Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

This large-format, weighty volume fills an important gap in basic
Canadian reference books and belongs in all serious libraries. Editor
Paul Robert Magocsi puts the case very well at the start of his
introduction. After or along with Canada’s physical size, the most
striking feature of the country at century’s end is its multicultural
aspect, the demographic reality of its wide array of peoples from many
different ethnocultural traditions.

The 119 entries arranged alphabetically, from Aboriginals to
Vietnamese. Each entry covers origins, migration, arrival and
settlement, language and culture, education, religion, politics, and the
dynamics of group maintenance. Items are cross-referenced. There are
also major thematic entries on such topics as immigration policy, labor,
and social incorporation.

This national encyclopedia, which took 10 years and the efforts of over
300 scholars to complete, makes a major contribution to the ongoing
efforts of Canadians to understand our complex and unique society.