Editorial

JOURNAL OF CANADIAN STUDIES REVUE D'ETUDES CANADIENNES Editor Associate Editor Editorial Assistant Editorial Board Advisory Board DENIS SMITH BERNARD R. BLISHEN Redacteur Redacteur adjoint ELIZABETH A. McLEOD Assistante MAURICE J. BOOTE Comite de redaction ROBERT D. CHAMBERS LEON DION KENNETH E. KIDD ANDRE LAURENDEAU W. L. MORTON T. H. B. SYMONS ANTHONY ADAMSON Comite consultatif DONALD G. CREIGHTON KATHLEEN FENWICK DAVID M. HAYNE JOHN HIRSCH JEAN PALARDY CLAUDE RY;AN B. D. SANDWELL RONALD J. THOM Editorial NEW YEAR'S EVE, DECEMBER 31, 1966: for emphasizing the spiritual basis of our nation in Centennial year and a time for people to plan that something "special" in Christian charity and goodwill. Ring in the Centennial Year with gala community events: costumes, torchlight parades, bonfires on hilltops, bands, church bells, sirens and factory whistles. 14 FEVRIER 1967 -]OUR DE LA SAINTVALENTIN : Envois de cceurs et de ·[fours comme d'habitude , mais aussi splendide occasion de celebrer la journee a la maniere de 1860, avec des valentins decores, dessines et enlumines ala main. Honorons les couples ages de notre localite. MARCH 26, 1967, EASTER SUNDAY: The most sacred day of the Christian year Journal of Canadian Studies 14 JUIN 1967 -103e ANNIVERSAIRE DE LA "GRANDE COALITION": C'est le 14 juin 1864 que George Brown, chef de l'opposition dans la province du Canada, proposa ason adversaire John A. Macdonald la formation d'un gouvernement de coalition. Brown avait l'appui du chef politique des Canadiens franr;ais, Georges-Etienne Cartier . Sans leur collaboration, la Confederation aurait ete impossible. Date trap souvent oubliee. JULY 1, 1967, CANADA DAY:· The high point of the Centennial year. This is the day when your local Centennial cam1 mittee will plan its major parades, events, picnics and celebrations to mark the actual 1OOth anniversary of Confederation. DECEMBRE--"""'.""" TEMPS DE NOEL: Intercalez des scenes de la Confederation dans le defile du Pere Noel; evocation des scenes de Noel au temps des pionniers; courses de traineaux, carnaval d'hiver, ceremonies religieuses, etc. DECEMBER 31, 1967, NEW YEAR'S EVE: And the closing of Centennial Year in a major and proud way as your community looks forward to the future. 31DECEMBRE1967: Fetes de cloture du Centenaire. These are excerpts from a proposed 1967 calendar of events issued by the Centennial Commission. Reading them makes one hope that 1967 will pass almost as quickly. They typify the approach that the Commission has cavalierly pursued, encouraging innocuous and colourful hijinks and, where appropriate, strains of uplifting pseudo-religious patriotism. This same airy spirit informs Commission projects at the local and national levels. It is surprising then that the Commission's calendar omits what may well be the great rendezvous of Canadian history , when the westbound Confederation train meets the eastbound centennial canoeists. Canadian pioneers, our history books say, were rugged individualists, pitting their energies against the harsh wilderness, and wresting a hard living from it. The Commission hasn't forgotten their modern counterparts. Cash, not fame, is the modern spur, and once again a hardy breed of voyageurs will race cross-country for the dollars. Indeed, the relationship between money and the Centennial Commission is a curious one. It is rumoured in Ottawa, for example, that over a million dollars have been spent merely mapping the route and establishing stopover points for the centennial canoeists. This contrasts with the project called Perspective 1967, in which hundreds of young Canadian artists will compete for cash awards totalling $34,000 in painting, 2 sculpture, prints and drawings, and fine crafts. Again by way of contrast, a similarly modest and useful proposal by the Canadian Association of University Teachers met a sad fate at the Commission 's hands. The story is told in the CAVT Bulletin for April 1966. It was proposed to convene a symposium at which distinguished scholars from abroad would discuss and assess the state of higher education in Canada. The Commission offered a hopelessly-possibly intentionally - inadequate grant, and thus destroyed two years of careful planning by a CAVT committee . One can only surmise that the Commission was not pleased by a project which promised frank and critical commentary on Canadian institutional life. There is one matter, however, about which...