Prime Minister Mark Carney’s White House visit and the Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff victory over the New York Yankees dominated the news this week. But it’s the subtext that I’ll focus on today, using a book coming out next week as a springboard.
Since moving to Canada last year, I have been captivated by the intense debate about the nation’s identity, and how it is shaped by Canada’s relationship to the United States.
I was born and raised in Greece, where identity is heavily defined by reverence for a glorious past. So one of the things that have struck me about Canada’s identity conversation in the era of President Trump’s “51st state” talk is how much it is focused on the future.
“Elbows Up! Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance” (McClelland & Stewart, out Oct. 14), tackles the newly urgent question, What is Canada? The book also explores how the country can reassert its independence and step out of the leaden shadow of American cultural hegemony.
A collection of 30 essays edited by Elamin Abdelmahmoud, an author and critic who hosts the CBC program “Commotion,” the book includes powerful Indigenous and immigrant Canadian voices, Québécois authors, and sports and culture experts.
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The post A New Book Asks, What Is Canada? appeared first on New York Times.
