I have a hard time thinking of a Prominant Canadian Author who actually reflects my reality, and my life. What is given to us as Canadian is usually seen through a Toronto set of eyes. I am an Albertian, and my ancestors are Albertian. For me, the Riel Rebbelion is real. It is a part of my history. My Great Grandfather transported ammunitian for the Canadian Army, and I actually dated Gabriel Dumont's grand daughter in University. I have swam in Duck Lake where battles were fought. Today, I have far more in common with the Metis', than I do with the people in Toronto who decide what Canadian Literature is.
For Canadian Literature to be relevant, it needs to get out of Toronto and start to reflect what the rest of Canada is.
Wallace Stegner, born in Canada, since departed, wrote some very beautiful and insightful books about the prairies, including the first days of the RCMP, Eastend in Saskatchewan, etc. etc., if you are looking for a good read.
Good point about how boosting Canadian products gives consumers more choice but just to be clear, Canadian culture was off the table during the free trade agreement. Unfortunately, what’s happened since is that the digital sea change has meant we are swamped with foreign books and today only 5% of the books that Canadians read are written by Canadians. Think about it. We are a culture where 95% of the books people read are by writers from other countries. In the late 90’s, 28% of books read here were written by Canadians but huge changes in technology have it made it easier to promote foreign books that had already been dominating our book market. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden is a powerful, dramatic account of our early history and I predict it will last for future generations of readers.
I've been born and raised in Canada. Very rural (almost pioneer) upbringing, and then a mid level manager, white collar governmental job for most of my life. I'm having a hard time defining what is distinct about Canada? What is there to be patriotic about? Having lived in numerous provinces and territories (and traveled the world extensively) what I'm most proud of is the resourcefulness I've seen in the more rural and northern settings. The strip of Canada mashed along the US border just seems like a pale imitation of the US. Whatever cultural wave moves through the US reaches Canada 15 to 20 years later. The only reason we didn't follow the US into the subprime mortgage fiasco is that we were further behind in the financial engineering sector (and desperately trying to catch up). My set-in-pudding take right now is that Canada is the 51st state culturally and militarily (we depend fully on the US for our strategic defense). As the poor cousin, we seem to have a jealousy thing going on as well. Ask a Canadian, and you'll hear a vociferous explosion of why we're different and better than the US. Protest too much? I'd love to have someone disabuse me of my tepid notions of patriotism.
No need to apologize for local content laws. In other industries, local content encouraged local creativity.
The Canadian auto industry was always a branch of Detroit. Most people assume that Economies Of Scale forced a narrower choice for Canada, but the opposite happened. Canadian customers had a WIDER choice of American cars than American customers. The same thing happened in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. Each country developed its own variations, sometimes purely original cars, all without leaving the Detroit corporate structure.
The creativity ended with the falsely labeled "free trade" agreement in 1965. After that, Canada couldn't protect its own labor and creators.
Hi Tara, this comment doesn't have to do with this piece specifically, but I don't know how to make guest suggestions to you otherwise. Here it is: I think you should have Molly Shumann on your show. Have you read her recent piece in the Breach? (https://breachmedia.ca/cbc-whitewashed-israels-crimes-gaza-firsthand/?ref=readthemaple.com). Like you, she was forced to quit the CBC, because of disagreements over ideological bias. Unlike you, she found the CBC too far to the "right" in its coverage of the war in Gaza. So she may not fit into your framing of the CBC, and the mainstream media in general, but I think it's important to highlight ideological bias in the media from whatever direction it comes from, and I consider you to be one bright spot in the media landscape who is trying to see past the blinders of polarization. Although I do find it disappointing that many people like you, who have pushed back against an overly "woke" or "left" media, have fallen in line with support for Israel - despite all the evidence of what is blatantly a genocide - simply, it seems, because that is the "anti-woke" position. I have noticed you have tempered this tendency in your own work, but I can see the instinct pulling you in that direction. I urge you to resist that, and have this guest on.
Can Lit was considered a groaner by most of us in my literature degree in the 90s (aside from the few ‘greats’ we could all name) but even then I thought it had potential. I’m excited to see how far it has come, and where it will go. That said, I agree with the comment that noted not a lot of Can Lit is about us in the West, yet. Which isn’t too surprising given that urban Laurentian Canada—still after 100 years—considers the West a place to extract resources (then shame those who live here for making a living from that extraction). There isn’t an overall appreciation for the fact that distinct and honourable culture exists here. Some of us are trying to change that. I hope we succeed.
I have a hard time thinking of a Prominant Canadian Author who actually reflects my reality, and my life. What is given to us as Canadian is usually seen through a Toronto set of eyes. I am an Albertian, and my ancestors are Albertian. For me, the Riel Rebbelion is real. It is a part of my history. My Great Grandfather transported ammunitian for the Canadian Army, and I actually dated Gabriel Dumont's grand daughter in University. I have swam in Duck Lake where battles were fought. Today, I have far more in common with the Metis', than I do with the people in Toronto who decide what Canadian Literature is.
For Canadian Literature to be relevant, it needs to get out of Toronto and start to reflect what the rest of Canada is.
Wallace Stegner, born in Canada, since departed, wrote some very beautiful and insightful books about the prairies, including the first days of the RCMP, Eastend in Saskatchewan, etc. etc., if you are looking for a good read.
Thank you
Good point about how boosting Canadian products gives consumers more choice but just to be clear, Canadian culture was off the table during the free trade agreement. Unfortunately, what’s happened since is that the digital sea change has meant we are swamped with foreign books and today only 5% of the books that Canadians read are written by Canadians. Think about it. We are a culture where 95% of the books people read are by writers from other countries. In the late 90’s, 28% of books read here were written by Canadians but huge changes in technology have it made it easier to promote foreign books that had already been dominating our book market. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden is a powerful, dramatic account of our early history and I predict it will last for future generations of readers.
I've been born and raised in Canada. Very rural (almost pioneer) upbringing, and then a mid level manager, white collar governmental job for most of my life. I'm having a hard time defining what is distinct about Canada? What is there to be patriotic about? Having lived in numerous provinces and territories (and traveled the world extensively) what I'm most proud of is the resourcefulness I've seen in the more rural and northern settings. The strip of Canada mashed along the US border just seems like a pale imitation of the US. Whatever cultural wave moves through the US reaches Canada 15 to 20 years later. The only reason we didn't follow the US into the subprime mortgage fiasco is that we were further behind in the financial engineering sector (and desperately trying to catch up). My set-in-pudding take right now is that Canada is the 51st state culturally and militarily (we depend fully on the US for our strategic defense). As the poor cousin, we seem to have a jealousy thing going on as well. Ask a Canadian, and you'll hear a vociferous explosion of why we're different and better than the US. Protest too much? I'd love to have someone disabuse me of my tepid notions of patriotism.
No need to apologize for local content laws. In other industries, local content encouraged local creativity.
The Canadian auto industry was always a branch of Detroit. Most people assume that Economies Of Scale forced a narrower choice for Canada, but the opposite happened. Canadian customers had a WIDER choice of American cars than American customers. The same thing happened in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. Each country developed its own variations, sometimes purely original cars, all without leaving the Detroit corporate structure.
The creativity ended with the falsely labeled "free trade" agreement in 1965. After that, Canada couldn't protect its own labor and creators.
http://polistrasmill.com/2022/03/27/deceptive-standard-wisdom/
Hi Tara, this comment doesn't have to do with this piece specifically, but I don't know how to make guest suggestions to you otherwise. Here it is: I think you should have Molly Shumann on your show. Have you read her recent piece in the Breach? (https://breachmedia.ca/cbc-whitewashed-israels-crimes-gaza-firsthand/?ref=readthemaple.com). Like you, she was forced to quit the CBC, because of disagreements over ideological bias. Unlike you, she found the CBC too far to the "right" in its coverage of the war in Gaza. So she may not fit into your framing of the CBC, and the mainstream media in general, but I think it's important to highlight ideological bias in the media from whatever direction it comes from, and I consider you to be one bright spot in the media landscape who is trying to see past the blinders of polarization. Although I do find it disappointing that many people like you, who have pushed back against an overly "woke" or "left" media, have fallen in line with support for Israel - despite all the evidence of what is blatantly a genocide - simply, it seems, because that is the "anti-woke" position. I have noticed you have tempered this tendency in your own work, but I can see the instinct pulling you in that direction. I urge you to resist that, and have this guest on.
Can Lit was considered a groaner by most of us in my literature degree in the 90s (aside from the few ‘greats’ we could all name) but even then I thought it had potential. I’m excited to see how far it has come, and where it will go. That said, I agree with the comment that noted not a lot of Can Lit is about us in the West, yet. Which isn’t too surprising given that urban Laurentian Canada—still after 100 years—considers the West a place to extract resources (then shame those who live here for making a living from that extraction). There isn’t an overall appreciation for the fact that distinct and honourable culture exists here. Some of us are trying to change that. I hope we succeed.