Citizens and Nation. An Essay on History, Communication and Canada by Gerald Friesen (review)

HUMANITIES 151 of choice. In >Democracy in Canada: ACanada@ as a Spontaneous Order,= Ingrid Harris presents a metaphysical analysis of Canadian identity by invoking Friedrich Hayek=s concept of spontaneous order. Spontaneous orders evolve from the perpetual adjustments we make as we jostle with each other to maximize our desires and freedoms. Long-standing moral practices, many of indeterminate origins, have produced procedural rules that shape the social fabric of life and shore up our moral consciences as we work out our lives together. A spontaneous order differs from an instrumental one that has a >predetermined plan or goal.= Canada, Harris claims, because of its pluralism, is better understood as a country formed by not a model but a vision, a form of co-operative living, the content of which fuses and diffuses with every social change. Adherence to the civilities of democratic culture expressed through minimalist procedural rules holds it together. Her defence of individual rights softens a little in >Rights, Sovereignty, and the Nation-State= as she offers some support to Native groups and Quebec, making reference to >historical legacy.= One can observe either that some traditions are less susceptible to the forces of spontaneous order, or that Harris does not want present-day Canada spontaneously to evolve out of existence. For without goals, who knows where the spontaneity will lead? The collection of articles suffers from repetition as the authors aim to create continuity, but enjoys a fairly consistent enthusiasm for individual rights, freedom, and democray in Canada. These virtues define the Canadian identity, as the authors think it should be. As such, they suggest, Canada stands as a model for the world. But, one must observe (presuming a theoretical consistency in the book), only for as long as this phase of Canadian spontaneity lasts. (ELIZABETH TROTT) Gerald Friesen. Citizens and Nation. An Essay on History, Communication and Canada University of Toronto Press. x, 308. $55.00, $22.95 This book began as a series of lectures to European teachers of Canadian studies. Ultimately, however, it became much more. For Gerald Friesen is trying something very ambitious. Drawing on the Canadian obsession with communication, he sets out to survey what he sees as four distinct stages of communication in Canadian history, each of which he associates with a particular epoch or group; oral (Native), textual (settler), mass publication (capitalism), screen (modern era). He then goes a step further. Using an individual memoir for each era, he attempts to draw out the unique experiences and the continuities in order to do nothing less than understand the Canadian identity. Indeed, Friesen makes a bold claim toward the end of his book, concluding that >this 152 LETTERS IN CANADA 2000 narrative has responded to Canada=s circumstances today by creating a new version of national history.= This is a brave endeavour and is a response to growing complaints about the fragmentation of Canadian historical writing in recent decades. Friesen deserves immense credit for taking on the challenge, especially because such innovation is bound to stir debate and criticism. Friesen revisits several theories of Canadian development such as the staples thesis, Margaret Atwood=s survival theme and others in order to argue that they are inadequate and must be reworked. However, his approach is most directly related to the post-war theorizing of the wellknown political economist Harold Innis. He thus joins a long succession of Canadian academics who have followed Innis, including the popular writings by Marshall McLuhan, the staples approaches of Donald Creighton and others. Once again, it is to Friesen=s credit that he has picked up a vital issue that has been dormant for a generation and thrown out a challenge to Canadian intellectuals in the twenty-first century. While there are several contributions in this work, the most important is Friesen=s argument that the Native experience must be treated as an integral part of the Canadian experience. The Native sense of land and family and direct contribution to settler society all demonstrate the need for historians to think through the way in which Canada has been formed. The persistence of tradition and value in spite of demographic, technological, and economic change is one of the...