Constructing a National Hero. Cancer Politics, Masculinity and Canadian Identity in the Terry Fox Story
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Constructing a National Hero. Cancer Politics, Masculinity and Canadian Identity in the Terry Fox Story Julie Perrone A Thesis In the Department of History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) at Concordia University Montreal Quebec, Canada November 2013 ©Julie Perrone, 2013 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Julie Perrone Entitled: Constructing a National Hero, Cancer Politics, Masculinity and Canadian Identity in the Terry Fox Story and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (History) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Dr. G. Fisher External Examiner Dr. J. Opp External to Program Dr. M. Lafrance Examiner Dr. G. Carr Examiner Dr. A. Ivaska Thesis Supervisor Dr. R. Rudin Approved by Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director Dr. T. McCormick, Graduate Program Director November 5, 2013 Dean J. Locke Dean J. Locke Faculty of Arts and Science ii ABSTRACT Constructing a National Hero. Cancer Politics, Masculinity and Canadian Identity in the Terry Fox Story Julie Perrone, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2013 Looking at the multitude of honours received by Terry Fox during his short life and bestowed upon him after he passed away, it is undeniable that the marathon runner’s historical significance is tremendous. Despite the fact that he did not achieve his objective of running across Canada, and even though his life in the public eye only spanned a little over a year, Fox’s legacy and public and official recognition are quite impressive. But although a nation’s heroes may be their most celebrated characters, they are also often the least examined, at least critically. Fox has been a tremendously influential figure in Canadian history, not just recently, and he has redefined for many the image of courage, determination, and selflessness. How did Terry Fox become a hero? How did this particular heroic narrative emerge? How has he been remembered and commemorated over the years? What messages have been disseminated or left out about him, about what he meant to Canadians and what he means to Canadian history? And, in the end, what does the memory of Terry Fox as a national hero tell us about Canada as a country? These are some of the questions that have remained unexplored until now. We examine the construction process of Terry Fox as a national hero, which is best illustrated through the framework of hegemonic or dominant discourse. We indeed find that the power to define the meaning of the Fox story belonged to a few and offered them opportunities to reshape the past in order to influence the present. Among the multiple and tightly intertwined characteristics of this process, we chose to focus on discourses constructed through the media and through commemoration, about cancer politics, masculinity and national identity. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In looking at the value of historical teaching, researchers in Canada (Jocelyn Létourneau) and in the United States (David Thelen and Roy Rosensweig) have found that young people’s interest in History is often times dependant on having had one great teacher. A teacher who told the story of a past (or a story of the past), in such a compelling way that it inspired young students to continue investigating History long after leaving the classroom. For me, this person turned out to be Dr. Ronald Rudin, my supervisor extraordinaire. He played a crucial role in getting me to this point here, the acknowledgment page of my doctoral dissertation. Dr. Rudin has instilled in me a passion for the study of Canadian public memory. To me, he is, and will remain, a model of critical inquiry, academic excellence and hilarious cynicism. This dissertation was written over a three-year period, filled with enlightening and engaging discussions. I am thus indebted to the following people who have helped me in different ways: Steven High, Barbara Lorenzkowsky, Marc Lafrance, Peter Gossage, Graham Carr, Norman Ingram, Andrew Ivaska, Eric Reiter, Carolyn Fick, Robert Rutherdale, Jay Dolmage, Jocelyn Létourneau, Christian Laville, James Opp, Paul Zanazanian, Thomas H.B. Symons, Jack Jedwab, Herbert Marx, Charles Hayter, J.J. McCullough, Anthony Wilson-Smith, Leslie Scrivener, Bill Vigars, Brendan Kelly, Fred Walker, Olivier Côté, William Hamilton, Chris Miller and Simon Jolivet. Lastly, I must thank my ‘moral support’ team. Such an endeavour includes exhilarating times but also moments of despair, where we wonder ‘Why am I doing this to myself’? My husband Rob has been stellar: he patiently listened to my regularly changing (and usually long-winded) thesis statement, and stayed positive when I was not. Given his legendary propensity for cynicism, this was no small task and I truly appreciate it. My four parents, Papa, Maman, Michèle and Luc, have always been supportive of me. And finally, I should thank my sons, Caemon Bradley and Chase Blake. Even though they are too young to know what a Ph.D. dissertation is (or, en bon français, c’que ça mange en hiver), they should know that they were instrumental in its completion. They are the most beautiful boys on the planet and have made my life, and everything I do, deeply meaningful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ........................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... vii Introduction Constructing a National Hero .......................................................1 Chapter 1 Celebrity and heroism .................................................................25 Chapter 2 Past and present in the commemoration of Terry Fox .............62 Chapter 3 The politics of cancer .................................................................100 Chapter 4 The masculine ideal in Canada .................................................132 Chapter 5 The mythical Canadian identity ...............................................167 Conclusion The memory and legacy of Terry Fox ......................................199 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................218 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1 – Thunder Bay Monument 71 Illustration 2 – B.C. Place Memorial Arch 81 Illustration 3 – New Terry Fox Monument 88 Illustration 4 – Terry Fox in the night 180 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Canadians’ opinion of whether they remember what Terry Fox has accomplished, by age 212 vii INTRODUCTION CONSTRUCTING A NATIONAL HERO “You know, they say the United States is built on a history of heroes while Canada has none to look up to. But when I looked down the street today and saw Terry, I said, ‘There’s a hero’.”1 So spoke Sheila Fox (no relation), a Canadian Cancer Society representative, after she had seen Terry Fox2, the one-legged cancer survivor who set out to run across Canada in April 1980 to collect enough money to find a cure for cancer. This comment that Fox is one of our only heroes in Canada was certainly not exceptional then; the discourse about the young runner in 1980 and 1981 was (and arguably still is today) all about how surprised Canadians were (and are) that this country could actually produce heroism and something akin to devotion to it. As Roy MacGregor mused in 1989, “Canadians aren’t very comfortable with heroes. They’re more used to cutting down than building up, more expectant of failure than success whenever a fellow citizen dares to raise his or her head above the field.”3 According to his brother Darrell, Terry Fox had been somewhat of a reluctant hero4, but he was also a hero for a nation not very used to having one. If we agree that “We’re just not hero-worshippers in Canada,”5 it is 1 “Doctors diagnosed lung cancer, Terry Fox’s marathon run ends,” Chronicle Herald, September 3, 1980, front page. 2 It should be noted here that I am choosing to refer to Terry Fox by his full name or last name throughout this dissertation. Most articles and books written about Fox simply refer to him as ‘Terry’, demonstrating, on the one hand, an (imagined) familiarity with the Canadian runner and, on the other, an indirect way to maintain the boyish image of Terry Fox. Indeed, very rarely has he been called ‘Mr.Fox’. My choice is motivated by an academic need to distance myself from my object of study, but also in order to refer to him in the same way I would refer to any individual mentioned by name in this dissertation. 3 Roy MacGregor, “A pause where Terry stopped Series: MacGregor on the road,” Ottawa Citizen, July 16, 1989, F1. 4 Darrell Fox indeed stated, in a documentary about his brother, that “The last thing he wanted was to be a hero.” See Randall Carpenter, A Dream as Big as Our Country. The Life and Times of Terry Fox, VHS. Directed by John Ritchie. Force 4 Entertainment and The Terry Fox Foundation, 1998. 5 See Simon Fraser University website at http://www.sfu.ca/terryfox/about/sculpture.html. Last accessed May 27, 2009. 1 even more significant that a young man like Terry Fox has attained such an exalted status. Looking at the multitude of honours received by Terry Fox during his short life and bestowed upon him after he passed away, it is undeniable that the marathon runner’s historical significance is tremendous. Despite the fact that he did not achieve his objective of running across Canada, and even though his life in the public eye only spanned a little over a year, Fox’s legacy and public and official recognition are quite impressive. He was the youngest person to be named a Companion of the Order of Canada; he was named Newsmaker of the year in both 1980 and 1981; his silhouette was featured on a stamp and a coin. There are dozens of schools named after Fox, some twenty roads, streets and highways, public buildings, sports facilities, research centres and even a mountain.