Visions of Canada: Searching for Our Future

Rudolf Carl Nassar is Co-ordinator of Humanities at Champlain Regional
College in Lennoxville, Quebec, and teaches courses in journalism and
international politics.

Deeply troubled, like most of us, by Canada’s constitutional crisis,
its uncertain future, and the possibility it might not remain a united
country, CBC’s senior correspondent and news anchor Knowlton Nash
travelled across Canada in 1991 to test the mood of the nation. He
interviewed 45 Canadians, searching for their particular perceptions of
the country’s malaise, for their ideas of what ought to be done, for
their visions of Canada, and—through their visions—ultimately, for
his own.

While Nash’s conversations with these Canadians hardly reflect a
scientific sample of national public opinion, they do, nonetheless,
represent the views of a wide cross-section of opinion leaders and
prominent Canadians noted for their achievements in different areas of
Canadian life. Nash talks with people as different as jazz pianist Oscar
Peterson, PBS newsman Robert MacNeil, union leader Bob White, Native
spokesman Georges Erasmus, Le Devoir publisher Lise Bissonnette,
Vancouver businessman Jim Pattison, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, and
athlete Ken Read, to name but a few.

Responding to Nash’s probing and sometimes provocative questions,
they articulate their positions on constitutional reform, a new Senate,
the duality of Canada, the equality of the provinces, a new deal for
Native peoples, sovereignty for Quebec, and Canada’s elusive identity.
Taken together, their reflections form a rich fund of imaginative ideas
and creative solutions that attest to the country’s dynamic diversity.
Considered separately, their divergent outlooks and sometimes colliding
visions illustrate the difficulty of reconciliation and the challenge of
accommodating these differences in a new national framework.

Yet there is cause for hope to be found in these conversations. Nash
started his search for a vision of Canada as “a saddened pessimist”
and ended it as “a cautious optimist.” He found in his interviews an
underlying concern for Canada, a “pool of affection for and pride in
our country,” a recognition of the need for change, and a willingness
to make changes happen so that Canada can work better for all.
Ultimately, these 45 different Canadians are all struggling to see their
way through the various alternatives for survival. And their visions may
help the rest of us see our own way to the future.