Nations special rapporteur on toxic trade and entitled to $355 million in lost investments. No human rights, as well as Mel the Moose. And they one had heard of Gallo during the Adams Mine Hugh Segal will follow the course of the cargo ship Wan He sail- war. When the tribunal heard the case in 2011, ing from Japan to Canada, bound for Kirkland Lake, he could not produce any evidence of his claim. Janet Hepburn’s with a cargo of 90,000 kilos of PCBs. The case was thrown out and Gallo ordered to Healthy skepticism seems like the right approach pay $450,000 in costs. According to a Globe and Flee, Fly, Flown to battles over controversial issues like garbage Mail report, Toronto lawyer Lawrence Herman, a Marian Botsford disposal, something all of us need but none of us partner with Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and an really want to think about. After all, if garbage does expert in international arbitration, said the decision Fraser not go to an abandoned mine, where can it go? But shows that “arbitration panels will not put up with the more angles I used to analyze Charlie Angus’s attempts by domestic investors to manufacture a Unlikely Radicals, the more impressed I became. NAFTA challenge.” Angus, both in his book and in Making Atwood famous Angus started out as someone who had moved his the House of Commons, called for an explanation Suanne Kelman family to the north where he was born, intending to be demanded of “super Mario” since it turned to live peacefully and continue his music—he was out that Vito Gallo is a cousin of Mario Cortellucci’s leader of the band Grievous Angels at the time, business partner. which has since had two Juno nominations. As the As the saying goes, when it comes to the environ- Adams Mine war progressed, Angus went from ment, successes are always temporary and losses local resident to journalist, to activist, to leader and always permanent. So how should we approach Get monthly updates trainer of other activists, and, finally, to politician in such major problems? Canada’s management guru 2004 as the successful New Democratic Party can- Henry Mintzberg says: from the LRC’s didate in his home riding of Timmins. He has many other accomplishments to his credit, resulting in his The answer to that question is simple: you, editor-in-chief. being named to Maclean’s Power list in 2012 as one me, and us. As soon as we understand that Sign up online for our e-newsletter to of the 25 most influential Canadians, while Zoomer our established institutions will not be the receive a monthly Editor’s Note from Magazine has chosen him the third most influential ones taking the lead, it becomes evident Bronwyn Drainie, with the details of new Canadian over the age of 45. Since the early days of that we shall have to do so, individually and LRC pieces now online—including top- the Adam’s Mine controversy when Angus became co‑operatively. If you want to find out who is ical full-text articles republished from our aware that “the people who should have been there responsible for global warming, and many of archives for newsletter subscribers—and to protect the public interest had sold us out,” he the other social problems, take a look in the other magazine-related news. has stepped up to become exactly one of those pro- mirror. Think of this each time you drop your Visit
10 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada B.C. Notebook Crusader of the Woodlands It took a Czech botanist to spotlight Canada’s old-growth forests. J.B. MacKinnon
Vladimir Krajina is a biography of the friendly It may seem difficult to reconcile a man who Vladimir Krajina: school; from the outset, Drabek identifies his sub- went from being a fearless resister of Nazi brutality World War II Hero and Ecology Pioneer ject as “one of my father’s best friends” and the to passing happy days classifying mosses, but Dra- Jan Drabek Krajina family as tightly knit with his own. There bek points out that even as an underground leader, Ronsdale Press is nothing illegitimate about this—biographies are Krajina refused to carry a gun. “It was the biologist 199 pages, softcover often works by admirers, and Krajina is not so well in him, in conjunction with his Christianity and ISBN 9781553801474 known a figure that a serious deconstruction seems humanism, which dictated this high respect for all necessary. It is enough to simply hear his story told. life”—and it was in Canada that Krajina the biolo- What a story it is. At one point, Drabek tallies gist could finally find full expression. anadians live closer to wild nature the times that Krajina narrowly escaped death, In 1949, the University of British Columbia in than almost any people on Earth, and yet and the list runs to seven. The Czech underground Vancouver offered the exiled Krajina an appoint- Cthe way we think about the natural world remains little known to the outside world beyond ment as a lecturer, but there was more to his interest remains largely unexplored terrain. In high school the stock character of Victor Lazlo in the classic film in the country than that. Krajina arrived in British we learn that our country’s history amounts to sur- Casablanca, but it counted among its successes the Columbia to find, on the one hand, a botanical vival in a rugged land, with “human against nature” assassination of the regional SS leader Reinhard paradise. Europe by that time had few old-growth as a kind of motto. Meanwhile, ask even the most Heydrich. Krajina—by all accounts a dignified, woodlands, among them a Czechoslovakian “pri- avid outdoorsperson or environmentalist whose detail-oriented man—did not support that particu- meval forest” of just 666 hectares—not even twice thoughts on nature inspire them, and you will hear lar action, but oversaw or personally transmitted the size of Vancouver’s downtown Stanley Park. On names such as Henry Thoreau, John Muir, Annie some 6,000 secret intelligence reports to London the other hand, Krajina quickly saw that Canadians Dillard or perhaps the Romantic poets: voices from during the war. Troop movements, the production were treating their forests as a limitless resource. America and Britain. of war materials, inside information from within the “If they were doing in Europe what they practised These authors’ works contain much that is Nazi ranks—this was critical information in an era in this province they would be thrown in jail,” he universal, but they do not—cannot—“speak Can- when satellite photography and unmanned drones remarked. adian.” Ours is a particular natural history. The first were the realm of science fiction. After facing fascism and communism, Krajina humans to arrive in what is now the United States, He paid dearly for his participation. Krajina’s was hardly intimidated by Canadian forest com- for example, invaded a true wilderness south of wife, the astonishingly resilient Marie, was sent panies and bureaucrats. At the time, ecology was the continent-spanning glaciers that still covered to a Nazi concentration camp. His brother was a new science, and a radical one—the domain of almost all of Canada; as those ice sheets retreated, executed. An innocent stranger was killed for the the “purist,” as Krajina was dismissively described humans and other species settled the Canadian misfortune of being mistaken for Krajina, and by one forest company. The issues that Krajina landscape nearly in lockstep. In many parts of the hundreds more lost their lives to Nazi revenge for relentlessly pursued—sustainable forestry and country, First Nations remain the dominant pres- the resisters’ successes. Following the assassina- the protection of large, ecologically representative ence on their territories, while our twinned colonial tion of Heydrich, for example, the Nazis executed landscapes—remain contentious today, and if he cultures also shaped the country as different from 1,357 people. did not live to join the logging road blockades that any other. So did the land itself. America’s frontier, Krajina himself was ultimately arrested, a riv- transformed B.C. forestry in the 1990s, he did help defined as the advancing line of colonial settlement, eting story about which I will only say this: if you lay the intellectual groundwork for that movement. closed in the 1890s; by that measure, Canada’s fron- ever have to depend on a cyanide pill in order to As a book, Vladimir Krajina is much like its sub- tier remains open. And while our American cousins commit suicide if captured by your enemies, make ject: straightforward and at times overly concerned largely emptied their country of wolves, bears and sure to keep an eye on its “best before” date. Krajina with details (I could have lived, for example, with- cougars, many Canadians still live in the presence survived, even ending up back in Prague as the city out knowing the full title of Krajina’s “post-doctoral of animals that inspire fear and awe. leapt overnight from direst oppression to the first habilitation work”—in German). Some readers will Our relationship to the wild is globally unique— wave of western post-war consumer culture. “The find themselves wishing for a more layered, more less romantic than nuanced, less abstracted and Czechs were introduced to Hershey bars, Juicy Fruit literary touch to Krajina’s story, which might have more concrete—and it warrants a literature to chewing gum and canned orange juice,” Drabek made its underlying themes more visible. At a time give voice to our experience. This is the quietly writes in a passage that captures the surreal disson- of such total human domination of the planet that important contribution of Jan Drabek’s Vladimir ance of the liberation. “Frequently there was spon- scientists have declared a new period in geological Krajina: World War II Hero and Ecology Pioneer. taneous dancing. Boy Scout uniforms and those of time—the Anthropocene, or “Human Age”—stories The biography of a Czech botanist turned World the Czech patriotic Sokols—both organizations for- like Krajina’s offer critical perspective. For Krajina, War Two hero who later emigrated to Canada, the bidden by the Nazis—appeared in profusion in the what mattered most about Canada is that we have book begins as a tale of wartime intrigue. Its post- streets as young people tried to learn the strange retained ecosystems that are more wild, more war chapters, however, show us Canada through words to ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo.’” whole and more extensive than any other place on the eyes of a new arrival who, his senses alive to the Too soon, however, the author adds a caveat: Earth. living world, concluded that here, too, there was “It’s a good thing that humankind does not have Ours is a global responsibility still seeking its something worth fighting for. the advantage of an immediate historical perspec- national voice. It is not that Canada lacks a litera- tive. Otherwise there would probably be little joy in ture of the wild—examples range from Masterworks J.B. MacKinnon’s latest book, The Once and Future living.” As Czechoslovakia slipped into an eventual of the Classical Haida Mythtellers to the works World: Nature As It Is, As It Was, As It Could Be, four decades of communist dictatorship, Krajina—a of Farley Mowat to John Livingston’s extraordin- will be published in September by Random House. committed democrat with popular appeal as a war ary Rogue Primate—as that it remains too much He is a past winner of the Charles Taylor Award for hero—was targeted as a threat to the new ruling unwritten and too little read. Would that Vladimir Literary Non-fiction and nearly a dozen National order. He fled the country, followed later by his Krajina mark a turning. Magazine Awards. family.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 11 B.C. Notebook In Search of the Good Life Family history reveals a writer’s roots. Norbert Ruebsaat
outrageous self-interest, makes her sign company ice cream operation to them, they’d dump product Human Happiness cheques before she leaves, just in case he might into his marketplace below his cost until he was Brian Fawcett need to empty her account. bankrupt.” Hartley throws them out but two weeks Thomas Allen Fawcett writes, in the book’s preface, that “life is later a letter from the B.C. Milk Board convinces 260 pages, softcover morally and physically a mess and that the future him that he must face up to reality and sell out. A ISBN 9780887628085 is utterly incomprehensible. Thus, true happiness year later he presents son Brian and older brother lies in the ability to live with ambiguity.” He con- Ron with a “Grand Plan For the Future of the Family trasts this kind of happiness with the permanent Business.” It involves the sons (under dad’s super- uman Happiness, Brian Fawcett’s compulsory happiness proffered by consumer vision) taking over the business. When Brian says memoir about his parents, is a tale of market culture where “if … the Good Life exists, it he is going to university, not into business, and Ron Hlove, life, strife, multiple dysfunction is only for a moment, and glimpsed in flight.” This rejects the offer for personal family reasons, Hartley and, yes, happiness. Hartley Fawcett and Rita down-to-earth pragmatic happiness is what he is stunned. A year after the fatal encounter he sells Surry’s story, delivered by their youngest son, credits his parents with achieving, in spite of them- the business and moves with Rita to the Okanagan reaches deep into the day-to-day history of “small selves and amidst all their shortcomings. where he builds his fifth house and lives even more decent lives … grounded in common sense” in Fawcett, who spent most of his life fighting happily in his 30 remaining years. a time—the post–World War Two Golden Age of his often bullying father, “bred true” and is a self- Brian Fawcett’s Human Happiness is the best North American prosperity—when dreams of end- admitted alpha male, albeit one with a different memoir I have read about life in the B.C. interior less progress and a bright future were during a crucial period in the prov- still possible and in a place—Prince In the early 1960s manufacturing ince’s history. Other accounts have George—at the edge of British Col- chronicled industrial and labour umbia’s not-yet-exploited resource- and consumer corporations begin to history, and many have recorded rich northern frontier. personal and family experience of From the late 1940s through to descend on northern British Columbia. the “pioneer” variety, but few have the mid 1960s, in a still intact local effectively combined personal with culture and economy, Hartley and Rita plan and skill set. The two never reconcile, but at Hartley’s political stories, and none has matched Fawcett’s lead “the Good Life” (something son Brian says is deathbed, Fawcett junior acknowledges his own finesse in joining the two modalities. His narrative no longer available to their boomer and Xer off- self-absorption, and in touching prose renders works, first off, because we meet parent protagon- spring, who might lead “a,” but never “the” Good his father not only understandable, to a degree, ists, and not, as is more common, the author strug- Life.) They raise four children, “Build a Business but even loveable. He is tempted once more to gling with one or the other of his or her parental Empire” (as Hartley, who favours speaking in cap- persuade dad that his capitalist entrepreneurial antagonists. ital letters, puts it) and maintain a fearless, almost beliefs are an illusion, but then catches himself: “I Second, Fawcett genre-bends. The shift of reader heroic grip on happiness. pulled back, and I sat in the darkness with him as attention from parent-child to family-society rela- Rita and Hartley had both left troubled Alberta his companion. I said nothing, not even in my own tionship teams up Fawcett’s facility with many families. Hartley is self-made, a true male of his mind. He was my father and I loved him … I loved authorial tongues. His previous books have com- time, architect of a soft drink franchise, ice cream him partly because I was duty-bound to it, but also bined narrative, discursive, polemical, even poetic and frozen meat business, a driver of Cadillac because I loved what he’d become.” valances, often by dividing book pages. This some- autos. Men, in his world, are “superior” to women The heart-felt tone here follows a late-in-life times clumsy device is dropped here and the writer and “were Created to Lead.” Rita commits full transformation in Hartley’s character but reflects appears in full voice with no interruption. Fawcett heart and warm intelligence to bringing up her also Rita’s influence on her youngest child. In an informed me once (full disclosure: I post periodic- children and asserts from early on in the marriage interview based on 40 questions Fawcett puts to his ally on the Dooneys Café website he edits, and we (which lasts from 1935 until Rita’s death at 90, in mother in the mid 1990s, we hear a woman of great exchange emails) that the manuscript went through 2000, and Hartley’s at 101 in 2008) a compelling heart and strong mind speaking freely about love, 19 separate drafts. The attention shows. The Brian identity in no way subservient to her often neglect- marriage, family, sex, life with father, beliefs, values, Fawcetts we meet in Human Happiness are har- ful husband. At home with four children in a small- regrets, accomplishments and, yes, happiness and monized into a contrapuntal whole that humanizes town 1950s woman’s world while Hartley tends his the good life. the sometime polemical, even pugilistic prose and business and on weekends golfs with his buddies, In the early 1960s, manufacturing and consumer editorial design intentions that marked his earlier she organizes a women’s group to abet the loneli- corporations begin to descend on northern British books: the bred-pure Brian mellows, but keeps his ness. When it becomes apparent that Hartley is a Columbia. They target local businesses, and A&W, critical chops and intellectual edge. great salesman but a poor accountant, she takes Dairy Queen, MacDonald’s and their like quickly The third matter that distinguishes this book over the company’s books. When she contracts put local eateries and grocers out of business. On from Fawcett’s previous (and certainly other mem- breast cancer in the mid 1960s, Hartley more or the logging front, multinationals have bullied the oirists’) work, is that Human Happiness is about less abandons her (because he cannot handle sick- B.C. government into rejigging the bidding system something. Happiness. Fawcett’s personal, social, ness or weakness) and she travels alone for treat- for timber rights, and, between 1956 and 1972, economic, political but also philosophical parsing ment to Vancouver. Hartley, never short on acts of 600 locally owned mills and many more portable of this North American core value in a book about “gypo outfits” have been replaced by eight super- the northern B.C. boonies is an accomplishment Norbert Ruebsaat has published and posted mills and two pulpmills run from distant head that serves not only all who have lived in these reviews, essays and stories in The Vancouver Sun, offices. milieus—and learned just about nothing about The Globe and Mail, Geist Magazine, Vancouver In the fall of 1965 two business suits from the their histories, economics and cultural frames—but Review, the Dooney’s Café website and other biggest dairy consortium in B.C. walk into Hartley’s also serves the city slickers for whom the B.C. back literary publications. office and announce that if he does not “sell his country is often an unknown continent.
12 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada B.C. Notebook Legislation by Thunderbolt Did a popular premier just get too far ahead of the curve? Beth Haddon
versus 10 Social Credit, 5 Liberal, 2 Conservatives), this was the time of the U.S.-backed coup in Chile, The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and Barrett set out very deliberately to rock the boat. Richard Nixon and a two-bit burglary called Water- the NDP in Power, 1972–1975 A former social worker, he filled his cabinet with gate. But neither this book nor any other that I am Geoff Meggs and Rod Mickleburgh people who had spent their lives wanting a more aware of has provided solid evidence of foreign Harbour Publishing equal distribution of wealth. “We don’t believe in interference. 368 pages, hardcover jungle capitalism to create jobs,” said Barrett. “We By 1975 the B.C. economy was a mess and not ISBN 9781550175790 believe in sharing the wealth of this great province just as a result of NDP policies. The buoyant eco- in a prudent and responsible manner.” nomic times of the election year had given way In the end, a perfect storm of global economic to the “Arab oil crisis” and double-digit inflation e can never know what might have realities, self-defeating behaviour, a counterattack across Canada, and the Trudeau government was been. If Dave Barrett’s NDP govern- from big business, a relentlessly hostile media and on the verge of introducing wage and price controls. Wment in British Columbia had done the kind of friends who leave you in no need of In B.C., investment was down, unemployment was things differently, could they have been elected for enemies ensured that while the Barrett regime may up and the vital forest industry—the province’s a second term? Or was their brand of social democ- have been ground-breaking, it could not last. major economic engine—had been paralyzed by racy just too radical? That is the question posed in a three-month–long strike. As with Bob Rae’s NDP The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP hen it came to economic management, the government in Ontario in the early 1990s, the Bar- in Power, 1972–1975, a rollicking rollercoaster of a Wstraightforward NDP idea was to pay for rett government—never cozy with labour—found story about an episode in Canadian political history improved public services with higher corporate itself at war with the unions, even though it had that will leave you hanging on to your hat. taxes and new revenues from resource industries. introduced some of the most pro-labour legislation Nearly half a century ago, in ever seen in Canada: an increased August 1972, Barrett’s NDP gov- minimum wage, the right to strike ernment shot like a comet across While the Barrett regime may have been for government employees and a the sky before fizzing out in a more union-friendly labour code. devastating electoral defeat three ground-breaking, it could not last. But the forest industry strike years, three months and two days forced Barrett’s hand. “With a later. In its wake came 97 legislative initiatives that Under the previous W.A.C. Bennett Social Credit single, swift bill that caught the entire province off brought British Columbia into the modern world government, “British Columbians paid one-third guard, Barrett and the NDP brought in the most and so alarmed the establishment that they made more to buy BC natural gas than American cus- sweeping back-to-work legislation in Canadian his- sure it would be 16 years before another NDP gov- tomers in the Pacific Northwest.” The NDP was tory. More than fifty thousand union members—all ernment took power in the province. having none of it. Much to the amusement of his in the private sector—were ordered to return to The changes listed in this somewhat starry-eyed fellow caucus members, Attorney General Alex their jobs.” When election time came a few months book by two long-time Vancouverites—veteran Macdonald stood in the legislature and warned that later, many trade unionists along with disillusioned journalist Rod Mickleburgh, a former labour repor- “we in this province … are not going to be drilled party members who had wanted more social ter, and Geoff Meggs, a Vancouver city councillor and bored and punished and blown and flared and progress chose to sit out the election. The nascent and former trade unionist—ranged from the pro- capped by the international oil companies.” women’s movement found Barrett disappointing as tection of farmland to the introduction of govern- They created the B.C. Energy Commission to well, with the B.C. Status of Women awarding him ment-owned auto insurance, from pharmacare to a regulate and monitor oil and gas prices, the B.C. the Male Chauvinist Pig Award for 1973. financial disclosure law for elected and appointed Petroleum Corporation, which gave government officials, from the B.C. Police Act to handle public more revenue from the sale of natural gas, the ow much of the government’s dramatic complaints against the police to the Mineral Roy- Mineral Royalties Act, which increased government Hdemise can be blamed on Dave Barrett him- alties Act, which boosted royalties on metals and revenue from mining, and the Timber Products Sta- self? While Meggs and Mickleburgh clearly like the increased the government share of windfall profits, bilization Act to regulate the price of wood chips. fellow, they do suggest that Barrett was a “one man from banning the strap in public schools to the abo- Reaction from the business community to such band,” did not take advice and often let his mouth lition of pay toilets. Many of these changes remain, moves was swift and deadly. Shortly after the gov- get the better of him. including the Agricultural Land Reserve, public ernment was elected, the Vancouver Sun reported By the end, bumper stickers reading “I can’t auto insurance and the Islands Trust to protect the that “share values in prime BC companies had Barrett” were popping up around the province vulnerable natural integrity of B.C.’s Gulf Islands. dropped more than $300-million.” Headlines such and in the 1975 election the NDP were left with It is both informative and startling to read about as “Mining Stocks Dive as Investors Bail Out” in the only 18 seats—Barrett personally lost Coquitlam— such an audacious and interventionist govern- Province followed the introduction of the mineral although, interestingly, they maintained the same ment, dating back to before the Reagan/Thatcher royalties legislation. share of the popular vote that they had had in 1972. revolution, which trumpeted the idea that “the best The authors hint, intriguingly, at a conspiracy Perhaps that popular vote is a reflection of how government is no government.” In fact Mickleburgh by multinational mining companies and the CIA to much British Columbians believed that Dave Bar- and Meggs sound downright wistful and deeply bring the provincial economy to its knees and the rett’s heart was in the right place. But life under his nostalgic a lot of the time. socialist government with it. According to Meggs “legislation by thunderbolt” government was too Having campaigned under the slogan “Enough and Mickleburgh, “for most of their thirty-nine nerve-wracking to give him a second mandate. Is Enough” rather than a detailed platform, and hav- months in power, many in the NDP government There is a memoir-ish aspect to this book and ing won a clear majority in the legislature (38 NDP believed that no less than the US State Department you get the feeling that Meggs and Mickleburgh and the Central Intelligence Agency were closely had fun revisiting their own pasts. They write like Beth Haddon is a retired journalist and broadcaster monitoring their socialist agenda and were not journalists with clarity, flare and wit. What their who lived in Vancouver during the Dave Barrett above direct interference to hasten their downfall.” book lacks in analysis it makes up for in research era. If that sounds a trifle paranoid, they remind us and readability.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 13 B.C. Notebook Woman’s Work Author and reviewer share a socially pioneering history. Frances Lankin
to construction pre-apprenticeship program acknowledgements at the end of the book. After her Journeywoman: instructor. Her experiences while “swinging a life in construction, Kate Braid returned to school Swinging a Hammer in a Man’s World hammer in a man’s world” authentically relate and obtained a master’s degree in creative writing. Kate Braid the complexity of relationships between men and She is a published author of a number of books of Caitlin Press women during those early days of women breaking poetry and non-fiction. Her first book of poems, 270 pages, softcover into the trades. The characters are all recognizable: entitled Covering Rough Ground (about her life ISBN 9781894759878 the sexist, the power broker, the chivalrous pro- in construction), won her “an award for the best tector, the supportive union brother and then the book of poems by a Canadian woman in 1991.” A rest of them—the majority who keep their heads member of the Creative Nonfiction Collective, she ate Braid’s memoir is beautifully down and say nothing as long as they are left alone. purposefully brought those techniques into the written, with the lilt of poetry and the I found it interesting that Braid comes to prefer this writing of her memoir. I decide by the end of my Krich descriptiveness of a novel. In fact, in world of men’s work. Even so, it is more complex reading, unlike my first impressions, that she has my first couple of attempts at reading this book, than a simple choice. She describes it as striving for done that very well. it was that style that I found off-putting. I was a certain kind of balance in her life. I am not sure who is the target reader for this expecting something different: more fact and less After deciding to leave a contracting partnership book. Certainly, any of us who lived and worked flair. I found, for example, the detailed descrip- with a woman friend when the union calls her for a during those years and were active in the women’s tions of scenery and the light on a certain morning job, she explains: movement or labour movement will find this a more than 30 years ago a bit pleasant walk down memory difficult to believe. Ditto for the With respect to women in trades, I fear lane. Anyone interested in some detailed retelling of conversations of the groundbreakers of women presented in quotes as factual that not a lot has changed. Perhaps in non-traditional work will find in recitations. this a treasure trove of insight and At a certain point I decided to women might be a bit more accepted instructional examples of how one suspend my disbelief and found woman handled challenges on myself lulled by the rhythm of these days, but I cannot be sure of that. the job site. I kept thinking about Braid’s storytelling. I became a long-time colleague, Debbie eager to find out where her journey took her and Something about the men draws me back. Field, who went to work in the coke ovens of Stelco greedily consumed the last two thirds of the book. I miss their stupid humour and their rough in Hamilton and became active in the Steelworkers I have to admit my connection to her story grew caring. I miss the camaraderie that means Union, and a number of the other women who broke as I realized the parallel courses of our experiences. we keep an eye out for each other’s safety new ground whom I have known over the years. But I too worked in a “non-traditional” job in the but otherwise ask nothing of each other: I found myself mainly thinking that, with respect to late 1970s. Kate Braid was the first woman member especially emotionally. I even miss the rough women in trades, I fear that not a lot has changed. of the Carpenters local in Vancouver. I was one of and tumble of their constant challenge. With I think perhaps women might be a bit more three women who were the first to work in a men’s women, it’s easier. Too easy, perhaps. And accepted these days, but I cannot be sure of that. jail as correctional officers and members of the there’s so much emotion. I can hide with the Braid points out the numbers have not changed Toronto (Don) Jail Ontario Public Service Employ- men, keep a clear distinction between life on that much: “the number of women in trades in both ees Union local. Kate went on to become involved the job and life off it. Mostly, with the men, Canada and the US has stayed at roughly 3 percent.” in her union local executive and became a delegate I can be some part of me that I can’t be any- A minority still for sure. I used to hear a lot about to provincial and national conventions, as did I. She where else. the Women In Trades organization that Braid was became a member of the British Columbia Federa- part of, but not so much these days. I do not know tion of Labour’s Women’s Committee and I was a Two other threads of Braid’s life are woven what exists today, but Braid’s book has prompted member of the Ontario Federation’s Women’s through her retelling of this period of her life. As she me to want to find out. Committee. We were both involved with the Left comes into her full sexuality in the 1970s in the age We are facing a very serious shortage of skilled Caucus of our unions. of multiple lovers and communal living, we catch a trades workers today and it is predicted to worsen Those were heady days for feminism and for glimpse of her personal life and the sometime con- over the next decade or so. I have spent much of feminists. Women like Braid were making inroads tradictions of the powerful Braid in the workplace the last decade working with youth in high poverty into men’s jobs and were earning men’s pay. They and the power balance in her relationships. We neighbourhoods. There has been some attempt to were also establishing their leadership credentials also see her growing feminism, attending events match interested youth with trades training, but and breaking into the power structures of organ- to hear leading feminists such as Kate Millett and for the most part it is young men who are being ized labour. Andrea Dworkin, her engagement with left politics attracted to this opportunity for secure and well- Braid takes us on her journey from construc- and union politics, and her involvement in protest paid employment. More needs to be done to reach tion labourer to apprentice carpenter, to journey- such as the Solidarity movement in B.C. in response out to young women and convince them there is women carpenter, to independent contractor, to the Bennett Social Credit government’s attacks an opportunity here for them too. Skilled trades- on labour. women can provide powerful inspiration and be Frances Lankin is a former member of Ontario’s About two thirds of the way through the book impactful mentors to these young women. Maybe legislature and Cabinet minister. Lankin spent I find the explanation for how she has such accur- WIT or a successor organization is doing this kind more than a decade as CEO of the United Way of ate and detailed memories of conversation, places of work but if so, it is not very visible in the high- Toronto. She was recently commissioned by the and exact timing of events from so long ago. She poverty neighbourhoods of Toronto. Braid’s book Ontario government to co-lead a review of the has kept extensive journals throughout all of these has lit a fire in me to see if we can do something to province’s social assistance program. years. I am further enlightened when I read the change that.
14 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada B.C. Notebook Revolutionary Aid Cuba’s impressively outsized humanitarian healthcare efforts. Kevin Patterson
Where No Doctor Has Gone Before: Cuba’s Place in the Global Health Landscape Robert Huish Wilfrid Laurier University Press 222 pages, softcover ISBN 9781554588336
n the March issue of the Atlantic, Ken Stern writes about a central puzzle Iof philanthropy: members of the top quintile in earnings, in the United States, gave, on average, 1.3 percent of their income to charity; those on the bottom gave 3.2 percent. Stern quotes Paul Piff, a psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley: “While having money doesn’t necessarily make anybody anything, the rich are way more likely to prioritize their own self-interests above the interests of other people.” They are, he continued, “more likely to exhibit characteristics that we would stereotypically associate with, say, assholes.” As it is among individuals, so it is among countries. Robert Huish’s Where No Doctor Has Gone Before: Cuba’s Place in the Global Health in that jungle are standing pools full of the larvae sized share of all international medical aid. The idea Landscape is a powerful broadside against the of Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes, which carry gets as little attention as it does largely because of enormous international inequities in access to malaria and dengue fever, respectively—“the kind the influence of the Cuban exile community in the health care, not just ignored but furthered by that make you burn alive,” he writes, in one deft swing state of Florida, and the consequent debt of wealthy countries. In this book, the Dalhousie phrase capturing the recurring curse and paradox all recent American presidents, hawks and doves, to University professor of international development of oil wealth in developing economies: misery all the Florida voter. Hence the never-ending embargo. studies examines the problem through the lens around, under those flares, for everyone but the Cuba makes the Iowa ethanol absurdity a lot easier of Cuba—where aid means, first, medical aid. president. Huish relates the story of a 14-year-old to understand. “For a country with a humble economy and only girl who had been treated in the clinic nine months There is no denying the exiles’ characterization 11.5 million inhabitants, Cuba has an unmatched earlier, after she had been raped. During Huish’s of the Castro regime as totalitarian, nor the coun- global health workforce of over thirty-eight thou- visit, she went into labour. She delivered safely in try’s profound poverty, especially after the 33 per- sand health workers in sixty-six countries as of that sparsely equipped clinic, where Huish helped cent fall in gross domestic product after the end of 2011,” Huish writes. rip cotton balls in half, to make them last longer. It is Soviet subsidies. Both these qualities would predict Huish expands on this point with examples: the only medical facility within 48 kilometres. Both a de-emphasis of health care and of international Cuba operates the world’s largest free eye surgery the physicians who attended there were trained in aid. Why then, should it have the world’s lowest program and the largest medical school—mostly Cuba. population-to-physician ratio, at 179? Moreover, for international students. But the best and most Together with Venezuelan financial support, why should it spend so much helping to provide grippingly described of these examples is the one Cuban ophthalmologists run Operación Milagro, health care to its neighbours? he opens the book with. a cataract surgery program that has restored eye- Dania Suarez is a Cuban physician whom Huish sight to more than 1.6 million people in the last The realist school of thought in foreign policy visited in the Ecuadorean Amazon. She worked decade. Patients treated in this program have come suggests that foreign influence is best exer- then at the public clinic at La Joya de los Sachas. from throughout Latin America and Africa. It has cised through military and economic power. All around that small town, Huish writes, are gas expanded from its clinic near Havana into eight But what if a country’s strength is in caring flares shooting up from within the rain forest. And other countries. In the developed world, these for others? Is it possible for a nation to feel efforts are not known, and hardly believed. inclined to work for the humanitarian needs Kevin Patterson practises critical care and general It is an astonishing idea that a country with the of others while fulfilling its own national inter- internal medicine on Vancouver Island and in the population of Ontario and an economy less than ests? Is it possible … for a nation to see the Arctic. He is also a novelist and travel writer. one sixth of Ontario’s should provide such an out- investment in comprehensive public health
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 15 Every year, I return to Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, care as a foreign policy that furthers its own interests? Is it possible for a nation to fulfill its own interests by taking care Marriage — an incredible collection of truths. What breadth of of others? vision, what profundity. The stories are utterly fresh, experi- This is the essence of the argument for soft power: influence and allegiance are easier menting with ever-wilder narrative structures. They turn corners you and more durably achieved with humani- tarian and cultural exchange than with any never sensed were there, but that feel fated once the outcomes play out. amount of hard—military—power. After the Cuban military adventures in Ethiopia and Alice Munro is the master of making the strange seem inevitable. Angola, this may have been an insight they were well prepared to receive—although, Esi Edugyan, novelist after the debacles of the recent Asian wars, one might hope that the west, more generally, might come to see the merit of the idea too. To contrast the roles the Global North and Cuba play in international health, Huish points out that 25 percent of physicians in Australia, Canada and the United States were trained elsewhere—in Canada’s instance, largely in South Africa, a country with a third as many physicians per capita. No compensa- tion is paid to the countries so much poorer than our own, that train the doctors who care for so much of rural and northern Canada. On the other hand, Cuba has operated the La Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina, the world’s largest medical school, since 1998.
It is an innovative program developed in response to the aftermath of Hurri- cane Mitch in Central America in 1998. Cuban medical brigades working in the affected region realized that droves of doctors would be required in order to improve the region’s human resources for health in primary care. Instead of offering its own doctors on an ongoing basis, Cuba decided to train students from those communities so that they would eventually serve them. Soon after, they expanded the school’s enrol- ment from victims of a single hurricane to include victims of structural violence from across the Americas and Africa. By 1999, ELAM had received 1,929 students from eighteen different countries.
By 2005, 11,000 international students from 22 countries were enrolled in the six- year program. (The largest educational effort America has offered in Latin America, Huish acerbically notes, is the now-closed School of the Americas, in Panama, which trained 60,000 soldiers and police, among them, the most notorious generals from Argentina’s Dirty War and Guatemala’s Civil War.) Cuba’s role in the Caribbean and the developing world, more broadly, is complex and its government more morally ambigu- ous than Huish, an ardent Cubanophile, is inclined to acknowledge, but the central point of this fine work is crucially important: in a time of unprecedented disparity in global health outcomes, and while the International Monetary Fund insists on curtailing public health spending as one of the first steps in its oft-prescribed austerity measures, it is in the interest of countries that can help to help. The people who see this the clearest, are inevit- ably, the ones who are closest to that place of needing help. As it is with countries, so it is Read Well with individuals.
16 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada B.C. Notebook A Right to Healthy Eating The community roots of a food warrior’s national campaign. Peter Ladner
farmers, fewer hungry people, fewer fat kids, less in the cul de sac of purring over purple carrots at The Stop: diabetes, lower healthcare costs, more inner-city a farmers’ market or proudly ordering expensive How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a jobs, safer neighbourhoods, more beautiful streets, local fish on Friday nights at a restaurant. The rich Community and Inspired a Movement lower greenhouse gas emissions, more resilience get organic food, but the poor still get diabetes. Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis to climate change, safer food, less soil erosion, hap- Awakening to the realities of our food systems Random House pier animals, less pollution and rutabagas forever. is all good. The beauty of today’s food movement is 299 pages, hardcover Where Saul and Curtis’s book—and the organ- that you cannot go wrong. But you can stop short. ISBN 9780307360786 ization it describes—stands out is in its unequivocal For Saul and Curtis, relieving the suffering of the focus on relieving hunger and poverty, with better thousands of their neighbours who wake up hungry food as just one means to achieve that goal. When every morning is what it is all about. They are firmly f you search for “food” and “revolution” Saul was hired by The Stop in 1998, he came from focused on the anti-poverty and right-to-food side on Chapters.Indigo.ca, eight titles will pop community organizing, working with homeless of the community food security equation, happily Iup—not including diet books. Include the men and as a staffer in the Ontario premier’s office. working with others more dedicated to environ- search words “movement” and “food” and another He arrived at a struggling faith-based non-profit mentally sustainable agriculture and all the other ten show titles up. The world is alive with eager- whose main function was running a food bank. He good-food initiatives. They refuse to accept that ness to change our imperilled food systems. Joining immediately started on a path of political change. individual action, without political action, will these new books is Nick Saul and Andrea bring about any real change for low-income Curtis’s inspirational saga of growing The people. Political pressure to ensure every- Stop, the Toronto “community food centre,” The rich get organic food, one has food access, food skills and food into international prominence over the literacy is always on their front burner. last 14 years. In The Stop: How the Fight for but the poor still get diabetes. Yet for all his advocacy and policy rec- Good Food Transformed a Community and ommendations, Saul never lets up on per- Inspired a Movement, they chronicle pivotal sonal storytelling. There is his own story of moments in the against-all-odds growth of a small One theme that permeates the book is Saul’s turning a hand-to-mouth parish hall food bank into anti-poverty organization into something that is stubborn insistence that food banks are basically a $4.5 million-a-year anti-poverty hybrid gather- rare, if not unparalleled, in all these revolutions and evil. His tone is too considerate and accommodat- ing place with 300 volunteers and 40 staff serving movements. ing to use that word, but its meaning is there. Built 16,000 people a year. Characters include political (Although the book is co-written by award- on the deepest, most genuine charitable impulses, villains, angel benefactors and Toronto’s leading winning writer Andrea Curtis and her husband, they have unintentionally embedded permanent food movement pioneers. Nick Saul, they note that “it is written in Nick’s institutions of demeaning handouts in our culture. The book is also laced with personal turnaround voice, as the story … charts his 14 years at The Stop As Saul sees it, food banks deny choice, skirt the dramas, a steady stream of heart-warming stor- Community Food Centre.” For simplicity, I will United Nations–endorsed right to food and build a ies putting faces, smiles and names on the people often refer to Saul as the author in this review.) dependency that bypasses the root cause of hunger whose lives have been changed at The Stop. To cite The opening pages of the book put The Stop in and illness: poverty, exacerbated by inhuman wel- just one example: perspective. They describe a scene where superstar fare rates and inequality. While malnutrition, obes- chef and good-food advocate Jamie Oliver (also ity and inequality grow hand in hand, “temporary” [Gordon Bowes] grew up near The Stop but author of Jamie’s Food Revolution) jumps out of food banks mute the pressure on government to left home for good at 15, fleeing a father who his black SUV and takes a tour of the Green Barn. live up to its responsibility to face poverty head on. beat him up when he was drinking, something Saul describes the Green Barn as the “pretty face” So Saul determined from his first day on the job he did every day. Gord lived on the street for of the organization, in contrast to the “sprawling that The Stop would stop being just a food bank. nearly fifteen years … When he first turned community centre in the bottom floor of Symington It would go upstream with cooking lessons, com- up at The Stop’s food bank in one of our old Place, a public housing development in one of the munity kitchens, drop-in meals, counselling, bike locations, Gord was embarrassed … he hated city’s poorest and most underserviced neighbour- repairs, community gardens, civic engagement to ask for a handout. [Eventually] … The Stop hoods.” The latter is “the gritty heart of The Stop’s initiatives and anti-poverty marches. By bonding became Gord’s second home … [Now] I think operations.” At the end of the tour, Oliver rests a with the distressed community it served, The Stop of Gord as one of our community elders.” hand on Saul’s shoulder and says, “You know what, moved “from charity toward solidarity.” It takes a brother? I’ve been all around the world and I’ve village to raze a food bank, a process described by By the end of the book, Saul has left The Stop never seen anything like this place.” The Stop storyteller-in-residence Dan Yashinsky (in December 2011) with an infusion of foundation The good-food zeitgeist, at this stage, is still as “‘revillaging the city’—creating pockets of care, startup money to set up 17 similar organizations more about planting seeds of change than reaping mutual assistance and connection, as one might around the country, as CEO of Community Food large harvests. That is not to say that cities around see in a village, within the urban setting.” Centres Canada. It is another noble, improbable the world are not sprouting good-food initiatives Many have noted the stealth function of height- challenge, with $20 million still to be raised and too numerous to count, as the benefits of more ened food consciousness as a gateway to so many of uncertain quirks in every location. The sequel to people eating more local, fresh plant-based food the big issues of our day: inequality, hunger, pollu- this book is already in the making. take root: tastier food, more prosperous local tion, corporate concentration, diet-related disease, The Stop is part community development water shortages, soaring healthcare costs, personal primer, part policy guide, part cry for justice; but Peter Ladner is the author of The Urban Food isolation and more. Add to that consciousness the mostly it is an endearing story of people who came Revolution: Changing the Way We Feed Cities. He fact that we all vote with our fork every day. Every- together to build something this country has not is a fellow at the Simon Fraser University Centre for one alive is making food choices that change the seen before and—if it continues on its current Dialogue and a former Vancouver city councillor world, bite by bite, for better or worse. Are we there trajectory—one that will soon be changing cities and business owner. yet? Saul says no. The new foodie can easily end up across Canada, one neighbourhood at a time.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 17 Obsessive Compulsive Vista with Tragedy Elizabeth Taylor
I will not write about him today Her white skin glowed as the movie screened There is river after all & sky in my school’s gym. It was National Velvet. Of his loss, there is nothing more to say Were her eyes as truly violet as they seemed?
At the estuary’s mouth, a shielded bay Father of the Bride was Tracy’s film. She beamed Where swallows slip when the rocks are dry with a maidenhood real life made her forget. No, I will not write about him today Her radiant skin glowed as the movie screened.
The sand kin to stone, at its softest, clay If you look behind the images, no one dreamed Waves now a scrape, then a shush & a sigh how much pain she was feeling—a true starlet— You see, of his loss, nothing more left to say yet were those eyes as violent as they seemed?
Water twists in the distance; its route goes astray Todd, Fisher—I’ve omitted many—were weened The salt in the air sets the whole scene awry from her charms as venomous Cleopatra spat So I will not write about him today romance like sloughed skin as the movie screened.
Clouds scraping mountains; the vast landscape gray London’s Inn on the Park installed seaweed cramed A skreak from an eagle, then the flicker’s cold cry in the walls so Liz and Dick could have it out; At last, of his loss, nothing more left to say she was who she was and more than she seemed.
All those words that you wrote and what of him stays Montgomery Clift, Laurence Harvey all steamed All those words that add up to the one word, why by like ships in a sea of love. I liked Butterfield 8. No, I cannot write about him today Her white skin glowed wherever movies screened Of his loss there must be nothing left I can say and her eyes were just as violet as they seemed.
Catherine Owen Bruce Meyer
Catherine Owen is the author of nine Bruce Meyer is author of 34 books Dale Matthews’s chapbook, A Puzzle Lesley Pasquin is a Montreal educator collections of poetry, the most recent of poetry, short fiction, non- Map of the World, won first place and poet. Her work has appeared being Trobairitz (Anvil Press, 2012) fiction, literary journalism and in the Ontario Poetry Society’s in Room (Poem of the Year), Arc and the chapbook Steve Kulash & pedagogy including the national 2011 Golden Grassroots Chapbook (Editor’s Choice), carte-blanche, Other Autopsies (Angel House Press, bestseller The Golden Thread Contest. Her first book, Wait for the Poetry Quebec and Montreal Serai. 2012). Her collection of memoirs and (HarperCollinsFlamingo, 2000). He Green Fire, was published by the She is currently reading The Painted essays, Catalysts: Confrontations with is a professor of English at Georgian New Orleans Poetry Journal Press in Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan, Ru the Muse, was published by Wolsak College in Barrie, where he teaches 2010. She lives in Montreal and works by Kim Thúy and Small Mechanics by and Wynn in 2012. Frenzy won the for Laurentian University, and in the Writers in the Community Lorna Crozier. Alberta Book Prize. Owen edits, also teaches at Victoria College in program, a joint venture of the tutors, plays bass in Medea & the all- the University of Toronto and St. Quebec Writers’ Federation and girl AC/DC tribute band Who Maid Michael’s College. He is the inaugural the Centre for Literacy. She has just Who, and composes with the Lyrical Poet Laureate of the City of Barrie. He finished reading To Know a Woman, Outlaws. She is currently reading is currently reading 100 Sonnets by The Same Sea and Don’t Call It Madness, Rack and Honey by Mary Pablo Neruda, The Collected Poems Night, all by Amos Oz, and The Heart Ruefle, Mary Jo Bang’s Elegy and The of Jack Gilbert and Evelyn Lau’s A Specialist by Claire Holden Rothman. Magic Lantern, a memoir by Ingmar Grain of Rice. Bergman.
18 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Calling the Dead
In the beginning there is shadow followed by whispers forming in a language soft and hollow
spoken by those who can merely follow pale in the darkness of early mourning. I’m a country girl In the beginning there is shadow, we make them out like waxen tallow, I’m a country girl. It’s hard to grieve in the city. sentinels utter their names, such torment, The buildings are too flat. In the streets in a language soft and hollow. loss flees its reflection in glass, memory We lay our bodies upon the barrows, turns to dust in corners, is swept away, we rage, we call, our voices storming. becomes the sad smell in drains, bad dreams. In the beginning, only shadow; I’m a country girl. It’s hard to grieve in the city, and silence, silence; our words lie fallow, no bed of sand or grass to lie down in, they fall like ashes all transforming, watch the forms of clouds return to formless. in the beginning only shadow, Loss flees its reflection in glass, memory into a language soft and hollow.
has a voice too soft to be heard within Lesley Pasquin the din of traffic, the glare of looks and seems. I’m a country girl. It’s hard to grieve
without hillsides of bare trees in winter pale skies above long fallow fields. Loss flees its reflection in glass, memory Sewing Song
seeks the smoke of brush fires layering My grandmother pinked all the seams, short evenings into ordinary nights. protecting them with zig and zag I’m a country girl. It’s hard to grieve in the city. from an unravelling of the weave. Loss flees its reflection in glass, memory… She taught me how to set in sleeves, Dale Matthews face a collar, match a plaid. But above all insisted I pink the seams
that season of patterns and gabardine so no dress would have a ragged edge from an unravelling of the weave.
Outside our shade-drawn cool, heat and prairie wind left corn fields frayed. My grandmother pinked all the seams
while mourning doves relentlessly called from poplar trees, unravelling Sue Chenette, a classical pianist the hours, the griefs of the weave. as well as a poet, is an editor for Brick Books and the author of Bending to fabric, pattern, shears, Slender Human Weight (Guernica the needle’s eye blind to hopes mislaid, Editions, 2009) and The Bones of my grandmother pinked all the seams His Being (Guernica Editions, 2012). against the unravelling of the weave. She is currently reading Andrew Motion’s biography of Keats, Lorine Niedecker’s Collected Works and Sue Chenette Georges Simenon’s Écluse numéro 1 (with French/English dictionary close at hand).
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 19 Insatiable Spirits How disappointment and desire haunt us. Kamal Al-Solaylee
family affair. He is her pawn and trophy offspring desperation, he agrees to travel back to Sri Lanka The Hungry Ghosts in one. For his part, Shivan is egalitarian in lashing to spend time with his grandmother. That visit Shyam Selvadurai out at his family once they all are living under the sets in motion the narrative pull of the book—first Doubleday grandmother’s roof and thumb. “Even the slight- love, betrayal, political corruption—and the very 373 pages, hardcover est reproof from my mother or jibe from my sister unravelling of Shivan. ISBN 9780385670661 would send me into a rage. Their lives, despite Because the novel is narrated by Shivan and drawbacks, were free of my grandmother; their lives more or less obsesses over his every single emo- were actually better for us being here. And this hap- tion, it is difficult not to consider it on the merits ts setting between Sri Lanka and Canada piness, I saw, had been won at my cost.” of this one character. I found him intriguing and may suggest that The Hungry Ghosts is a book When the civil war between the majority Sinhal- empathetic even if I did not always understand Iabout dislocation and dispossession—a multi- ese and the Tamil minority sends the country into his motivations. Occasionally and particularly cultural tale or a story of escaping strife in the a tailspin in the early 1980s, Shivan’s mother reluc- in the part of the novel set in Vancouver—where homeland (and, for the record, it is all that)—but tantly relocates with her children to Canada, which Shivan meets and falls in love with local pretty boy the dominant force in Shyam Selvadurai’s remark- had eased immigration requirements for thousands Michael—Selvadurai stacks the decks against him, able new novel is an internalized psychic struggle of fleeing Sri Lankans. And thus begins the first of deliberately and manipulatively. The soul search- that transcends geographical or physical space. many journeys that Shivan and family take between ing that underwrites much of Shivan’s experiences Time, too. Canada and Sri Lanka in the last two decades of the in Toronto or Colombo is replaced by pettiness and After all, of what significance are spatial or 20th century. mood swings. It is jangling for us as readers. temporal considerations when This focus on Shivan comes at the philosophical framework the expense of supporting char- for your first novel for adults in The Sri Lankan–born Selvadurai acters, especially female ones. nearly 15 years is a Buddhist myth In an appearance on morning in which those who desire too has shied away from any fictional television in Toronto, Selvadurai much in life are reincarnated as representation of Canada until now. has suggested that his skill at disfigured, hungry ghosts whose writing women comes, in part, appetites may never be satisfied? It from his identity as a gay man in is up to well-meaning descendants of these restless Although he is currently one of our more whom female friends often confide. Nice-sounding spirits to perform good deeds and put the greedy acclaimed Canadian writers, the Sri Lankan–born theory, but it does not seem to be supported here. bastards and bitches out of their misery once and Selvadurai has shied away from any fictional rep- Renu, Shivan’s sister, a feisty feminist and academic for all. The novel is punctuated with iterations resentation of his adopted country until The Hungry worthy of her own book, is rendered in such broad of—to use the technical term—the peréthaya myth, Ghosts. Both his breakthrough novel, Funny Boy, comic terms as to suggest a discomfort with femin- and while all its characters are very much alive and and its follow-up, Cinnamon Gardens, were set in ism and women in academe. Even the overpower- kicking, their stories echo the myriads of emotions the Sri Lanka of the immediate and distant past, ing grandmother is captured (or explained) in the captured in the ancient tales. a world that, while touched by imperialism and melodramatic “fallen woman” trope that under- The masterful storyteller in Selvadurai would expansion, remains hermetically sealed in its dis- mines her strength: she is not a victim but an agent have us believe that the living embodiment of the tinctive, class- and ethnicity-based cultures. of modern Sri Lankan history. hungry ghost myth is the Sri Lankan matriarch I wonder why it took Selvadurai this long to write None of my criticisms takes away from the struc- and real estate tycoon who happens to be the pro- Canada into his fictional universe, given his sharply tural complexity, confident tone or wisdom of this tagonist’s grandmother. There is strong evidence, drawn observations of it? Shivan’s first impressions work. This is a novel by a mature, pensive writer. however, to suggest that the ghost-like figure with of life in Toronto’s suburbs lend this otherwise sad I found myself returning to Shivan’s desires and an insatiable desire for love and belonging, the one and elegiac book some of its brief and most-needed disappointments and recognizing how deeply felt who is destined to endure one tormented life after moments of comic relief. Early impressions of York and rendered both are. On a more personal level, another, is her grandson Shivan Rassiah. He is the University’s architecture in the winter remind I related to Shivan as a gay man of colour myself novel’s narrator, and also serves as its permanently Shivan of “grey boulders abandoned by a glacier.” and as someone who escaped political and familial alienated and angry young man—and, at first How true is that? And it is in Toronto that he experi- oppressions. blush, for good reasons. ences what self-loathing looks—or more accurately Yet the significance of Shivan goes beyond the As the mixed-race son of a Sinhalese mother smells—like when the more-established Sri Lankan personal or the geopolitical and into an area of and a Tamil father who dies early in the narrative, family that takes the Rassiahs under their wings human psychology that fiction is well equipped to Shivan grew up with difference in his blood. In his ban cooking food from the home country because explore. He represents the restlessness and discon- native Sri Lanka he was accustomed to hearing the “lingering odour of curries smelt like cow dung.” tent that come when integration into a community, Sinhalese staff in the family-run guest house refer But it is also in Toronto that dreams of sexual large or small, elude the body and spirit. It is, in to his father as a “Tamil dog.” His grandmother has freedom turn into a psychodrama. Shivan comes part, the immigrant lot in life and the prevailing more or less adopted him away from his mother out as a gay man only to discover that his dark human condition of a world where the more mobil- in a transaction that is more businesslike than brown skin and what he perceives to be his aver- ity options and personal choices we have, the less age looks attract the old and the ugly or men with anchored we are. Some of the dispossessed lash Kamal Al-Solaylee is a professor of journalism at a fetish for the swarthy Other. It is not long before out at the world outside them (see self-radicalized Ryerson University and the author of Intolerable: Shivan’s list of enemies includes the gay com- immigrants or lone gunmen on both sides of the A Memoir of Extremes (HarperCollins, 2012), a munity in Toronto for turning him into an exotic American-Canadian border). Others, like Shivan, finalist for the 2012 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust sexual animal and the city itself for his chronic take it out on themselves. I will take the (fictional) Prize for Nonfiction. underemployment. In a moment of not-so-quiet self-lacerating ones any day.
20 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Trujillo’s Bottle Caps Fictional hints at the creation of monstrous tyrants. Norm Ravvin
of such writing is to confirm the usefulness of the The stories in The Iron Bridge vary in the amount The Iron Bridge private, the hidden and the suppressed aspects of of contextual detail they bring to their imaginative Anton Piatigorsky personalities whose mature outlooks created great portraits. In the story of Mao, the intellectual and Goose Lane human catastrophe and suffering. bureaucratic shifts of the period, changing family 202 pages, softcover Piatigorsky leaves Hitler until last, as if his roles and disagreement over a ritualized courtship ISBN 9780864926746 case study should be seen as the most telling or tradition lend the story impressive anthropological troubling of the book’s set of imaginary portraits. depth. “Bottle Cap,” the story of a young Rafael The Iron Bridge draws its title from a motif in the Trujillo—long-time dictator of the Dominican n early 1936, New Yorker writer Janet story of Hitler’s young adulthood. Called “Adi” by Republic—goes further than its counterparts in Flanner, a regular contributor to the maga- friends and family, Piatigorsky’s teenage Hitler is a imagining the psychological make-up of its pro- Izine’s “Letter from Europe” column, filed three self-appointed aficionado of many things. He is a tagonist. A devotee of magical thinking, a dandy at lengthy profiles on Adolph Hitler. The New Yorker devoted critic of the Wagnerian opera performed age 16, a mama’s boy who hates what he thinks of ran them in a format more commonly used for in his hometown of Linz; he has definite ideas as his “Negro blood,” Piatigorsky’s Trujillo is vain- Americans of note—people whom we now call about the value of Viennese culture; he paints glorious enough to imagine himself wiser than the celebrities. With the Berlin Summer Olympics on the surrounding countryside; and he imagines a “pathetic and lazy Dominican nation” that has been the way, and trouble brewing in Europe under bridge “wide as Vienna’s Ringstrasse and lined “enslaved for far too long.” In himself, the young Fascist governments, the editors of the magazine with mythological statues,” which will replace the Rafael decides, is the “power and dignity” that his clearly felt that Hitler was a personality its read- “present iron monstrosity” over the nearby Danube. people lack. This is a rare case in The Iron Bridge ers should understand more intimately. Flanner, The stories in The Iron Bridge are linked by where Piatigorsky draws a direct link between his who visited Germany from her adopted home in Piatigorsky’s decision to make his characters share imaginary portrait and the actual outcome of the Paris, did not meet Hitler. She lives of Trujillo, Stalin or Hitler. did receive carte blanche, a car, His fictional portraits do not so and a driver in order to view the Violent dictatorial personalities share much interpret as hint at possibil- Nuremberg rallies and other Nazi ities in each man’s early life that events. Through her own social formative quirks. might confirm an obsessive view, set, which included American and monomania, or the habit of bully- British elite, she gained access to Hitler’s political a range of formative quirks. These include an ing or cowering, which may provide the pattern for and social circles. estranged family life, an absent or abusive father, a a political life. The outcome of Flanner’s fact gathering strikes weak though doting mother and social surround- If one knows nothing about the figure at hand the contemporary reader as odd: we learn of ings that are in the midst of collapse or under great (who today knows about Trujillo?), the fictional Hitler’s favourite gruel, his doting way with society strain due to political shifts. Typically, too, each biography takes impressive shape. If the reader ladies, his liking for long car rides and impromptu character is isolated in his middle teens, at a point has much reading and thought to bring to the countryside picnics. Well into her three profiles, at which almost everything in life—sexual develop- subject, the effect of Piatigorsky’s stories may vary. Flanner offers an aside on the role of race ideology ment, cultural affiliation, dedication to family, In the case of his Hitler, the details used to convey in German social life, with an allowance that this friends or intellectual direction—is in flux. Piatigor- Adi—his faux-bohemianism, his affected man- has caused a European refugee disaster. sky, a two time Dora Mavor Moore Award winner ner of dress, his pretentious way of addressing his The challenge in reading Flanner’s profiles is to for his playwriting, is skilled at dramatizing these imagined love for a girl he has not spoken with— remember how little of the devastation of European situations by way of dialogue and detailed settings. may seem trivial. When reading Janet Flanner on cities, and of the assault on Jewish culture brought In “Tea Is Better Than Pepsi” a young Idi Amin Hitler one feels squeamish, even embarrassed in about through ghettos and deportations to death serves Piatigorsky as a screen on which to play considering his gruel, his choice of restaurants camps, had been accomplished when Flanner vis- the ethnic rivalries of Uganda under British rule. and female tea partners, which may tell us nothing ited Hitler’s cronies in the 1930s. In “Lado’s Disciple” a 16-year-old named Soso about the nature of the disaster he engineered for Anton Piatigorsky’s provocative story collection Djugashvili, studying under orthodox priests in a Europe. The Iron Bridge takes up the challenge of under- Georgian seminary, bullies his compatriots into There are many ways to try to understand the standing the development of violent dictatorial leaving their established group for one he will lead, makers of genocidal or nationalist catastrophe. The personalities from the opposite end of the tele- where Darwin will replace Plekhanov as the model least effective method is to dismiss them as mon- scope: his stories address the youth of Hitler, Josef of revolutionary idealism and of “what it actually sters, as inhuman freaks of nature with no foothold Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and Rafael means to live as a man.” in our own culture. Piatigorsky’s approach runs Trujillo. In his acknowledgements, Piatigorsky lists The story depicting a youthful Pol Pot sets the counter to this tendency, as he uses his playwright’s the historical studies, biographies and films that would-be Khmer Rouge leader among the concu- skills to dramatize his reading of character by way influenced his creative approach to the little-known bines and dancers of the King of Cambodia. As in of such mundane aspects as adolescent angst, youths of these well-known figures. His approach the collection’s other stories, we find its protagonist, unsettled erotic yearning, family squabbles or per- is not entirely removed from Flanner’s. The goal still known by his birth name Saloth Sâr, confronting sonal weakness. But his scenarios, hung as they are a set of personal crossroads that will determine his on a skeleton of obscure biographical details, run Norman Ravvin’s recent novel is The Joyful Child spiritual and political tendencies. In “The Consum- the risk of belittling their subject. Trujillo collected (Gaspereau Press, 2011). Previous books include mation” we are presented with a 16-year-old Mao bottle caps. Stalin’s father beat him. Hitler’s mother a story collection, Sex, Skyscrapers and Standard Tse-tung who faces similar challenges. He rejects offered him no useful guidance. In light of the gulag Yiddish (Paperplates Books, 1997), and a volume of the young woman brought to his family home and the Hitlerian genius for death camps, it is up essays entitled A House of Words: Jewish Writing, by a matchmaker, and muses over his future in a to the reader to grapple with the question of what Identity and Memory (McGill-Queen’s University changing China where his training in the “standard such information adds to the atrocious historical Press, 1997). He lives in Montreal. Confucian texts” has been rendered outmoded. record.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 21 Political Inheritance The nationalist blurring of “Left” and “Right,” from Scotland and Ireland to Quebec. Gerald White
the degree to which all this had a Les Nouveaux Visages du preview in the Scotland of the early nationalisme conservateur au 20th century. Throughout Liberal Québec Nationalisms he focuses on compari- Jean-Marc Piotte and Jean-Pierre sons between the Ligue nationaliste Couture canadienne and the Young Scots’ Prologue Society. The YSS was an offshoot 175 pages, softcover of the Scottish Liberal party that ISBN 9782764421673 advocated for Scottish Home Rule; it never had a large membership, Liberal Nationalisms: but it did publish several influential Empire, State and Civil Society in handbooks defending this position. Scotland and Quebec In the 1910 general election, YSS- James Kennedy affiliated Liberal candidates did very McGill-Queen’s University Press well, largely because the society shed 322 pages, hardcover its image as an Edinburgh debating ISBN 9780773538986 club and, through greater support in the west, became genuinely national in scope. Kennedy writes that “some- hat, it seems reason thing of a reversal in the Society’s able to ask, is really political centre of gravity had taken Wconservative about place. Policy concerns were now the present incarnation of the concentrated on the achievement Conservatives? Given their near- of Scottish Home Rule and a radical religious commitment to laissez-faire social agenda.” That does indeed economics, their fondness for mas- sound like Quebec nationalism, sively expensive military projects and the story of a movement that starts their Thatcher-esque sense that publicly sponsored liberalism that you could also see in the budding among a small number of educated idealists but collective action is indefensibly coercive, shouldn’t Scottish movement of roughly the same period. gradually spreads to the hinterlands, finally scor- they find another name? Aren’t they really, in Kennedy and Piotte and Couture are thus coming ing some crucial electoral victories that make the essence, right-wing liberals? from more or less the same place: an assumption movement not only truly national but also insepar- I realize this is something of a caricature. that Quebec nationalism, like other forms of non- ably wedded to the march of progressive values. Nevertheless, it gives some sense of the degree to totalitarian nationalism, is basically about a society What this vision of progressivism necessarily which terms like “liberal” and “conservative” have becoming more liberal. excludes is the deeper fissures in Scottish society become desperately confused in recent years. The This will seem familiar to most people with any that hide a more complicated political tale. There simultaneous appearance of two very different interest in modern Quebec. The dominant narra- are hints of this in Liberal Nationalisms, but in pass- books on Quebec history brings this to the fore. tive of the Quiet Revolution has la belle province ing. Early on Kennedy mentions how a customary Jean-Marc Piotte and Jean-Pierre Couture’s Les emerging from the reign of Maurice Duplessis’s view of nationalism as being about linking culture Nouveaux Visages du nationalisme conservateur Union Nationale (in power from 1936 to 1960, with and state “better fits the linguistically based nation- au Québec is a fairly short counter-attack against a brief period in opposition during World War alism of Quebec than Scottish nationalism, where a group of Quebec historians and sociologists Two) and becoming the opposite of everything that language demands are largely absent.” Gaelic is only who have been publishing work that is sharply period had embodied. Overnight, it seemed, the mentioned in one paragraph, and that is fair enough critical of the legacy of the Quiet Revolution. Piotte place went from being backward, priest-ridden, given the focus on the turn of the 20th century here. and Couture see this group’s work as nationalist, xenophobic, dominated by an anglo-capitalist But linguistic concerns were absent from this per- and thus part of a fairly broad consensus among elite and defined by an utterly lumpen franco- iod of Scottish nationalism because of the success Quebec historians writing in French, but also con- phone majority, to being a metropolitan, worldly of the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th servative, and thus unforgivably heretical. Again, and intensely statist society boldly defining a new century. This aristocracy-imposed replacement of I caricature, but only barely. James Kennedy’s kind of French-speaking North Americanness. people with sheep shattered the Gaelic-speaking book Liberal Nationalisms: Empire, State and Contemporary Quebec nationalism, the dominant culture of the highlands in a more or less perma- Civil Society in Scotland and Quebec, on the other historical narrative has it, essentially grew out of nent way. What vanished was not only a language hand, posits that the building blocks of contem- this. So did renewed visions of Quebec’s place in but also a distinctive form of European radicalism, porary Quebec nationalism—basically the Henri Confederation. Thus we have the two brothers of simultaneously rooted and outward-looking, non- Bourassa–led debates at the turn of the 20th cen- the Quiet Revolution, eager to proclaim their differ- conformist and intensely communitarian. tury—were defined at their very core by a kind of ence from one another but both born of the same That was also true in some ways of the culture of mother, whose name is Secular Modernity: René the Patriotes, which is quite difficult to describe in Jerry White is Canada Research Chair in European Lévesque and Pierre Trudeau. 20th- or 21st-century terms of liberal and conserva- Studies at Dalhousie University. One of the pleasures of Kennedy’s book is seeing tive. The lasting influence of that forcedemigration/
22 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada shattered culture is a big part of what makes vent les conservateurs?” Martin’s contribution, titled Montreal is not at all shaken by their also being the Quebec nationalism as politically complex as it is. “L’Empire contre-attaque,” concludes by answering party of Quebec’s corporate elite. Les Nouveaux Visages has a lot to recommend it, with the weary “ils ne conservent pas grand chose” What anglo Montreal shares with Irish school- but it does seem strangely hostile to the basic idea and marvelling that a party so named could over- teachers and middle class urbanites, of course, is an that an ideology like nationalism is inevitably made see “la transformation de l’Alberta en Mordor à all-consuming fear of nationalism, something that up of a number of political positions. cause de ses sables bitumineux.” This interest in the both the PLQ and Fine Gael have been very skillful Although it is much shorter and more pointed in chasm-like difference between the actual meaning in marshalling to their benefit (and that is obviously its argument, Les Nouveaux Visages is also a more of the word “conservative” and the actions of the even more intensely true of the unionist parties of general work than Liberal Nationalisms, being a political party called “Conservative” is an extremely Northern Ireland). Similarly, Fianna Fáil is a mirror survey of recent rethinking of Quebec history and welcome political development. That Martin does image of the Parti Québécois. The PQ is basically identity. It has chapters devoted to Joseph Yvon not use the word “conservative” as a euphemism a social-democratic party with some surprisingly Thériault, Jacques Beauchemin (both sociologists at for “undesirable” in the fashion of so much aca- strong conservative elements. The conservative the Université du Québec à Montréal), Éric Bédard demic writing in both French and English prob- pull can be seen especially in small-town ridings (historian at the Télé-Université du Québec), Marc ably places him in the same camp that Piotte and such as Gaspé or its neighbouring côte-nord ridings, Chevrier (political scientist at UQAM), Gilles Labelle Couture are criticizing, but it does make it clear that ahem, René-Lévesque and Duplessis, all currently (political scientist at the University of Ottawa) and there is more than one political grouping defined held by the PQ. This influences the party’s positions Stéphane Kelly (sociologist at the Cégep de Saint- by euphémisation. Émond’s films (including his in unpredictable ways, but that is just part of the Jérôme). Piotte and Couture’s basic argument is recently released Tout ce que tu possèdes) are com- cost of maintaining the “big tent” of Quebec nation- that together, these figures represent a movement ing as a critique of Quebec modernity from a simi- alism. Fianna Fáil, whose official name is “Fianna in nationalist intellectual work that they sum up as lar place on the left, wondering if the presentism, Fáil: The Republican Party,” is a basically conserva- being defined by a conservative critique of mod- individualism and atomization made possible by a tive party with some strongly social-democratic ernity, an idealistic way of seeing things and the modernity dominated by liberalism and secularism elements. Just to add to the mirror-image aspect, tendency to look back (“un passé- those elements are often present isme”), to reject or forget the con- If these books share nothing else, they in the rural constituencies, which tributions of social sciences and to in Ireland are often strongholds of euphemize a conservative outlook. might at least prompt readers to rethink the cooperative movement. This This sense of “euphémisation” is true of Donegal for instance, is especially vexing for Piotte and the way in which not all liberals are home to the long-serving Fianna Couture, and with good reason. Fáil man Pat “The Cope” Gallagher They concede in the book’s intro- Liberals and not all conservatives sound (the nickname refers to his long duction that you can find certain history with cooperatives, and it is social-democratic tendencies in like the Conservatives. on all of his campaign signs). Thériault and in Bédard (whose This kind of ideological divers- 2011 Recours aux sources: Essais sur notre rapport has really been good for the people of Quebec, or ity is quite typical of the “big tent” of Irish nation- au passé is a collection of his most recent essays and whether it has instead mostly been good for global alism. Sinn Féin has started to suck away some of a pretty good introduction to this terrain). Piotte capitalists and their friends in the state apparatus. the left-nationalist support that Fianna Fáil once and Couture also acknowledge that the others offer The form of strongly communitarian social- enjoyed in those rural constituencies, and they critiques of such problems as the bureaucratization ism that Martin and Émond embody gives the lie are taking some of the hard-core trade unionists of of the state apparatus and of the corporatist ten- not only to infuriating assumptions like “those on Dublin and other cities along with them. Québec dencies of unions. They devote a chapter to Marc the left may as well vote Liberal,” but also to more Solidaire is slowly doing something similar with Chevrier’s republican view of Quebec nationalism philosophical but just as problematic assumptions the PQ and nationalist activists and intellectuals (as in liberté/égalité/fraternité, not George W.), like “those on the left are liberals.” Not everybody on the left. which they see as elitist in no small part because on the left is a liberal. Many people on the left A useful comparison here is with Simon Jolivet’s it is overly francophilic and thus generally hostile believe in the kind of group rights that were anath- Le vert et le bleu: Identité québécoise et identité to multiculturalism and educational reform (and ema to, say, Trudeau. Many on the left believe that irlandaise au tournant du XXe siècle. Jolivet, like even, quelle horreur, reliant in some ways on Allan one of the reasons to rail against global capitalism is Kennedy, sharply focuses on the early years of Bloom). In short, these “nationalist conservative” that it threatens the autonomy of family life, and the the 20th century, and, like Kennedy, finds there intellectuals may be intellectually connected to interests of children along with it. Many on the left complex debates about the role of “small nations” such bad guys as Leo Strauss (who was, it is worth believe that cultural traditions (including religious within a changing imperial framework. And Jolivet, recalling, also a hero of George Grant’s, on whom traditions) are a pretty decent bulwark against the like Kennedy, presents Bourassa as a pivotal figure, more later), but they are not exactly on the hustings homogenizing forces of globalization. I am not try- in no small part because of the way that he embod- for Stephen Harper. They generally sound left-of- ing to say that people holding these positions are ied both conservative and progressive tendencies. centre, but not in quite the right ways. therefore conservatives. But there is no inherent Kennedy acknowledges this fact, even though it The problem, really, is that these six bêtes noires connection between holding these kinds of pos- pushes pretty hard against his overall position that and their “hegemonic intellectual network” (illus- itions and being a liberal. Scottish and Quebec nationalism were “liberal” in trated by a spider-web–like diagram) are all sharply So while I think Liberal Nationalisms is very well some fundamental way. Surveying the importance critical of the Quebec that the Quiet Revolution has written and researched and overall quite convin- of the press in all this he discusses how the Glasgow built. Piotte and Couture come back to this again cing, I think there is a better analogy for Quebec’s Herald and The Scotsman contributed to the forma- and again, emphasizing positively the degree to political complexity, one that clarifies the degree tion of the Young Scots’ Society and how important which the Quiet Revolution shattered the Catholic to which “liberal @ left” is not a formula that holds was the foundation of Le Nationaliste and L’Action church’s stranglehold on the Quebec identity and everywhere: Ireland. Ireland is a place whose pol- sociale in Quebec. But explaining the importance created what is, essentially, the Quebec that we itics have long flummoxed conventional notions of the Quebec paper that currently enjoys the know and love today: a place that is vibrantly multi- of liberal and conservative, and that is highly vis- status of The Scotsman, he writes that “in contrast, cultural, more urban than rural, possessed of the ible in the political landscape of the Republic. It is Bourassa’s Le Devoir was a much more conserva- most ambitious welfare state in Canada, and now something of a cliché to say that two centre-right tive affair. It received support from the Catholic overseen by a pluralist and largely French-speaking parties dominate Irish politics: Fianna Fáil (now out Church’s leading clergy for its staunch support of elite. Who could possibly find fault with that? of power after dominating the post-independence Catholicism. It did not follow the practice of provid- The answer is something like “quite a number state) and Fine Gael (currently in a coalition gov- ing a forum for new literature, and … it adopted a of Quebec’s most innovative and rigorous writers ernment with Labour). But that hides a deeper truth high moral tone in line with the Church’s social and and artists.” To Piotte and Couture’s roll call we about the nature of each one’s support. An unflinch- moral teachings.” could, for instance, add the critic Éric Martin and ing adherence to laissez-faire economics does not That sounds bad, conjuring up the church- the filmmaker Bernard Émond. The fall 2012 issue stop Fine Gael from being thought of as the party of sponsored ailments of pre-Quiet Revolution of the Quebec intellectual magazine Liberté (not schoolteachers and urban professionals, just as the Quebec like anti-intellectualism, censorship, a bad candidate for a sister journal to LRC) had fist-of-iron–like hold that the Quebec Liberals have sexism and xenophobia. That is, of course, a very emblazoned on its cover the question “Que conser- over even the most progressive sections of anglo real part of the legacy of Quebec Catholicism, and
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 23 critics such as Piotte and Couture are right to Satire is famously supposed to be “what closes on Saturday night.” But view the passing of such domination as a clear social good. But there is a baby in that dirty it turns out satire — good satire, meaty and sharp and a little wild — more bathwater, and an anti-capitalist baby at that. Kennedy knows this, and it is a central question often lasts. LikeWaugh and Amis, Richler will be read, and in his book’s conclusion. He writes of Quebec that “key elements within the Catholic Church loved, long after his contemporaries have been forgotten. Credit, in part, sought to more directly influence the lives of their members. Specifically, they sought to fos- the many enemies his work aroused. To be truly it helps to be ter a Catholic social mission that would provide loved a bulwark against the materialism fostered by hated. laissez-faire capitalism.” Andrew Coyne, journalist Ah yes, laissez-faire capitalism. That is, of course, the Leviathan against which the students of Montreal struggled during their printemps érable, almost exactly a decade after their older siblings were throwing themselves against fences erected in Quebec City during the Summit of the Americas. Both political moments, to much of English Canada, seemed typically Québécois, either in an inspiring way or as an example of the insufferable qualities of the place. To encounter these contemporary movements in the pages of Le Devoir is to see them in a very different way indeed. There the struggle against laissez-faire capitalism, and against materialism, is literally part of le devoir, part of what has to be done, part of the assignment. That means that sometimes it is tedious and sometimes it is elucidating, but in any event it is fundamental. That sense of the need, the responsibility to deal with alternatives to laissez-faire capitalism is the most tangible remnant of the paper’s Catholic heritage. It may very well be its only such remnant, but it is a substantial one. Much the same could be said for Quebec society as a whole. In his conclusion Kennedy acknowledges that “in Scotland nationalism was often sub- ordinate to Liberalism, in Quebec liberalism was often subordinate to nationalism.” In Quebec that is as true today as it was in the period around World War One. Overall, Kennedy is a lot more comfortable with the pluralistic quality of Quebec nationalism than Piotte and Couture seem to be. A perceived hostility to pluralism on the part of their conservative nationalists comes up so often in Les Nouveaux Visages that it takes on something of a “lady doth protest too much” quality. Figures such as Éric Bédard and Marc Chevrier are doing interesting work that, really, is long overdue; the Quiet Revolution began more than 50 years ago, so it is well past time for some full-on critiques. Les Nouveaux Visages is a thorough introduction to the debates around its legacy, but even taking into account its polem- ical nature it seems a bit uncharitable. While Éric Bédard may not be the equal of George Grant, his writing (and much of the writ- ing that Piotte and Couture are attacking) shares a lot with everyone’s favourite Red Tory in terms of political standpoint. And one could say the same thing about Bédard that I tell my students about Grant: he embodies a conservatism that I do not really share, but that I can learn a lot from. One can feel the same way about histor- ians such as C.P. Champion (whose The Strange Demise of British Canada was reviewed in the November 2010 LRC) and The Dorchester Review, which he helps edit. If these books share nothing else, they might at least prompt readers to rethink the way in which not all liber- als are Liberals and not all conservatives sound like the Conservatives. And that is a moment in Read Well our shared political life that cannot come soon enough.
24 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Essay Making Politics More Welcoming More than 40 countries let non-citizen residents vote municipally. Why not Canada? Graeme Cook and Patti Tamara Lenard
his fall, Toronto City Council will debate a motion that could allow approxi- Tmately 261,000 previously ineligible people to vote in Toronto municipal elections for the first time. (This number, which is based on the 2006 census, has likely risen, but is difficult to estimate due to the loss of the mandatory long- form census, which contained data on citizenship.) These people are not Canadian citizens. They are non-citizen residents—skilled workers, refu- gees and other permanent residents—who make Toronto their home. Regardless of the outcome, they will still not be able to vote provincially or federally. They would, however, be given a voice in the selection of the political representatives whose decisions shape their daily lives. And, as a group, they would be enfranchised for the first time in Canadian history. Should they be? We think so. Yet support for municipal enfran- chisement has, until very recently, been relatively weak. Non-citizen residents make up approxi- mately 4 percent of the national population in Canada. In cities, this number is much higher: in Toronto, the most diverse city in Canada, non- non-citizens are ignored. One consequence, he He had not obtained Canadian citizenship due to citizen residents make up approximately 15 percent suggested, was that politicians and policy makers in the peculiarities of German inheritance laws and of the population. Independently of how long they Toronto let neighbourhoods with high proportions his personal economic interests in Germany. His have resided in Canada, these people do not have of non-citizen residents deteriorate. request was rejected by a majority of Mississauga the right to vote. They thus lack access to one of the Toronto, a city of 2.6 million with the motto of city councillors. One councillor went so far as to say key political mechanisms through which the fate “Diversity Our Strength,” is home to more than immigrants who had not yet obtained citizenship of their communities is decided. This failure to 380,000 non-citizens. Of these, the aforementioned should stop treating Canada as if it were a “buffet extend at least local voting rights to non-citizens is 261,000 are believed to be of voting age. Some of table” of “rights and other good things.” inconsistent with Canada’s moral commitment to these non-citizen residents live in the neighbour- From 2009 to early 2013, little progress was welcoming and including immigrants in our social hoods to which Miller was referring. Siemiatycki made on the issue. This was, in part, due to a lack of and political life. refers to these communities as “voteless neigh- political will at the provincial level, but the nascent bourhoods,” in which more than 30 percent of the movement also faced opposition from civil society. n Toronto, the movement got off to an optimistic population are non-citizens and therefore ineli- Whereas immigrants worried about devaluing the Istart. Former mayor David Miller expressed his gible to vote, such as in Don Valley Village, Henry citizenship they had worked so hard to achieve, support for the idea of extending the municipal Farm and Thorncliffe Park. native-born Canadians worried about the effects of vote to non-citizen residents in October 2006, Following Miller’s endorsement of the idea, John allowing those not adequately familiar with Canada shortly after reading a landmark paper by Myer Gerretsen, Ontario’s municipal affairs minister at to have a say in how it is governed. Siemiatycki on the topic titled The Municipal the time, agreed to look into it. Provincial agree- As the movement faltered in Toronto, a legal Franchise and Social Inclusion in Toronto: Policy ment is crucial because provincial law—the Muni- case was developing across the country. Vancouver, and Practice. Siemiatycki, a professor of political cipal Elections Act and the Education Act—ultim- a city of 603,000, is home to some 74,000 non- science at Ryerson University, argued that grant- ately determines who can vote at the municipal citizens, including lawyer Scott Bernstein. On Nov- ing the right to vote in municipal elections to level. Critically, however, Premier Dalton McGuinty ember 14, 2011, mere days before the municipal non-citizen residents would “significantly advance did not support the proposal, claiming that the right election, Bernstein filed a charter challenge, claim- democracy, civic participation, and the prospects to vote is one to which only citizens are entitled. ing that the sections of the Vancouver Charter and for more responsive public policy in Toronto.” Mil- Only months earlier, a similar case was made of the School Act that prohibit non-citizens from ler noted that without the local vote, the voices of in Mississauga. This rapidly growing municipality voting in municipal elections violated his rights to is home to about 700,000 people, approximately freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression Graeme Cook is a human rights researcher and 100,000 of whom are non-citizens. In April 2006, a as laid out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and policy analyst based in Toronto. Patti Tamara German citizen made a formal request to allow him Freedoms. Lenard is a professor of ethics at the University and other non-citizen residents the right to partici- In his notice of civil claim, Bernstein makes clear of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and pate on official municipal boards and committees. why he feels entitled to a vote in municipal Van- International Affairs. Her most recent book This man had lived in Canada for almost 30 years, couver elections: he has lived, studied and worked is Trust, Democracy, and Multicultural Challenges was educated in Canada’s public school system and in Vancouver since 2006; he pays taxes and uses (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012). considered himself Canadian in all but citizenship. public services; and he wishes to make meaningful
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 25 choices about who will represent him and make to be made: political writers since Aristotle have provides them with significant input into the con- important decisions on his behalf. The claim also long acknowledged that the quality of government ditions that shape their daily lives, without raising notes the irony that non-resident property owners improves when decision makers have access to concerns that they are able to determine the terms from other provinces can vote in cities in Ontario, more complete information about the people they of citizenship themselves. Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatch- govern. Democracies function best when as many A third objection to the enfranchisement of ewan, provided they are Canadian citizens. After voices as possible are heard. The perhaps unfortu- non-citizen residents is that allowing non-citizen filing the notice of civil claim, however, the plaintiff nate fact of politics is that elected officials often residents to vote could result in bad government. did not pursue the case further. require incentives to consider, and be responsive A charitable reading of this objection is that immi- How is it that these three efforts to extend the to, the needs of those they govern. Without the vote, grants may be unfamiliar with the Canadian pol- vote to non-citizen residents failed, until recently, however, the channels of communication remain itical landscape, and bad government will result. to gain mainstream political traction? Canada has closed, and, as David Miller warned, the deteriora- But can a lack of initiation into Canadian politics an international reputation of welcoming immi- tion of “voteless” neighbourhoods will continue. cause bad policy? There is absolutely no evidence grants. Both federal and prov- to suggest that immigrants are incial governments rely on, and somehow worse voters. And actively promote, this reputation In New Zealand, municipal and national early engagement in the political to attract temporary and perma- process could foster integration nent foreign workers. voting rights are extended to all and accelerate political initiation Furthermore, Canada prides because participation itself is itself on its tolerance and pro- immigrants who have entered the country educative. gressiveness among countries. legally after only one year of residency. A fourth objection makes the It was, after all, the first one to slippery slope argument: won’t adopt multiculturalism as offi- this open the door to allowing cial policy, affirming a commitment to diversity So far, the failure of these movements to extend non-citizens to vote in provincial and federal elec- and equality. This conflicts with the reality that the vote may suggest that the issue lacks salience tions, thus giving them the right to have a say in the Canada is not leading the pack, and that in more among Canadians. As Stein proposed, it could be laws that determine membership? We cannot deny than 40 countries around the world, non-citizens that Canadians are only willing to venture into that we support such extensions, in principle. Yet have the right to vote in at least some elections. deep multiculturalism when, for example, women’s the constitutional changes that would be neces- Half of these countries are in Europe, a trend that rights and cultural tolerance clash. Voting rights for sary to do so effectively make such an extension began over 20 years ago, to no ill effect, with the non-citizens may be deemed too low on the prior- impossible. We can afford to be more hopeful at Maastricht Treaty. New Zealand goes a step further: ity list. This lack of salience could also be due to a the municipal level, as municipalities already have municipal and national voting rights are extended perceived lack of moral urgency; in Canada, it is voting rules that differ from the provincial and fed- to all immigrants who have entered the country relatively easy to gain citizenship after only three eral levels. In fact, a number of provinces allowed legally after only one year of residency. years of permanent residency. This is in contrast to non-citizen British subjects to vote municipally But perhaps Canadians are not as welcoming as countries with significantly more stringent citizen- until the 1970s. our self-image might suggest. As Janice Stein notes, ship requirements, where non-citizens are granted although Canadians are “proudly multicultural,” some voting rights early on to compensate for the he motion before Toronto City Council this we tend to practise a “shallow” rather than “deep” long wait for citizenship. However, there are many Tfall will decide whether a population roughly multiculturalism. We are comfortable, she writes, who struggle to attain permanent residence in Can- the size of Saskatoon will be eligible to vote in future with “easy multiculturalism,” which amounts to a ada, and there are legitimate reasons for choosing municipal elections. The success of the motion will “celebration of song, dance, poetry, literature, lan- not to obtain citizenship at all. Nonetheless, these depend not only on the outcome of the council guage, and food” but “which raises no hard ques- people have a right to participate in the laws and vote, but also the receptivity of the province. This, tions at all.” Perhaps voting rights for non-citizens decisions that govern their lives. in turn, will depend on the political climate of is an issue that requires sincere debate, but which is the province and the willingness of other Ontario too “deep” for many Canadians’ consideration. here are four common objections to extending municipalities to open up their municipal elections Tthe right to vote to non-citizen residents. The to non-citizens. he phrase “non-citizen residents” encom- first is that the enfranchisement of non-citizens Despite these obstacles, Councillor Ana Bailão, Tpasses many significantly different groups. diminishes the value of citizenship. This resonates one of the principal architects of the motion, Permanent residents, refugee claimants, tempor- with the widely broadcast though largely unsub- remains optimistic. She sees extending the vote as ary foreign workers (including live-in caregivers, stantiated position of Jason Kenney, Canada’s “a way to engage people,” a way of “making people seasonal agricultural workers and others) and non- Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multi- more aware of their local governments, and more status migrants all face different challenges with culturalism, through a suite of legislation that aims involved.” This motion, she says, is “the result of regard to adjusting to life in Canada. Nevertheless, to “protect” citizenship. The act of voting is com- having a council that is more diverse.” And she sees each of these groups is entitled to the right to vote monly thought to be the sine qua non of democratic a provincial political climate receptive to policies for at least three reasons. First, like citizens, the lives politics. It is reserved for citizens because only and practices that foster the inclusion and integra- of non-citizen residents are affected by the deci- members of a state are entitled to define the laws tion of newcomers. According to Bailão, whereas sions that political authorities make: decisions that govern a state. And yet conceptions of who is “a few years ago, Toronto was the home for new about how transit money is used, who sits on school entitled to full citizenship—with the vote—have immigrants, not anymore.” There are “more and boards and how the urban landscape is shaped are historically expanded over time, to include citizens more new immigrants that go to Mississauga, that all made at the municipal level. who do not own property, women, citizens of col- go to Brampton.” Thus, Councillor Bailão sees these Second, in many cases, non-citizen residents our, and so on. Moreover, the emphasis on citizen- other municipalities in Ontario supporting Toronto contribute in significant ways to the community ship as a precondition for voting is in tension with on this issue. in which they reside: most significantly through another important principle of democratic justice: Policy changes of this magnitude take time. the property taxes they pay as homeowners or that the people whose lives are governed by laws Provincial laws must be changed and voter lists tenants. Yet, without a formal voice in the selec- should have a say in those laws. It is important to compiled. For this reason, it is highly unlikely that tion of the political representatives who decide note that there are other important distinctions, non-citizen residents of Toronto will be eligible to how their tax dollars are spent, they are victims besides the right to vote, between non-citizens and vote by October 27, 2014. With any luck, the enfran- of taxation without representation. Moreover, citizens, such as the right to possess a Canadian chisement of non-citizen residents will be debated this reasoning carries increasing weight in states, passport and the right to not be deported. during next year’s election. And it will be a debate like Canada, where more and more temporary Another common objection is that granting the with ramifications far beyond Toronto’s city lim- labour migrants are being admitted every year. As vote to non-citizens would then allow them polit- its; the enfranchisement of non-citizens is of vital these migrants are encouraged to renew temporary ical influence over the conditions under which they importance to Canada’s relationship with newcom- visas, but not to apply for permanent residence, the and other migrants are granted citizenship. But ers. In enfranchising non-citizens, Toronto would justification for restricting their access to the right decisions about membership in the nation-state be taking a step toward honouring Canada’s com- to vote diminishes. happen at the federal, not municipal, level. As a mitment to welcoming and including immigrants Third, there is a quality-of-government argument result, granting only the local vote to non-citizens in our social and political life.
26 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada New Baby, Old Vice A mother’s trip into the unglamorous viscera of alcoholism. Ibi Kaslik
unglamorous viscera of alcohol addiction: blood, Poor little beautiful rich mom, running around Drunk Mom: A Memoir vomit, milk, shit coupled with tears, cuts and Toronto shopping “for stupid stuff that [she doesn’t] Jowita Bydlowska bruises are the day-after reality of nearly every lost need” and steadily getting loaded at high-end res- Doubleday night of oblivion. Her blackouts occasionally cause taurants while napping with her son in parks. And 293 pages, sofcover her to neglect Frankie, fall off chairs and bicycles, yet we do feel sympathy for the acerbic and ironic ISBN 9780385677806 break glass, fight with the boyfriend, and find her- Jowita, who is in the throes of a new identity— self in compromising and dangerous situations. Mom!—new motherhood and old bad habits. She is For readers unfamiliar with the secrecy, denial startlingly alone and isolated, even for an alcoholic ne of the slimmest, most elliptic- and destructiveness of alcoholics, some of the of her calibre, both as a mother but also as a person. ally poignant modern short stories, material may be shocking. But those familiar with O“Escapes,” by Joy Williams, from a collec- the alcoholic-memoir genre and the predictable ecrecy is an important aspect of maladaptive tion of the same title, is about a fractious relation- behaviour it charts will recognize the ways in which Sbehaviour, from eating disorders to addic- ship between a child and her alcoholic mother. Bydlowska stretches herself, and the narrative, from tions: hiding and feeling superior that you can “get To the narrator, a young girl, the ever-pervasive highly elaborate and ritualized drinking patterns to away” with your bad behaviour is one of the only vodka fumes signify “daring and deception, hopes denial (to self and others), guilt, self-hatred, which consolation prizes. Thus it makes sense that even and little lies.” The mother smells “like the glass … eventually leads to an unsteady clarity, sobriety in these brutally honest pages there is also the always in the sink in the morning.” pervading sense that the memoirist (Note to alcoholics who drink vodka The cool yet raw efficiency of is keeping secrets from the reader. because they think it does not smell: it She protects her estranged family and does.) “Escapes” is not only about the Bydlowska’s prose, a testament to “the boyfriend,” although she writes humiliation and confusion of seeing a of both, particularly him, lovingly. parent drunk, but also about bearing her successful journalistic career, Even though attempts are made to witness to a parent’s abandonment paint the boyfriend as supportive and and self-destruction. repudiates indulgence of any kind. enduring, he appears as emotionally I mention the vodka fumes, the void and self-centred as the narrator. deception and the parent-child relationship in and healing. That is not to say this is a typical self- For example, as her drinking escalates we learn “Escapes” because I imagine that Jowita Bydlow- indulgent addiction memoir, as Bydlowska eschews that the boyfriend is “overwhelmed” by caring for ska’s Drunk Mom: A Memoir is roughly the same the touchy-feely language of recovery. For example, his new son—poor guy. In a final chapter titled story told from the mother’s point of view. At one during rehab, the author attends meetings titled “Archeology” (“This is the archeological dig of my point during the Williams story, the mother finds “grief and loss,” “wellness and spirit,” “feelings addiction”), Bydlowska lyrically litanizes the pos- herself onstage in a magic show, begging the and triggers” and “crap like that,” as she says. She sible reasons she is an alcoholic, which extend from magician to saw her in half. Similarly, Bydlowska is without patience for labels such as “disease” to emigrating from Poland as a teen to perfectionist metaphorically emerges, after the birth of her son, describe alcoholism and does not accept excuses Eastern European parents to being raped. In this Frankie, cut in half, emotionally, physically—with that her drinking problem may be, in part, due to chapter, she also includes more pertinent and an unruly Caesarean scar for proof. Bydlowska post-traumatic stress disorder. “We’re a walking recent traumas: namely, the boyfriend’s indiscre- picks up her alcoholism where she left off three fucking trauma, all of us. Isn’t the human condi- tion during one of her own lost weekends. We are years prior to Frankie’s birth, indulging in manic tion a post-traumatic stress disorder?” Bydlowska also informed, in a cursory sort of way, that her and marathon secret drinking sessions that involve challenges one of her many counsellors, who are mother did not want her to have a baby “because it tucking the incriminating empty bottles, mostly each begrudged not only the memoirist’s interior was wrong to have it with this man in this country, vodka, into her diaper bag or purse, and strategic- thoughts, but her respect as well. it was the wrong baby.” A few lines later she recants ally getting rid of them all over the city so “the At the same time, Bydlowska labels herself sick, this quietly cryptic statement about her mother, boyfriend,” as she calls him throughout, will not “a poor, stupid drunk slut, that’s all,” when the with a line about how mother did not “quite” poi- discover her passionate return to booze. boyfriend, after months of her not-so-secret drink- son her. Yet, she admits, she is still filled with rage. As she tries to balance the illusion of respon- ing sprees, decides it is time for her to leave. Dur- No kidding. Except for occasional visits from her sible motherhood with her internal and endless ing a stint in rehab, one of her flakey counsellors sister, the emotional and practical absence of both “wanting” for alcohol, Bydlowska times her drink- labels Bydlowska “dissociative,” which is probably supportive partner and family would make anyone ing so she can breastfeed only when she is not the most accurate designation, given the author’s a) rabid and poison-filled, and b) reach for a bottle producing “poison” and later sobers up only for AA remarkable absence of any emotion, except for of vodka to keep herself company. meetings. The emphasis on breastfeeding—and its morning-after-blackout fear. Although the why of her drinking is not import- concomitant associations with idealized spiritual, The cool yet raw efficiency of Bydlowska’s prose, ant to Bydlowska, without the Archeology chap- nutritional and animal maternalism—is an obvious a testament to her successful journalistic career, ter—which supplies a furious heap of reasons preoccupation throughout the book. However, repudiates indulgence of any kind. This detach- that could catapult anyone into alcoholism—this the energy and pages devoted to descriptions of ment is what makes Drunk Mom both a painful yet memoir would be curiously empty of the types of Bydlowska milking her breasts, while likely accur- paradoxically effortless read. Bydlowska has oceans causal connections most readers do like to make ate, seem a bit excessive. Early on, we understand of sympathy for her baby, her boyfriend, yet very to account for the transition to addiction. Drunk that Bydlowska is clearly intent on revealing the little for herself. As readers, we are asked to fill in Mom is a harrowing and at times difficult read, the emotional blank and care about a narrator who not because there is a baby on board the narrative, Ibi Kaslik is the author of Skinny (HarperCollins, refuses to care about herself. Albeit some readers but rather because Bydlowska’s denial, patterns 2004) and The Angel Riots (Penguin, 2008). may not care about a beautiful, successful writer and desire for inebriation are so deeply psychic- She teaches creative writing at the University of who, for little or no reason, deliberately destroys a ally entrenched we fear for the burgeoning life she Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. cozy, financially secure little family—fair enough. repeatedly attempts to destroy—her own.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 27 Banal Injustice Our courts may be fair—our administrative tribunals not so much. Bob Tarantino
The deficiencies can be described Unjust by Design: Canada’s with relative ease: most administrative Administrative Justice System tribunals are not independent, they Ron Ellis are not impartial and there are limited University of British Columbia Press mechanisms in place for ensuring 362 pages, hardcover even the basic competence of their ISBN 9780774824774 members. To far too great an extent, administrative tribunals are riddled with political patronage appointments anadians often look of unqualified members, hobbled by askance at the American uncertain funding and oversight and Chabit of electing judges: the decisions they make are buffeted Is a fair hearing on the merits truly by the winds of political expediency. possible when the judge has one A single illustration, cited by Ellis, eye on the clock counting down should suffice to demonstrate how to his or her next date with the tenuous is the connection between ballot? Would you want your case abstract notions of justice and decided by someone whose primary the current administrative justice qualification for the job was an ability system. The illustration involves the to network successfully with power Immigration and Refugee Board, for brokers? How comfortable would decades viewed as the ne plus ultra you be having life-altering decisions of patronage-ridden, structurally about your rights made by someone deficient and politically motivated who knows that their continued administrative justice. In 2009, the employment is contingent on their Conservative federal immigration decision being deemed acceptable by minister publicly mused that refugee prospective campaign financiers? But as Ron Ellis stand a much higher chance of finding their rights claims made by members of the Roma community comprehensively demonstrates in Unjust by Design: being adjudicated by one of the aforementioned were being too enthusiastically approved by the Canada’s Administrative Justice System, for many bodies or their dozens of cousins. Tribunals in Immigration and Refugee Board; importantly adjudicative decisions in Canada, the situation is Ontario are estimated to render more than one for this story, the members of that board enjoy even worse than that, lacking even the patina of million decisions a year, and in 2010 alone just the reappointment to their position at the whim of the democratic accountability offered by elections. Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board minister. Before the minister made his comments, Before readers cock a dubious eyebrow, some dealt with more than 250,000 applications. To the the success rate of application appeals to the board background is in order. The titular “administrative extent that administrative justice in Canada remains was running around 97 percent; within a year justice system” is the welter of court-like an uncertain or little known topic, it is because it is of making the comments, the success rate had “administrative tribunals” responsible for making so diffuse and omnipresent that we generally fail to evidently dropped to less than 0.1 percent. That decisions about a bewildering array of rights and think of it as a stand-alone system, failing, to lapse stunning reversal of fortune indicates that whatever disputes in this country. Familiar examples include into cliché, to see the forest for the trees. bases the board was using to make its decisions, adjudicative bodies dealing with human rights As Unjust by Design documents, however, once substantive merit was not foremost among them. complaints, injured workers’ compensation matters, the existence of the system is appreciated, we can And as Ellis makes clear, such a result is not a disability pensions, residential landlord and see that it suffers from debilitating deficiencies function of the political stripe of the current federal tenant disputes, parole eligibility and refugee that threaten to delegitimize the decisions made government, but is endemic to the system itself: and immigration determinations. Canadians live by many administrative tribunals. Te critique 20 years earlier, Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government their lives subject to the jurisdiction of a plethora of offered by Ellis (who previously served as chair viewed Mulroney-government appointees to the these rights-adjudicating bodies. and CEO of the Ontario Workers’ Compensation board as too obstructionist with refugee claims, and They constitute, in Ellis’s phrase, “an uncertain Appeals Tribunal and is currently a faculty simply replaced them with its own set of patronage topography”—but that uncertainty is not because member with Osgoode Hall’s graduate program) appointments more inclined to deliver politically they function surreptitiously or on the margins of is fundamentally about the rule of law in Canada simpatico approvals of refugee claims. the daily lives of Canadians. Administrative tribunals and how a significant component of the Canadian Ellis uses language that, particularly when are critical elements of the judicial architecture in justice system fails to comply with it. In short, coming from an esteemed lawyer, abuts on the this country. While most Canadians will never see the administrative justice system suffers from apocalyptic. The administrative justice system is, in the inside of a real courtroom, either as a defendant congenital failures to comply with basic elements of his words, “shameful,” a “train wreck,” a “national in a criminal trial or as a party to civil litigation, they the rule of law such as independence, impartiality scandal,” a system that “ignores the rule of law” and competence, and those failures threaten to and is “at a minimum, careless of competence.” Bob Tarantino is a Toronto-based lawyer and destabilize the legitimacy of the critical work done Although his tone may be more anxious than writer. by these bodies. others writing on the topic, Ellis is no Cassandra
28 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada decrying a problem only he can discern. Across justice system: the competence of adjudicators. inevitable that the book reads as being written for the country, dozens of reports and studies have Because patronage appointments prioritize a specialized legal academic audience. Even so, its been commissioned and written over the last partisan loyalty, actual qualifications for the job origins in the author’s graduate work at Osgoode few decades, each vigorously advocating for are sometimes a secondary concern. This results Hall Law School do not excuse structural oddities fundamental reform of Canada’s administrative in occasional public flare-ups: in 2003 Peter such as having basic terminology not explained justice system. But as with so many virtuous Showler, the outgoing chair of the Immigration and until nearly a third of the way through the book or proposals that do not enjoy front-page attention Refugee Board, decried the “devastating blight” having the book’s more arresting anecdotes (such and offer no obvious electoral upside, they have of patronage on the workings of the board, which as those cited in this essay) buried amidst lengthy been shelved by governments content to continue resulted in “mediocrity and incompetence” among jurisprudential discursions. Unfortunately, the availing themselves of a convenient vehicle for their its members. In 1990, the former chair of the author’s “Invitation to Discussion,” which opens patronage needs. National Parole Board spoke of how “dangerously Unjust by Design (pointing readers to his website At the heart of the problems set out in inexperienced appointees have been foisted upon” administrativejusticereform.ca), may be stymied Unjust by Design is the fragility of the job the board by successive federal governments. by a book whose impact is likely only slowly to security enjoyed by administrative tribunal Efforts to reform the most egregious failings ripple outward from the insular audience at which members. A comparison with judges is instructive: appear to be mostly illusory: ministers retain final it is aimed. The issues addressed by Ellis would members of the Canadian judiciary be well served by a more populist are appointed for life, with removal Most administrative tribunals are not approach. from the bench happening only in While it may seem churlish to the rarest circumstances and for the independent, they are not impartial critique a book on a complex topic most egregious transgressions; judges for being too dense for its own good, have no fear that their continued and there are limited mechanisms one substantive failing of the book employment is subject to their is of even deeper concern because it rendering a decision in a particular in place for ensuring even the basic reveals an ambiguity in Ellis’s project case which the government of the day of reform. The failure relates to the deems favourable. Administrative competence of their members. province of Quebec. Ellis expressly tribunal members, by contrast, are excludes Quebec from his analysis, subject to what Ellis terms “idiosyncratic removal.” decision-making authority over appointments, apart from occasional comparative glances, They are appointed to short, fixed terms (usually vacancies are rarely advertised, qualifications are because of what he describes as Quebec’s “radical of three to five years’ duration), and governments so broadly worded as to permit virtually anyone and progressive reform” of its administrative law routinely exercise their reappointment power to qualify and governments generally structure system in the mid 1990s. The sporadic references in a capricious, ideologically motivated fashion, the appointments system such that they have the to Quebec’s current administrative law architecture with incoming governments clearing the decks of discretion to appoint from a pool of qualified indicate that it has moved to address many, if appointees remaining from the prior government candidates (some of whom will inevitably have the not most, of the concerns that Ellis has about or removing those who deliver unpopular decisions requisite partisan credentials) rather than being administrative tribunals in the rest of the country. (or, apparently just as often, refusing to reappoint forced to appoint the most qualified candidate. Unfortunately, we are provided only partial adjudicators for no discernible reason whatsoever). Even recent reform efforts (such as 2009 legislation indications, and not a comprehensive explanation, Because governments are not required to provide passed by the McGuinty government in Ontario) of what Quebec has accomplished in reforming any reasons for a failure to reappoint, speculation end up offering incremental merit-based reforms its administrative law system. We are offered not abounds as to why qualified individuals were let in one area only to tighten governmental control even a hint of how it came to be that the Quebec go. Was Judy Parrack not reappointed to the British in another. government managed to recognize and act upon Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, despite the We can glimpse, then, how it is that our the rule of law crisis described by Ellis, which the recommendation of the tribunal’s chair, because administrative justice system is structurally rest of the country seems content to ignore. For she had rendered a decision in a case involving incompatible with the delivery of justice, understood a book as stridently reform oriented as Unjust McDonald’s Restaurants that had caught the eye as impartial and independent decision making. by Design, that seems a curious and frustrating of Ezra Levant and became the subject of mocking A lack of job security is coupled with rampant omission. op-eds? Was Paul Kennedy not reappointed as chair patronage leading to a deficiency of competence. The issues addressed in Unjust by Design of the RCMP Complaints Commission because he Budgetary control resides with the political masters are of critical, although largely unappreciated, oversaw a report critical of the conduct of RCMP of administrative tribunals, a subservience that is importance. Ron Ellis faced a significant challenge officers in the Robert Dziekanski fiasco? The lack married to a lack of administrative control over of persuasion: the tediousness of administrative of a transparent and objectively administered their own operations. These all conspire to mean law is dangerous because it can mask significant reappointment process means that adjudicators that many administrative tribunals in Canada are injustice. The matters dealt with by administrative toil in an atmosphere of uncertainty and second deficient to such an extent that the quality of justice tribunals are rarely of the type that elicit much guessing. they deliver is not just disturbingly suspect but, as concern from those not directly involved. They are In addition to brittle job security, administrative Ellis contends, unconstitutionally so. the quotidian and the banal: disputes over rent tribunals are tainted by rampant political Unjust by Design does not merely catalogue and damage to a rented apartment; a few hundred patronage. Patronage consists of two related but the failures of Canada’s administrative justice dollars a month in disputed disability payments separate activities, in both cases subordinating system, it offers a grand plan for reform. Although from the government; the compensation to which issues of qualification and competence: “reward” the details of that plan are too extensive to neatly a victim of crime is entitled; a workplace injury appointments for friends of the government and summarize, suffice it to say they aim to address that renders someone unemployable. But precisely “motive” appointments, whereby ideologically the issues of impartiality, independence and because these are the workaday issues of our acceptable candidates are given positions in the competence by functionally creating a new class of society, it is critical that they not be ignored and hopes that they will exercise their powers in a professional adjudicators who would be subject to left subject to a decision-making system so bereft of manner that furthers the government’s goals. oversight by a new governing council, government basic elements consistent with the rule of law that While reward patronage is becoming less common ministry and professional school. In this regard, their validity is rendered questionable. (although certainly it has not been eliminated), Ellis’s enthusiasm and obvious concern for the I am left hoping that Ellis will have the energy motive patronage remains a problem. Because topic perhaps race ahead of practical politics. The to pen or contribute to another book, consisting of governments in many cases enjoy unfettered proposals are ambitious almost to the point of much the same material as is found in Unjust By power to remove or reappoint adjudicators at the utopianism—although if you take seriously the Design, but presented in a manner accessible to lay end of their terms, the incentives remain strong for deficiencies of the system as Ellis has described readers and capable of concretizing their concerns adjudicators, even those who were not appointed them, it is critical that at least some of the proposals and firing their sense of aggrievement. The delivery because of their ideological compatibility with the be implemented. of justice is not an accounting process, but small government of the day, to skew their decisions so as Although Unjust by Design is a book worthy of injustices have a tendency to accumulate and can to please their political overlords. devoted attention, it is not without its faults, one eventually have systemic consequences. It is better The persistence of patronage speaks to another editorial, one of significant substantive importance. to heed the message of Unjust by Design sooner of the primary deficiencies of the administrative As to the first, given the subject it is perhaps than later.
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 29 Essay Cultural Nationalism 3.0 The head of The Writers’ Union of Canada continues the debate on CanLit in the schools (and in our lives). John Degen
ichael LaPointe’s essay on CanLit tinged with the same kind of rah-rah chauvinism spends half her time running a cross-border short in the May LRC challenges Canadians that makes one vaguely uncomfortable in a crowd fiction website (also called Joyland). Mto measure both our awareness of our of sports fans belting out the national anthem as Is Schultz a Canadian writer? Of course. And national literature and our level of contentment though it were some sort of battle cry. let’s be honest about the crucial policy scaffold with the very idea of a national literature. LaPointe At the risk of sounding too typically Canadian, that helped Schultz become a Canadian writer. Not continues an ongoing conversation that almost I would have to say no, we have not missed our only is she a deserving recipient of public funding certainly does not happen in most of the rest of moment … and yes, we have. for her writing, but the publishing lists that sup- the English-speaking world. Yet it is a conversa- Sorry. ported her development within Canada (at House tion I have been having in one form or another for Without question, the current status of of Anansi and ECW Press) exist, in part, because my 20-some years in the business of of the funding mechanisms that grew writing and publishing in Canada, At the risk of sounding too typically out of our great cultural flourishing and one I am increasingly anxious to 50 years ago. As obviously talented leave behind. Canadian, I would have to say no, we and determined an artist as she is, It is a truism that an actual writer Schultz herself would likely admit the writes, while a wannabe writer talks have not missed our moment … and road from Wallaceburg, Ontario, to about writing. Every writer knows the Fifth Avenue offices of St. Martin’s that “other” writer who talks a great yes, we have. Sorry. Press would have been a lot harder to game, endlessly describing his or her travel without a little bit of CanCon workspace or scheduling habits, detailing the many Canadian-authored books on Canadian curricu- gas in the tank. plans and intentions for all the writing that is going lum lists and in Canadian school libraries is, at first Would an American reader of The Blondes (and to be accomplished. I have a sad suspicion it works glance, disturbing. Jean Baird’s invaluable work in thanks in part to Schultz’s Brooklyn profile there the same way at a national level. Countries with a British Columbia notwithstanding, our country’s will be many American readers of The Blondes) thriving national literature just keep their heads educational policy makers seem unconvinced either know or care about her nationality? Doubt- down and go about the business of chucking more about putting Canadian books in front of our own ful. They would assume she is American. Schultz’s books on the national pile, while we Canadians, so daughters and sons. I have two children in the K-12 service to Project Bookmark proves she is a good, anxious to be accepted by our international peers, school system, both boys, both reluctant readers, proud Canadian, yet her success as a writer of might never get past the stage of counting our out- and we read school-assigned books as a family. international standing might suggest we are past put, and asking others to watch us while we count. As much as I enjoyed the story in Gary Paulsen’s the need for Canadian content policies. Certainly, I do not disagree with much of what LaPointe has Hatchet—a boy lost in the wilderness is forced to forcing Canadian school kids to read The Blondes to say about the state of the country’s literary scene. fend for himself—it is hard for me to imagine the (the story of an apocalyptic plague of light-haired My response instead is to sigh with such audible educational logic of assigning Paulsen’s American murderesses in an American city) might seem an impatience that my wife thinks I have lost something tale over Farley Mowat’s Lost in the Barrens, a simi- odd exercise in nationalism. On the other hand, important in my office—my wife, a respected Amer- lar (and better) story, written by a Canadian about why wouldn’t Canadian students want to read that ican scholar and a lover of all literatures, who sym- Canadians in Canada. book on their own time, given the important infor- pathizes with the idea of defining a people through On the other hand, ask a group of Canadian mation that it actually exists as part of their national culture, but at the same time wonders why it is we writers (as I have recently done, on Facebook) how literature? Canadians feel the need to talk so much about doing important it is to them as literary professionals to Knowledge is key in any discussion about so instead of just getting on with the project. have the qualifier “Canadian” in front of the word cultural nationalism. Recently BookNet Canada, LaPointe surveyed the somewhat depressing “writer” and you get a mixed bag of responses. a non-profit that gathers and analyzes Canadian 40(ish)-year history of CanLit’s impact in Canadian Most, it seems, would prefer to be known as a book sales data, released a study called Canadians classrooms, and seems to conclude that despite “good” writer before being defined by their nation- Reading Canadians showing rather conclusively a lot of well-meaning effort on the part of organ- ality. And why not? In an age when a writer can that Canadian book consumers want to read Can- izations (like the one for which I work, The Writers’ find readers as easily in Bangalore as in Brantford, adian books. Unfortunately, the study also showed Union of Canada) we as a country have somehow an insistence on Canadianness can seem a bit pre- that Canadian book buyers often have no idea failed to create a body of work that will tell a com- cious and provincial. whether a book is Canadian or not. As BookNet pelling national story to our school kids. (Canadian) novelist Emily Schultz might just writes on its blog, “what seems to be missing isn’t “The abiding paucity of Canadian authors in be the epitome of our literature’s identity crisis. an interest or a desire to consume Canadian lit- the classroom,” he writes, “belies a nation-building Recently, in a funny public service announce- erature, it’s knowledge and awareness of who our project that failed to endure. Canada has missed its ment for Miranda Hill’s very patriotic Project homegrown talent are and where to find them.” national moment.” Bookmark (a charitable effort to place markers If Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes does not Have we really missed our national moment? To in Canadian locales noted for their appearance in appear on reading lists in high schools across the say we have seems a pathetic admission, and one Canadian books), Schultz noted that American country, then there is something very wrong indeed author Joyce Carol Oates lived in Windsor, Ontario, with how our education system approaches Can- John Degen is a novelist and poet. His day job is for eight years “but left without setting any novels adian writing. Where it is taught, I would hope to executive director of The Writers’ Union of Canada. there.” Schultz’s early novel, Joyland, is set in rust- see a side lesson in word-evolution featuring Hill’s His novel, The Uninvited Guest (Nightwood belt Ontario. Her most recent novel, The Blondes, own writing on the controversy around his book’s Editions, 2006), was a finalist for the 2006 Amazon. has some Ontario in it, but the book largely takes title—“the word ‘Negro’ resonates differently in ca First Novel Award. place in New York City, which is also where Schultz Canada. If you use it in Toronto or Montreal, you are
30 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada probably just indicating publicly that you are out of in my grants budget travelling north. Plenty of it touch with how people speak these days. But if you stuck to Toronto (surprise), and plenty of it went use it in Brooklyn or Boston, you are asking to have southwest and east in the province, but a funding your nose broken.” map of the province showed hardly any writers What makes Hill’s book Canadian? Is it because at all living north of Parry Sound. From my own $29.99 paper Hill lives in Hamilton and pays Canadian taxes? personal experience as a travelling writer, I knew 258 pages Sure, part of that beautifully crafted novel takes that to be a ridiculous outcome. Of course, writers b/w illus. 978-1-55458-939-5 place in Canada, but the action is actually centred live in Ontario’s north—excellent writers live in the Life Writing series elsewhere (many elsewheres, in fact) and involves north, and they have important stories to tell. The a larger story in world history. Hill was born in problem was they either did not know the grant Canada, but surely much of his worldview was programs existed or they hadn’t the confidence to shaped by his expat-American parents, and this is apply. The OAC let me carve out a bit of my budget demonstrated, I think, in the easy slide across liter- to create the Northern Writers’ Works in Progress ary borders. It is entirely possible, I imagine, that program, and to trumpet its existence in outreach Boom! Manufacturing Memoir for Someone Knows My Name (The Book of Negroes’ visits to northern communities. Applications from the Popular Market American title) appears on many, many reading Ontario’s north grew by a factor of 25. Excellent new Julie Rak lists across the United States as part of a lesson books by Northern Ontario writers are on the lists “Here is the first backstory of the memoir boom in plan on American history. As with Schultz’s The of Canadian publishers right now as a direct result. America: who reads it, writes it, publishes it, and sells it, Blondes, the idea that Someone Knows My Name is Certainly organizations such as The Writers’ and why it is such a necessary part of the way we live a Canadian book might rightly seem absurd to the Union of Canada will continue to advocate for now.” – Gillian Whitlock, author of Soft Weapons: majority of the people who have actually read it. So an official national policy to get the works of its Autobiography in Transit where does that leave us? members onto school lists. To many, this advocacy As I write this essay, I am also busily reading will be dismissed as self-interest. Okay, I am self- through the five books on the Amazon.ca First interested, but not just because I am a Canadian Novel Award shortlist (I am on the award jury). Of writer. I want my kids to read Malarky and The the five, really only one of them contains a fictional Blondes (maybe when they are a bit older—Can- world that is recognizably Canadian in an every- Lit is a bit spicy these days, innit?). I sure as hell $39.99 paper 230 pages day sense. Y, by Marjorie Celona, is the story of a want them to read The Book of Negroes, and if it 978-1-55458-888-6 child abandoned at the front door of the YMCA in takes policy to encourage schools to get rid of their Victoria, British Columbia. The entire action takes musty, decades-old copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, place in B.C. and several passages seem very inten- then bring on the policy.1 If there is only room or tionally to take the reader on a tour of the land- and budget for one of those two books in a Canadian city-scapes of that province. It is utterly Canadian. classroom, I see no earthly reason it should not be Celona lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. the book written and published by Canadians. Let’s look quickly at the others: Obviously, this kind of positive action could Lying Down in the Ever-Falling Snow: Ru, by Kim Thúy, is set in Montreal, but most begin with one committed teacher or department Canadian Health Professionals’ of the action takes place in Vietnam, South Asian head, one determined parent, or one demanding Experience of Compassion Fatigue refugee camps and the stinking, disease-filled and interested student in one school insisting on a Wendy Austin, E. Sharon Brintnell, hold of a boat in the middle of the ocean. People Canadian story. LaPointe’s essay suggests reasons Erika Goble, Leon Kagan, Linda Kreitzer, Park, by Pasha Malla, builds a completely fic- why that has not happened. Overburdened and Denise J. Larsen, and Brendan Leier tional world that sort of looks a bit like Toronto, underfunded educators are turning away from full Compassion fatigue occurs when health professionals although it might just as well be Portland, Oregon. texts, and demanding steeply discounted or even become “too tired to care.” This insiders’ perspective The Rest Is Silence, by Scott Fotheringham, has a free content to make do with their diminished on compassion fatigue is framed with the metaphor of very stereotypically Canadian focus on the natural budgets. This trend leads us inevitably to the cur- “lying down in the snow.” If suffering is imagined as world, and Nova Scotian woods are the main set- rent, and vulgar, educational turf war, which sees ever-falling snow, then the need for resources for safe ting, but the protagonist retreats to those woods financially constrained teachers and overcharged journeying in “winter country” becomes apparent. from Manhattan, and the environmental collapse students pitted against impoverished writers over that so preoccupies the narrative is global. Finally, a shrinking pool of copyright royalties. Even as The Malarky, by Anakana Schofield—a brilliant exercise Writers’ Union of Canada fights rear-guard legal in voice—takes place entirely in Ireland, references skirmishes for writers’ educational royalties, we briefly both the Middle East and the United States, continue to administer programs to subsidize visits and mentions Canada exactly never. by Canadian writers to Canadian classrooms—pro- $39.99 Paper 404 pages Is our cultural nationalism over, as LaPointe grams that only get more popular every year. It is a 18 tables, 46 figures, 3 maps suggests? No, but it sure does not look like the kind baffling position in which we find ourselves—pay- 978-1-55458-837-4 of cultural nationalism that produced Dennis Lee’s ing authors to visit the very schools that are buying profoundly beautiful and important Civil Elegies, fewer books while trying to copy more and more a work of such deliberate Canadianness that its writing for free. How long can that keep going? recent re-release still somehow demands Toronto’s If a country truly values both its cultural output iconic City Hall as a cover image. Malarky, a book and its education system, it needs to pay for both about Ireland, published by a relatively small in such a way that those two important sectors From Meteorite Impact to Ontario company called Biblioasis (which is sup- can afford to support each other. Recently, Aus- ported by both the Canada Council for the Arts and tralia announced its new National Cultural Policy Constellation City: A Historical the Ontario Arts Council), was the eventual winner including a $75 million increase in arts funding, Geography of Greater Sudbury of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, sponsored by and this comes at a time when their government is Oiva W. Saarinen the Canadian arm of a giant American online book- also working to improve its educational funding so This historical geography of the City of Greater Sudbury seller. Welcome to Cultural Nationalism 3.0. that, just maybe, their schools can afford to pay for encompasses volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts, We should accept that policy solutions might the books their authors write. And you can be sure the ebb and flow of continental glaciers, Aboriginal never be elegant, and rarely will they actually solve that Australian students read their own national occupancy, exploration and mapping by Europeans, exploitation by fur traders and Canadian lumbermen anything fully. Art does not exist in a world of literature. Canada’s vital national literature awaits a and American entrepreneurs, the rise of global mining solved problems. But, however inelegantly, smart similar policy design. giants, unionism, pollution and re-greening, and the policy can and does work to encourage good out- creation of a unique constellation city of 160,000. Note comes. Can we all agree that Canadian kids reading WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS 1 To Kill a Mockingbird is a beautiful book, but tell me that Canadian books is a good outcome? Available from your favourite bookseller or Harper Lee can teach Canadian kids about black his- call 1-800-565-9523 (UTP Distribution) When I ran the Literature Office at the Ontario tory—or about writing—better than Lawrence Hill. I don’t www.wlupress.wlu.ca Arts Council, I noticed very little of the money believe it. facebook.com/wlupress | twitter.com/wlupress
June 2013 reviewcanada.ca 31 Letters and Responses
Re: “Demand Better,” by Michael Re: “The Overlooked Majority,” by Tim cost garment manufacturing plants.” Matthews Cleland (May 2013) Cook (May 2013) laments Podur’s failure to produce “the smoking ichael Cleland’s essay is a refreshing, n recent years, Tim Cook has vividly brought gun, such as a government document … outlining Mthoughtful perspective on the conundrum Ito life the heartbreak and heroism of Canada’s a plan to form an empire on the back of Haiti’s that lies at the heart of our energy debates. Great War history, so we take seriously the two people.” Affordable energy service on demand is what we important criticisms of our book, A Sisterhood of In his response to the review, Podur himself want; the environmental consequences, we don’t. Suffering and Service: Women and Girls of Canada notes that “what has been done to Haiti was done The finger wagging and acrimony that often and Newfoundland During the First World War, right in the open. Who needs secret documents paralyzes planning hearings for power plants, that he raises in the course of his review. when the public record shows…?” pipelines or transmission corridors is rooted in First, Cook notes the apparent contradiction As an example of what the public record unease over the role of supply. The “angels”— between Joan Sangster’s argument that shows, we might look at the salient reconstruction distributed energy, solar, wind, bioenergy and women’s wartime labour (paid or unpaid) did achievement since the Haiti earthquake in 2010, geothermal—when stacked up against the not significantly advance women’s rights in namely, the financing, construction and opening “demons” such as coal, oil, gas, big hydro and Canada and the belief expressed by the women of Caracol Industrial Park in northern Haiti, nuclear, make for good theatre but no light. interviewed in And We Knew How To Dance: showcased at an inauguration ceremony by Hillary Cleland wisely stays clear of the ideological fault Women in World War I that their wartime and Bill Clinton and touted by Haiti’s President lines that shape the tenor of such public discourse. experiences marked a clear turning point for Michel Martelly as “a model of international His focus, instead, on demand is an elegant twist them as women. This contradiction prompted us cooperation and a symbol of Haiti moving but not without its limitations and pitfalls. to engage explicitly with the question of whether forward.” He introduces the benefits of energy efficiency the First World War transformed women’s rights Haiti commentator Roger Annis is not and chastises Canadians for being “laggards” in or expectations. Each author was encouraged to convinced. He notes that “the park’s anchor tenant how we manage energy use. The energy intensity engage with this question, but they chose whether is South Korean apparel giant Sae-A Trading Co. ratio of different countries is the metric of this to emphasize it in their chapter. We (the editors) Ltd … [Another] tenant from the neighbouring beauty contest that points to Canada’s poor then attempted to assess their collective findings. Dominican Republic [is] … D’Clase Apparel, which performance. The metric reveals what is suggestive We argue that “it is difficult to avoid concluding has investments in clothing and footwear”; he but hides several crucial features. I remain that the Great War did not usher in a sweeping points out that the project’s direct lure for investors unconvinced; the whole story is a lot more transformation of prevailing gender norms”—in is “its duty-free status and a 15-year tax holiday” complicated. other words, in terms of women overall we agree and quotes sociologist Alex Dupuy, who claims The mantra of energy efficiency has become with Sangster—but, as is suggested by the women “the only reason those industries come to Haiti is so integral a part of the lexicon of energy policy interviewed for the film, we also believe that “on because the country has the lowest wages in the prescriptions that exhortations to improve a personal level, the transformative power of region.” efficiency are the easiest political proposition to the Great War was everywhere evident.” By not I agree with Justin Podur: we don’t need a endorse. In the public mind, energy efficiency sits tying our authors too closely to the question of smoking gun. at the pinnacle of approval ratings and there is no their support for Sangster’s thesis, we hoped to William Hayes apparent downside. Notwithstanding, we need spark other conversations about female wartime Port Hope, Ontario to pay close attention to the historical evidence experience and early 20th-century society. The that suggests that higher efficiency of energy relationship between wartime and equality is The LRC welcomes letters—and more are avail- conversions leads, over time, to higher rather than certainly an important question, but it is not the able on our website at
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Women’s Work, Women’s Art Nineteenth-Century Northern Athapaskan Clothing Judy Thompson Published with the Canadian Museum of Civilization Full colour throughout The Writing Life Journals, 1975–2005 “There is nothing remotely like this George Fetherling To the Spring, by Night authoritative and definitive work.” Edited by Brian Busby Seyhmus Dagtekin Laura Peters, University of Oxford Translated by Donald Winkler “... a witty and engaging literary journal.” David Macfarlane, Toronto Star “… a remarkable feat of storytelling that tempts the reader to dig further into the mysteries of the story and seek out more information about the history that informs it.” Quill & Quire
Bilingual Being My Life as a Hyphen Kathleen Saint-Onge The Video Art of Sylvia Safdie “This is a magnificent piece of work – Eric Lewis original, courageous, fiercely honest, Passage to Promise Land Full colour throughout often searingly painful, enlightening, Voices of Chinese Immigrant and inspiring.” Women to Canada The complete video oeuvre of a pioneering Moira Farr, author of After Daniel: Vivienne Poy Canadian artist. A Suicide Survivor’s Tale How the Chinese community became an indispensable part of multicultural Canada.
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