The Peoples of Canada: A Pre-Confederation History

Olaf Uwe Janzen is a history professor at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland.

Arguing that the “old paradigm . . . that concentrated on such
male-dominated subjects as political, constitutional and military issues
from a centralist and elitist perspective [is in] tatters,” Jack
Bumsted claims that he has attempted “to incorporate the new
scholarship by embracing new perspectives and new emphases.” In truth
his book retains a familiar chronological organization, and despite
separate chapters on Native people and on the social and economic
characteristics of 19th-century British North America, Bumsted cannot
entirely escape the “old paradigm.” His strength is his eye for the
insightful anecdote, the bon mot, and the colorful episode that captures
the essence of Canadian historical themes. These introduce chapters that
are based, to some extent, on the alleged “new scholarship.”

Unfortunately, the author’s flair for appealing generalizations is
not always matched by careful attention to detail. His claim that
Newfoundland was denied colonial status after 1784 “partly because it
had a large Roman Catholic population” grossly exaggerates a concern
that had little effect on a policy shaped by other, unmentioned
concerns. French control over Acadia is alleged to have been
re-established in 1667 on one page but in 1670 (the correct date) on
another. Plaisance, the 17th-century French colony in Newfoundland, is
expected “shortly,” then, later in the text, evacuated in 1714, but
its actual existence in the 50 intervening years is never discussed!
This curious lacuna is not reassuring in a text that purports to provide
a new interpretation “mainly about the peoples of Canada.”

Indeed, how new an interpretation is it? The reference notes indicate
that much of the book is still based on a literature several decades
old, though the suggestions for further readings do direct students to
more recent scholarship. Yet even “recent” sources are, in some
instances, dated and have been superseded (as in Bumsted’s reliance on
Head’s Eighteenth Century Newfoundland, written nearly 20 years ago).
The presentation of material is also unimaginative; there are few tables
and no graphs, despite the trendsetting example of the Historical Atlas
of Canada. In short, while Bumsted provides some spellbinding narrative,
his book is disappointing.