Life Sentences: Memoirs of an Incorrigible Canadian

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

Keith Spicer, born and raised in Toronto during the 1940s and 1950s
“in a narrow, pinched, all-white, all-English society,” rejected
this background and, inspired by a university exchange to France, became
“an ardent internationalist.”

Spicer began his crusade as a professor of international relations and
a commentator on French radio and television in Ottawa. He entered the
political arena seeking John Diefenbaker’s help in setting up Canadian
Overseas Volunteers, a global student aid group. As his media
commentaries increased, so did his profile. He joined the Royal
Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and began to write speeches
for politicians like Mitchell Sharp.

Following stints at The Globe and Mail and the Ottawa Citizen, Spicer
was appointed Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages by Prime
Minister Trudeau. His mandate: to implement the Official Languages Act
that guaranteed English- and French-language equality. He later became
chairman of the Canadian Radio and Television Commission and, in 1990,
chairman of the Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future, consulting
hundreds of thousands of Canadians on the state of Canada, its values
and priorities.

Throughout his career, Spicer managed to navigate through the
bureaucracy while retaining his independence and originality. Now in his
70s, he is back in Paris as a member of the Haut Conseil de la
Francophonie, advising French President Jacques Chirac.

Life Sentences is the candid account of the personal and professional
life of a renaissance man. Spicer’s narrative flows and his anecdotes
are filled with wry humour. He has lived through fascinating times that
will evoke memories of mixed emotions for those of his generation and
set a high bar to emulate for younger readers.