Creative Subversions: Whiteness, Indigeneity, and the National Imaginary by Margot Francis (review)

The great Canadian historical icons of the beaver, the railroad, and Banff National Park are all revisited within this exploration of race and sexuality that attempts to identify difficult truths about Canadian nation building. At the same time, revealing the connections between image-making that justified a colonial land grab and strategic ‘national familiars’ that created public cultural signifiers that assisted with the colonial takeover of Canada, this book maps and unpacks parts of Canadian history that are often forgotten, denied, or unknown. The author firmly establishes early racism and sexism within Euro-Canadian male commercial practices, and it becomes clear that abuses of power, greed, racism, and sexism built this country.

The book features contemporary art as counter-narrative to those fixed iconic images that imply a peaceful settlement of Canada and to recall a violent invasion that continues to linger. Perhaps what is missing is the role settler women had in the subjugation of First Nations and other marginalized peoples. Although, certainly, women in general lacked certain privileges, women from the gentry class did have some say and were implicated.

Francis’s book travels across the country and through different eras from 1672 to 2010, revealing complex Canadian histories that haunt dominant racialized and sexualized narratives about Canada. The chapter on the Canadian beaver is entertaining, as well as insightful. Francis examines how the image of the beaver became a symbol for paternal entitlement, created developing markets, and evolved into a caricature of the often-weak Canadian contrasting with the strong American eagle. Further, she traces how the term beaver became a descriptive slang word for female genitalia.

The idea that we will not have a future if we do not know our past becomes visibly apparent in the pages of this book. By placing a historical analysis that considers a difficult history within the production of contemporary art – with works by Shawna Dempsey, Lori Millian, and Rebecca Belmore among other Canadian artists – Francis demonstrates Canadian artists’ awareness of history and the need to unpack it fully in order to create better understanding between people. Overall the book is very well researched. Perhaps it is time for academics and teachers at all levels to be idle no more and to make a serious commitment to educating students about the brutality of Canadian history.