Introduction aux études canadiennes. Histoires, identités, cultures ed. by Geoffrey Ewen and Colin M. Coates (review)

Given that there are a limited number of introductory textbook-anthologies suitable for first-year Canadian Studies courses, any additional resources in either official language would fill a gap. The editors of Introduction aux études canadiennes remind us that there was, prior to their publication, no such manual available in French, and only five in English. In my view, the authoritativeness and accessibility of this particular anthology should appeal to university teachers interested in new syntheses and new scholarship, and to university students interested in accessible, dynamic approaches to Canadian topics. Those enrolled in the increasingly popular French-language Canadian Studies courses at the University of Ottawa stand to benefit the most from this volume, but bilingual undergraduates in Canadian Studies courses taught in English no less than their counterparts in a number of French-language programmes would also find it indispensable. For instance, once upon a time, at my own university, instructors struggled with the issue of resources when mounting a French-language discussion group making use of French-language readings; my sense is that this book might have made the “séminaire en français” more sustainable.

The editors’ specific focus is on the diversity of “l’expérience française” in Canada (p. vii), which I take to mean the diversity of francophone communities being studied, of French-speaking university students. The anthology takes French-speaking Canada as its particular point of reference for discussing a broad range of issues and questions of more immediate interest to francophones; these are in turn addressed by francophone and francophile scholars interested in the big picture as well as local realities. The research represents a synthesis of new work commissioned by the editors, and as such is not limited to the situation and perspectives of francophones in Canada and Quebec. Each chapter effectively introduces and offers an overview of key questions and debates in a number of areas, with particular emphasis on First Nations, Québécois, English-Canadian, minority, and multicultural topics. Beyond such requisite, standard issues in a Canadian Studies textbook, the anthology’s inclusion of contemporary perspectives and aspects of youth culture promises to generate lively discussion in the university classroom.

With the exception of chapters by historian Olive Dickason, political scientist François Charbonneau, anthropologist Louis-Jacques Dorais, and fiction writers Alistair MacLeod and Ying Chen, the volume’s twenty essays (averaging fifteen large, double-column pages each) were specifically commissioned by the editors. While some might quibble with the book’s thematic division into four sections — on history, national identities, social identities and culture — or with the uneven number of essays or the chosen topics in these sections, certainly the individual contributions are all first-rate, characterized by top-notch scholarship presented in a compelling, accessible style. Besides the contribution by Dickason on First Nations history, the opening segment includes chapters on the legacy of New France by Colin Coates, Quebec and confederation by Michel Sarra-Bournet, Montreal Jews by Pierre Anctil, and the significance of the 1989 Free-Trade Accord by Éric Duchesne and Martin Pâquet. While collectively this unit introduces key components and challenges to definitions of Canadian history, the choice of Montreal’s Jewish citizenry as case study and sole example of ethnic groups other than French and English could be supplemented by a companion piece on Montreal’s Italian community, rounding out Anctil’s subtle treatment of the history of immigration, language struggles and linguistic diversity, racism, and the contributions of so-called minorities.

The second segment on national identities includes chapters by François Charbonneau on the emergence of new forms of English-Canadian nationalism, François Rocher on dimensions of Quebec nationalism, Yves Frenette on francophone minority youth culture, Amal Madibbo on multiculturalism and black francophone immigration, Nathalie Kermoal on Indigenous rights, and Louis-Jacques Dorais on contemporary Inuit village life. Here, questions of national identities and nationalism are...