The Muses, the Masses and the Massey Commission

Raymond B. Blake is a history professor at York University.

This book examines the origins, philosophy, workings, and impact of the
Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and
Sciences. But there is more here than a history of the Massey Report (so
named for the royal commission’s chair, Vincent Massey); this is a
book about how Massey, the other commissioners, and the cultural elite
in Canada saw the nation’s development.

The commission believed that Canada had to be protected from the
popular/mass culture that had overtaken and destroyed liberty in the
United States. How was this to be achieved? Quite simply, the federal
government had to play an interventionist role and save Canada by
promoting high culture. Thereafter, high culture and patriotism became
one and the same: the former, a necessary part of education in a liberal
democracy, had to be popularized in order to develop a unique Canadian
culture and identity.

The elitism of the commission was evident in its disdain for
popular/mass culture and belief that only it knew what was best for
Canadians. Hilda Neatby, one of the commissioners, feared that granting
wider access to universities would only reduce the quality of education;
only through public radio (the CBC) could a unique Canadian culture
emerge, as private broadcasting would depend too much on American
programming. In fact, the commission’s goal was to promote high
culture as national culture and make it more accessible to the average
Canadian; there was no consideration of what the average Canadian might
want.

Litt suggests that the role of the Massey Commission in the development
of Canadian culture was not as important as many of its supporters have
maintained. (Less than 10 percent of the commission’s recommendations
had been implemented two years after the report was presented to
Parliament.) Rather, he sees the commission and its report as a
reflection of Canada’s national aspirations in the aftermath of World
War II, and as an instrument that helped pave the way in making culture
a legitimate government concern.