Canoe Nation: Nature, Race, and the Making of a Canadian Icon
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by Bruce Erickson
University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 2013
251 pp., illus., $32.95 paperback
Be warned: Canoe Nation is not a gentle ode to Canada’s love affair with the canoe. It’s a critique — not of the canoe per se, for what’s not to love about this graceful watercraft? Rather, it’s telling us that this adorable little boat has been put to use as a fetish object of Canadian nationalism.
There’s no argument about the canoe’s role as an icon of identity. Think of the images of prominent Canadians in canoes, such as Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Grey Owl, and Bill Mason. Think of the links between the canoe, First Nations people, and voyageurs. Think of Canoe, one of Canada’s finest restaurants, located on the top of Toronto’s TD Bank tower.
As author Bruce Erickson, who once worked as a guide on canoe trips in Northwestern Ontario, states: “The central argument of this book is that the canoe does not exist as a natural symbol of the Canadian nation, but rather that the sentimental place of the canoe in Canada is the result of a set of narratives that attempts to legitimize a particular vision of the nation.”
This book can be heavy going. But, if you don’t mind puzzling over words like “ontopology,” you’ll be fine. Erickson offers an interesting take on a topic that’s not usually analyzed in this way. Still, you might come away from this thinking — with apologies to Sigmund Freud — that sometimes a canoe is just a canoe.
— Nelle Oosterom (Read bio)
Nelle Oosterom is the Senior Editor of Canada's History magazine.