Canada: A Very Short Introduction by Donald Wright (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Canada: A Very Short Introduction by Donald Wright Barry Ferguson Wright, Donald–Canada: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. 160 p. Donald Wright’s Canada: A Very Short Introduction is a fresh and snappy historical overview replete with insights and explanations for anyone curious about modern Canada. It is well-grounded in history and social science, and draws on the arts to punctuate its arguments. The brevity of the format leads to bold assessments that invite critical discussion. The book begins and ends with vignettes about a family of recent refugee immigrants to the country. These snapshots prompt Wright to pose a longstanding question raised since the late nineteenth century by non-Canadian and Canadian commentators. Many writers have been puzzled by the country’s very existence. Is a country that lacks a “national identity” and tight unity truly a “real country”? The basic issues that have raised these doubts are Canada’s vast geography, its ethno-cultural diversity, and a “complicated,” that is divisive, history. Wright is critical of this entrenched perspective and counters it with eloquent arguments enucleated in the 1960s by Ramsay Cook. Cook explained that Canada was a distinct country precisely because it lacked an official culture, dominant concept of nationality, or stable political majority. Although Wright does not explore the ideas, they have been explained by others, notably Cook’s intellectual ally, Pierre Trudeau. Years before his political work fighting Quebec separatism and shaping constitutional transformation, Trudeau’s academic writing consisted of a remarkable demolition of traditional nationalisms and a fierce defence of plural states. [End Page 239] Wright’s book consists of six pithily stated and deftly illustrated themes that explore Canadian national experiences. The chapters consider the many historical attempts to impose unity, their divisive effects, and the twentieth- and twenty-first-century emergence of the plural, diverse, and functional country that has survived despite its divisions. These explorations start with two broad historical overviews. “Beginnings” and “Dispossessions” summarize the long history and great achievements of the highly diverse Indigenous Peoples as well as the lasting impact of three centuries of French and British colonial projects. Understandably, there is little space for nuanced discussions. For instance, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 heralded the British colonial takeover, the recognition of Quebec’s separate institutions, and also the primary British sovereignty over Indigenous nations. Quebec has understandably chafed under aspects of that separate institutional identity, but Quebeckers still value its constitutional force. Two centuries of political protest and litigation have resurrected the Royal Proclamation as an “Indian [sic] Bill of Rights.” In explaining “dispossessions,” Wright examines the relentless economic and political expansion and exploitation, the crucial and deadly effects of “viral pathogens,” and the intricacies of legal doctrines and public policies. The legal framework is epitomized by the 1876 “Indian Act,” a reviled but continuing foundational legislation to control Indigenous Peoples. Public policies are seen through the notorious residential school system that began in the 1880s and persisted for over a century to impose assimilation. The original Confederation of Canada in 1867 and the crucial treaties with and laws governing Indigenous Peoples punctuated a project that both defined and severely marginalized the original peoples. The book then examines four of modern Canada’s most significant facets. First, it considers the continuous impact of “nationalisms” as ideas and policies. Second, it reviews the post-1945 emergence of a “rights” culture. Third, it outlines the modern problems of Canada in the international order, or its “borders” as Wright puts it. Finally, the book assesses the country’s physical environment using the concepts of its “norths.” The treatment of “nationalisms” proceeds from the book’s initial pluralist interpretation. Nationalist movements are shown to have more often divided rather than unified political and social life. The deep social bases and corrosive effects of the sectarian and ethnic/racial nationalisms of French and “English” Canada (the latter would more accurately be described as “British” Canada) are explained. The discussion is insightful but would have been clearer if the varieties of nationalisms—ethnic, racial, and religious as well as civic and political variants—were specifically laid out from the outset. The impact...