Canada’s artists contribute to our national identity

OTTAWA—“Mon pays, ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver.” Gilles Vigneault’s lyrics (“My country is not a country, it's winter”) describe what many of us feel about our country, especially this winter, for good or bad. Like Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song for a Winter’s Night,” and Ian and Sylvia Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds,” we see ourselves reflected in the lyrics. Our music gives us the opportunity to understand the profound differences in life experiences, geography, and employment within an enormous country. And yet it allows us to understand what we have in common. When I jumped on a train in Montreal heading west to Lake Louise, Alta., in the summer of 1971, it was in many ways due to hours singing along to Lightfoot’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” and “Mountains and Maryann.” Over many years, I climbed and skied those mountains and travelled those rails east and west. I met Lightfoot a few years ago and told him his music had changed my life. It was not a new story for him. His recent biography reveals he did not intend to become a “musical historian” but, influenced by Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton, he began writing about the Canada he knew. Pierre Berton once told Lightfoot more Canadians learned about the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway through his songs than had read Berton’s books. The tradition of folk music as an expression of culture or politics began with the old-time troubadours in Middle Ages England and was part of American social movements in the Great Depression. The legendary Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly made people aware of the lives of the poor at the time; Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” was once considered seditious by some Americans. Paxton, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Simon and Garfunkel continued in that tradition in the 1960s, leading the way as a “Folk Song Army,” as satirist Tom Lehrer called them. In Canada, music has driven political movements as well. Former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau once said the independence movement in Quebec had been led by a few politicians, a bunch of civil servants, and "50 chansonniers.” Indeed, the songs of Vigneault, Félix Leclerc, Diane Dufresne, and Robert Charlebois fuelled the pride and resentment of Quebec’s youth in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Vigneault’s “Gens du Pays” was intended to be Quebec’s national anthem. Elsewhere, there were few songs that resonated in our national character as much as they did in Quebec. Many years ago, CBC Radio’s Peter Gzowski received a letter from a teacher who told of attending a conference abroad and when asked to sing a popular Canadian song everyone in her group knew, sang “O Canada” instead. Gzowksi set out to find great Canadian songs. The top three selected were: “The Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” “Mon Pays,” and Stan Rogers’ “Northwest Passage.” Paradoxically, two of the three were commissioned by government agencies. The “Trilogy” was part of a CBC special on Canada’s centennial New Year’s Day of 1967 and Vigneault wrote “Mon Pays” for the National Film Board’s 1965 production La Neige a fondu sur la Manicouagan. While the film has long passed into history, the song remains unforgettable. Rogers’ “Northwest Passage” about the ill-fated expedition led by Sir John Franklin was only one of his many songs chronicling moments known and unknown in Canadian history. His death in 1983 cut short that source. But there are dozens of songs describing Canada. My favourites include Ian Tyson’s “Summer Wages,” Charlebois’ “Je reviendrai à Montréal,” the McGarrigles’ “Jacques et Gilles,” and Rita MacNeil’s “Working Man.” There are many others from Beau Dommage, Harmonium, Great Big Sea, and The Tragically Hip’s collection on Canadian politics, sport, and small-town life. Sadly, many of those artists are gone now, and our successful musicians and stories are assimilated into the cultural behemoth to the south. We forget we have a rich culture that is more than the arena, the cottage, and the double-double. In 2008, I was part of a team at Foreign Affairs that shut down the program promoting emerging artists abroad. Many of our current superstars had toured outside of Canada through the program. But despite its minimal cost ($4.5-million a year), it was marginal to the Conservative “base.” In Quebec, the uproar over its closure led to a loss of seats in the 2008 election. The program has now been restored through Canadian Heritage and the Canadian Council for the Arts. I think it should be a key tool in our diplomatic efforts at Global Affairs Canada. When we say “The world needs more Canada,” we should be proud to entertain others, encourage our artists, and tell our stories at home and abroad. Andrew Caddell retired July 11 from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as a broadcast reporter and as an adviser to Liberal governments in Ottawa, St. John’s, and elsewhere. The Hill Times