Great Canadian Lives: Portraits in Heroism to 1867

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

The 150 biographical portraits in this book tell not only the lives of the individuals themselves but also the story of Canada’s past. Beginning with explorers before 1600, the history progresses to settlers from 1660 to 1663, the days of New France (1663-1763), the English conquest (1763-1812), the turmoil of the nineteenth century (1812-1850), and the beginnings of a country from sea to sea (1850-1867). The jacket promises a second volume in 1987 but does not specify its contents; presumably it will cover Great Canadians from 1867 to today. We read about old faces memorized in grade school: John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Poutrincourt, Champlain, Charles de La Tour, Frontenac, Robert de La Salle, Wolfe and Montcalm, Brock. Many of the names are not familiar: Thanadelthur, Jean-Louis de Loutre, Mikak of Labrador. Twenty-seven of the portraits are of women.

Each portrait consists of one page, occasionally two, of narrative and pictures. The narrative is brief (sometimes too brief), concise, and factual with a vocabulary that early grade schoolers will understand. The Preface suggests it is “not a book to read all at once” — a just warning as the even, factual tone quickly becomes monotonous. Each portrait is a unit in itself and does not depend on information in another portrait, thus making the book an excellent quick reference on both famous and obscure Canadians. The pictures consist of reproductions of paintings and many color drawings by a large number of individual artists. In the Picture Credits, these artists are merely mentioned by name, suggesting that the drawings were commissioned for the book. A disappointing number of these drawings are quite poor, although they do succeed in representing the subject at hand. Some of the portraits are presented in a different style: each paragraph is numbered to show the sequence, with color drawings interspersed. These, almost without exception, are choppy and inadequate. The paintings, on the other hand, are well chosen and are provided with informative captions.

A few of the portraits are called “How They Lived” and are mini-stories. These are colorful little vignettes and do indeed show how the people lived.

There are not nearly enough maps: only two, and of those two, the one showing “French Settlements in Northeastern North America 1650” (p.49) has Port Royal in the wrong place.

There is a detailed Table of Contents, an extensive list of Picture Credits, and an Index. The Index is very general and does not provide access to such interesting bits of information as the source of Halifax’s Neptune Theatre’s name (p.40). There is no bibliography to list where the information was found or to offer suggestions for further reading. Abbreviations “c” and “fl” are used freely with dates, but these are not explained — surely necessary for younger readers.

Canadian Lives: Portraits in Heroism to 1867 puts Canadian history from pre-1600 to 1876 in a nutshell for young readers and old.