Canlit's Colonial Habit
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A riveting history of tax rage (seriously) PAGE 3 $6.50 Vol. 25, No. 8 November 2017 STEPHEN MARCHE CanLit’s colonial habit Literature in the age of Reconciliation and ‘peak’ diversity PLUS carly lewis What #MeToo doesn’t say about sexual assault john semley Modern ghost stories joshua nichols Dada knows best christine sismondo The Cheezie’s long, patriotic march Publications Mail Agreement #40032362. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to LRC, Circulation Dept., PO Box 8, Station K, Toronto, ON M4P 2G1 New from University of Toronto Press The Blueprint Conservative Parties and their Impact on Canadian Politics edited by J.P. Lewis and Joanna Everitt Canada’s Odyssey The Blueprint explores the recent A Country Based on Incomplete history of the Conservative Party of Conquests Canada, covering the pre-merger period by Peter H. Russell (1993–2003) and both the minority and majority governments under Prime In Canada’s Odyssey, renowned scholar Minister Stephen Harper. Peter H. Russell provides an expansive, accessible account of Canadian history from the pre-Confederation period to the present day. Responding to Human Trafficking Dispossession, Colonial Violence, and The Constitution in a Resistance among Indigenous and Racialized Hall of Mirrors Women Canada at 150 by Julie Kaye by David E. Smith Responding to Human Trafficking examines the issue of human trafficking In this book, David E. Smith analyzes in Canada and reveals how some anti- the interconnectedness of Canada’s trafficking measures create additional parliamentary institutions and argues harm for the individuals they are trying that Parliament is a unity comprised of to protect. three parts and any reforms made to one branch will, whether intended or not, affect the other branches. The Many Rooms of this House Diversity in Toronto’s Places of Worship Prairie Rising Since 1840 Indigenous Youth, Decolonization, and by Roberto Perin the Politics of Intervention This book shows the rise and decline by Jaskiran Dhillon of religion in Toronto over the past 160 years and how this once overwhelmingly In Prairie Rising, Jaskiran Dhillon Protestant city became a symbol of raises questions about the federal diversity. government’s commitment to justice and political empowerment for Indigenous Nations, particularly within the context of the everyday realities facing Indigenous youth. Also available as e-books at utorontopress.com Literary Review of Canada First Canadian Place 100 King Street West, Suite 2575 P.O. Box 35 Toronto, ON M5X 1A9 email: [email protected] reviewcanada.ca T: 416-861-8227 Vol. 25, No. 8 • November 2017 Charitable number: 848431490RR0001 To donate, visit reviewcanada.ca/support EDITOR IN CHIEF Sarmishta Subramanian [email protected] 3 Tax and the Canadian Psyche 26 Peak Twins ASSISTANT EDITOR Elsbeth Heaman in conversation with Doppelgängers, hauntings, and the rise of Bardia Sinaee Shirley Tillotson the neuro-fantastic ASSOCIATE EDITOR 5 The Empathy Paradox John Semley Beth Haddon What even a post-Weinstein conversation is 27 Untitled POETRY EDITOR Moira MacDougall missing about sexual assault Anna Yin COPY EDITOR Carly Lewis 28 Primus extra pares Patricia Treble 7 Misreckoning Power and the evolution of the PMO CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mohamed Huque, Andy Lamey, Molly Alison Strumberger and Gillian Sze Mel Cappe Peacock, Robin Roger, Judy Stoffman 8 Calling the Lobster Telephone 29 Entomology and Sun-stains PROOFREADERS What surrealism can teach social scientists Anny Tang Tyler Willis, Heather Schultz Joshua Nichols 30 A Long Way from Home DESIGN Mark Goldstein, for the last time The Kurdish struggle has the world’s attention, 12 Northern Shadows ADVERTISING/SALES briefly, but still not its sympathy CanLit in an era of Truth and Reconciliation Michael Wile and ‘peak’ diversity Ava Homa [email protected] Stephen Marche 32 Letters ADMINISTRATOR 20 What Joni Allows Erna Paris, Janet Hudgins Christian Sharpe PUBLISHER The beautifully opaque life, and work, of Joni Mark Lovewell Mitchell [email protected] Alexandra Molotkow BOARD OF DIRECTORS 22 The March of the Cheezie George Bass, Q.C., Don McCutchan, Trina McQueen, O.C., Jack Mintz, C.M., Our snacks as a history of ourselves Jaime Watt Christine Sismondo CORPORATE SECRETARY 24 Love and Lucre Vali Bennett Our odd, abiding affair with bookstores ADVISORY COUNCIL Grant Munroe Michael Adams, Alan Broadbent, C.M., Chris Ellis, Carol Hansell, Donald Macdonald, P.C., C.C., Grant Reuber, O.C., Don Rickerd, C.M., Rana Sarkar, Mark Sarner, Bernard Schiff POETRY SUBMISSIONS For guidelines, please see reviewcanada.ca. LRC design concept by Jackie Young/INK Founded in 1991 by P.A. Dutil The LRC is published 10 times a year by the Literary Review of Canada Charitable Organization. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Individuals in Canada $56/year plus GST/HST. (Libraries and institutions in Canada $68/year plus GST/HST.) Outside Canada, please pay $86/year for individuals, or $98 for libraries and institutions. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND CIRCULATION Literary Review of Canada P.O. Box 8, Station K, Toronto ON M4P 2G1 [email protected] 416-932-5081 • reviewcanada.ca ©2017 The Literary Review of Canada. All rights, including translation into other languages, are reserved Cover art and pictures throughout this issue by Axel Kinnear, unless otherwise indicated. by the publisher in Canada, the United States, Great Britain and all other countries participating in the Axel Kinnear is an award-winning illustrator, director & animator based in Toronto. He enjoys podcasts, hip-hop, Universal Copyright Convention, the International Copyright Convention and the Pan-American Copyright animals, and, most importantly, making things with clients. Convention. Nothing in this publication may be repro- duced without the written permission of the publisher. ISSN 1188-7494 The Literary Review of Canada is indexed in the From time to time, the LRC may allow carefully selected organizations to send mail to subscribers, offering products or services that may be of interest. Canadian Literary Periodicals Index and the Canadian If you do not wish to receive such correspondence, please contact our Subscriber Service department at [email protected], Index and is distributed by Disticor and Magazines Canada. or call 416-932-5081, or mail P.O. Box 8, Station K, Toronto ON M4P 2G1. We acknowledge the financial Funding Acknowledgements We acknowledge the assistance support of the Government of the OMDC Magazine Fund, of Canada through the an initiative of Ontario Media Canada Periodical Fund of Development Corporation. the Department of Canadian Heritage. an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario November 2017 reviewcanada.ca BETWEEN In 2008, if a company like Bear Stearns could have avoided global meltdown by saying, Well, French Canadians aren’t very patriotic, it would have been highly HISTORYmotivated to do so. AND MYTHRonald Wright A Hero for the Americas: The Legend of Gonzalo Guerrero by Robert Calder “The extraordinary tale of Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spaniard shipwrecked in Yucatán who went over to the Maya and helped them fight off his fellow conquistadors, has long cried out for a good retelling in English. In this lively and well written book, Robert Calder steers deftly between history and myth, following the story through to its cultural implications today.” —Ronald Wright, author of Time Among the Maya and The Gold Eaters “A fascinating, little-known piece of the history of Spanish colonization in Central America.” —Publishers Weekly Participation made possible through Creative Saskatchewan’s Market and Export Development Grant Program. 2 LRC HERO ad U of R Press.indd 1 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review2017-10-17 of Canada 2:24 PM INTERVIEW Tax and the Canadian Psyche Elsbeth Heaman in conversation with Shirley Tillotson ax rage has been in the spotlight this changed my mind about how to understand the around what was then considered a racialized view fall ever since the federal government first First World War and income tax was a book on of French Canadians. Tproposed tax reforms relating to corpora- taxation in Russia by a Canadian, Yanni Kotsonis, EH: And all the years in between as well. In tions. Before long, the debate had gone from how which shows that Russia was way behind the rest Canada tax questions are always identity questions: the changes would affect farmers and convenience- of Europe. Who is transferring money to whom? The debates store owners to whether Finance Minister Bill ST: So you got into thinking about fairness in in B.C. regarding the Chinese are very similar. The Morneau stood to benefit personally and had acted taxation in Canada because of reading about what tax resentments in Canada reflect racialized ani- appropriately, to whether the ethics commissioner was unfair in czarist Russia? mosity; you can see this in B.C., you can see this in had done her job. And that was before the Paradise EH: Yes. Czarist Russia taxed more fairly than the French-English story— Papers surfaced. Canada on the eve of the First World War! It had a ST: —and the Indigenous— It was ever thus, according a group of historians higher ratio of direct taxation—meaning that the EH: And the Indigenous. What is the relation- who specialize in the arcane business of taxation. government was trying to tax according to abil- ship between where the money is coming from and Indeed, tax and tax revolts tell a dramatic story of ity to pay, so that the wealthy pay more than the where it’s ending up? That’s why 1917 is a water- our nation often missed in other, more conven- poor. Russia was the least modern taxing country shed: because you have new ways of talking about tional narratives. For fights about taxes are, at heart, in Europe—it taxed about 20 percent directly. The wealth. less about obscure financial loopholes than about United States also had a progressive income tax by So Borden’s Conservative government is lead- how people live, and about the rich and poor of a this point.