Like Our Mountains: A History of Armenians in Canada (review)

With the publication of Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill's Like Our Mountains: A History of Armenians in Canada, one of Canada's smaller and less known ethnic communities has finally received a definitive history. Selected by the Canadian Historical Association as a recipient of the 2006 Clio Award, this fundamental study deserves to be named among the finest ethnic community histories to have appeared in Canada. A product of many years of archival research and over 160 interviews with members of the Armenian-Canadian community, it is both meticulously researched and written in elegant prose. Kaprielian-Churchill does not overload the reader with discussions of theory and method – instead she uses her sources and her skill as a historian to recreate the past in a way that will be appreciated both by specialists and general readers. A rich collection of illustrations – from immigrant family photos to pictures of monuments in Soviet Armenia – supplements the narrative and makes for entertaining reading.

Like Our Mountains is a comprehensive analysis of Armenian settlement in Canada from the late nineteenth century to the emergence of an independent Republic of Armenia in 1991. Conceived as an ethnic community history, it transcends the standard conventions of the genre, using a broad transnational approach and linking the history of Armenian Canadians to 'events of the Armenian homeland and in other parts of the diaspora.' The structure of the book follows the three waves of Armenian immigration to Canada: the pre-1914 period, the interwar years, and the decades after the Second World War. As is the case with many other Canadian ethnic communities, each of these waves had its own social and occupational makeup and migration patterns different from the other cohorts. While the first Armenians to settle in Canada were primarily economic migrants from Turkey's district of Keghi, the majority of later arrivals were refugees dispersed around the world by the Armenian genocide of the First World War. Discussing Armenian life in Canada, the author shifts her geographical focus in accordance with the changing patterns of community settlement. Armenian communities in Hamilton, Brantford, and St Catharines, which attracted the majority of pre-1945 immigrants, receive the most attention in the first half of the book. The later chapters focus on Montreal and Toronto, which replaced the smaller Ontario cities as centres of Armenian settlement after the Second World War.

The theme of the genocide is central to the book. The trauma of mass suffering and death left an indelible mark on the Armenian diaspora, making it inward-oriented and wary of any outside influences that could dilute its cultural heritage. Kaprielian-Churchill demonstrates how a decimated people struggled to reconstitute family and community life in an environment that was more tolerant than the Old World but not always hospitable. In gender-specific ways, Armenian men and women contributed to community revival and to the maintenance of familiar ways of life. And yet, as we learn from the book, Armenians have been among Canada's most politically divided ethnic groups. Throughout much of its history, the community suffered from bitter struggles between various factions – Dashnaks and Hnchaks, 'progressives' and 'conservatives,' supporters and enemies of Soviet Armenia. While all of these groups were committed to Armenian cultural survival, each had its own vision of how it was best accomplished.

Some readers of the book might question the polemical writing which at times replaces the detached academic style when the author discusses international attitudes to the Armenian genocide. One would also expect at least a word or two about Armenian immigration from the Russian Empire and (perhaps in the epilogue) about post-1991 immigration from independent Armenia. A better-organized bibliography and more rigorous referencing would also help – some sections of the book stand out for the paucity of footnotes, which leaves the reader wondering about the sources of the information in question. Overall, however, Like Our Mountains is a book that all immigration scholars must have on their bookshelves.