Rewarding Civility in Canada's Battle of the Books

REWARDING CIVILITY IN CANADA’S BATTLE OF THE BOOKS REWARDING CIVILITY IN CANADA’S BATTLE OF THE BOOKS: CANADA READS AND THE POLITE DISCOURSE OF ELIMINATION By JEREMY D. HAYNES, BAH, MA. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Jeremy Haynes, 2018 Descriptive Note McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2018) Hamilton, Ontario (English) TITLE: Rewarding Civility in Canada’s Battle of the Books: Canada Reads and the Polite Discourse of Elimination AUTHOR: Jeremy D. Haynes (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Daniel Coleman NUMBER OF PAGES: viii, 194 ii Abstract This thesis looks at three seasons of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) radio show Canada Reads – 2014, 2015, and 2016. I examine how each year’s debates over reconciliation (2014), inclusive multiculturalism (2015), and Canada’s role as a global refuge (2016) commonly presume a national mythology that Indigenous peoples have either disappeared or become “Canadian.” I argue that despite the show’s desire to build a better society through encouraging Canadians to read Canadian books, the debates featured on Canada Reads reflect the way assumed Canadian control of Indigenous lands is embedded in the language of Canadian literature and culture to both limit the political disruptiveness of Indigenous presence and reproduce ongoing colonial domination. Central to my argument is the sad truth that, even as the show invites diverse critiques of Canadian society, it nonetheless favours stereotypical narratives of Canadian multiculturalism, benevolence, and civility, and by doing so buttresses Canada’s unchanged status as a settler colonial state. I track and evaluate ruptures in the show's civil language and decorum by reading moments of debate when the logical foundations of these stereotypical national narratives are challenged. Thus, this thesis examines not only what panelists say to each other, but also what their dialogue says to other Canadians. I argue that panelists’ critiques of the nation drawn from their readings of the books - readings that are not so much holistic interpretations of books but strategies for winning the Survivor-style game - are welcomed by the show’s annual social justice themes which then use them to purvey the nation’s virtuous liberalism. Ultimately, my analysis traces how the civil protocols of the program through these three seasons iii reproduce conflicts between Indigenous peoples and Canadians by reinforcing the inequity of the arrangements of the existing nation-state. iv Acknowledgments I’d like to give thanks first and foremost to the land that has sustained me and my family for as long as we have lived here. It is impossible for me to list everyone who has helped make this project possible, but to those not on this page, know that I am deeply grateful to you for all that you have taught me, it is something invaluable. This thesis would not have happened without the herculean efforts of my committee and their unwavering support. I’d like to thank my supervisor and mentor Daniel Coleman who has been a patient teacher and humble guide throughout my time at McMaster. My sincere thanks to my first reader Lorraine York for her keen eyes and unwavering optimism; and to my second reader Roger Hyman, who helped me find a place here. My sincere gratitude to my external examiner, The Two Row Research Partnership, Deyohahá:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Tanis Hill, Rick Hill Sr., Rick Monture, Anne Savage, Ilona Forgo-Smith, Antoinette Somo, Aurelia Gatto Pinto, Paul Barrett, Sarah Roger, and the Thesis Writers group, for all of your professional guidance and support. My love and gratitude to my parents Judy Trout and Jim Haynes for nurturing my curiosity and for teaching me the power of writing. My thanks to my brother, Jordan Haynes, for always keeping me humble and for knowing how to make me smile. And, a special thanks to Wendy Coleman, Kaitlin Debicki, Zak Edwards, Nicolas Good, the Hildebrand family, Waylon Johnston, Krista Paquin, Robert Pasquini, Kathryn Saunders, Monika Semma, Taylor St. Amour, the Trout family, and Peter Young. v Finally, my most heartfelt gratitude to my partner, Jaimie Hildebrand, for her endless love and encouragement and for believing in me when I did not have the strength to believe in myself. I could not have done this without you. Dedicated to my grandparents: the ones I’ve met, and the ones I’ve missed. vi Table of Contents Descriptive Note – ii Abstract – iii Acknowledgments – v Table of Contents - vii Introduction: “Rereading What All of Canada Should Read” – 1 Thesis – 5 Critical Frame – 9 Previous Research – 21 Chapter Summaries – 28 Conclusion – 31 Chapter One: “Canada Reads (2014) The Orenda: Elimination in the Discourse of Indigenous and Settler Reconciliation” – 34 The Orenda is Problematic – 39 Lost Wampum, or Unbalanced Reconciliation – 43 Perverse Ignorance and Constitutional Reconciliation – 51 “A Comforting Narrative for Canadians,” or Critics vs. Friends – 62 Cultural Experience, Misreading, and Stereotypes - 68 Truth and Retribution, or Grace Without Condolence – 75 Conclusion – 82 Chapter Two: “Forgetting the Colony, Settling the Refuge: Debating Racialization and Inclusive Multiculturalism on Canada Reads (2015)” – 85 vii Exalted Settlers and Inclusive Multiculturalism – 88 “The American dream,” or Colonial Economies of Immigration and Refuge – 96 Polite Resistance in a Nation of Fragility, Uncertainty, and Fear – 100 Home, Unsettled Land, or The Problem of “Belonging” in Canada – 105 The Orenda is Less Inconvenient – 113 Terra Nullius: The Place Where We Can All Be Canadian – 119 Conclusion - 125 Chapter Three: “Canada Reads (2016), Not India Reads, or Location, Location, Location” – 128 Speculative Transnationalism: Putting Canada in the World – 131 “He is Canadian” and Other Oversimplifications – 134 This is Canada Reads, Not India Reads – 148 Imaginary Geographies, or Benevolence without the Violence – 157 Conclusion - 168 Conclusion – 173 Bibliography – 181 viii Ph.D. – J. Haynes; McMaster University – English & Cultural Studies Introduction Rereading What All of Canada Should Read “What is the book all of Canada should read?” This is the question that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) “annual literary title fight,” Canada Reads, has been asking for seventeen years. The producers claim that since it premiered in 2002 the show has exposed millions of Canadians to books by Canadian authors by hosting debates about literature and the nation (CBC, “About,” February 7, 2018). Canada Reads has featured some of the most famous contemporary authors in Canadian literature, with an audience of 1.9 million people in 20181, it sits within a matrix of popular literary discourse and celebrity culture. Each year, five prominent Canadians are invited to the CBC studios in Toronto, Ontario, where they debate which book all of Canada should read. These panelists vote off one book per day until the last book standing is crowned the Canada Reads champion. Since the inception of Canada Reads, every title to win the competition has become a bestseller, and in more recent years all five books featured on the show have seen a marked boost in sales. Having now featured 85 works of Canadian poetry, biography, graphic fiction, fiction, and nonfiction, Canada Reads’ influence on the Canadian publishing market is far-reaching2. Whether or not Canadians tune in to the show, Canada Reads is a centrepiece of holiday book-selling, with large displays in bookstores featuring both competitors and victors from various seasons. 1 These statistics were given to me during a meeting with the CBC Research department, but are not published. 2 https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2018/1/30/literary-awards-canada-reads 1 Ph.D. – J. Haynes; McMaster University – English & Cultural Studies Early iterations of the show featured pre-recorded debates that tended to focus on literary aesthetics and writing quality. However, since 2012, the producers of the show have introduced social justice themes for each season, such as: “One Book to Change Our Nation” (2014), “One Book to Break Barriers” (2015), and “Starting Over” (2016). With the focus on one book for all Canadians, these themes assume a homogeneous idea of national community associated with a common concern for social justice, what Daniel Coleman has called Canadian “white civility.” The show takes the nation as its point of origin, and panelists tend to extend their discussions of the books beyond their literary merits to their national socio-political implications. In 2014, for example, Indigenous journalist and celebrity panelist, Wab Kinew (Ojibwe), shepherded Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda (2013) to victory by appealing to the nationalist rhetoric of reconciliation which he claimed to be “the greatest social justice issue facing this nation” (Kinew, “Day Two,” 2014, 22:22-23:25). Kinew’s defence of The Orenda took place as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was preparing its final report for publication in 2015. While many Indigenous people welcomed this recognition of the trauma of the residential school system, the fact that reconciliation became a federally sponsored project made many Indigenous communities suspicious of it.3 For mainstream Canadians, however, reconciliation was particularly compelling because of its concern with social justice. Kinew appealed to this mainstream idea of reconciliation to shepherd

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