An Extraordinary Thanksgiving
In A Fair Country, John Ralston Saul wrote of Canada as a Métis nation, built on aboriginal principles such as egalitarianism. Adrienne Clarkson, his wife and former Governor General, gave the 2014 Massy Lectures, Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship, focusing in on the challenge of massive population shifts throughout history and the impact of immigrants on our country's contemporary realities. Together, they address the tapestry that is Canada, woven as it is of First Nations, European colonizers, and the varied waves of immigrants that have come to know Canada as home.
Enter Paul Yee whose life is lived out in the warp and weft of this Canadian tapestry.
Paul is a Chinese Canadian, born on the prairies and raised in Chinatown in Vancouver. Since responding to an invitation from a publisher to write a children's story set in his childhood neighbourhood, he has written over twenty-five books, many of them award winners. Ghost Train won the 1996 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature. His first work of fiction for adults, A Superior Man, published this year by Arsenal Pulp Press, allows him to lean into the challenges that lie in between the fibres of our Canada: its relationship to First Nations, to immigrants, and how that relationship continues to be defined by the as yet dominant white population.
Thanksgiving is a time when Canadians acknowledge the bounty of this land. It is an opportunity for us to be keenly aware of the relationships and treaties forged in the early days of our nationhood. It is unlikely that we have ever taken time on this festive day to acknowledge the efforts made by non-European immigrants and the power and energy they brought to the shores of this land. Even less likely are we to consider the cost borne by Chinese immigrants when the railway Canada had hired them to build was complete. But never before will we have been introduced to the extraordinary way in which Chinese immigrants and First Nations people and communities interacted in the face of Canada's indifference.
This Thanksgiving, we welcome that story as it comes to us in the form of Paul Yee. It will be a time for truth-telling and a time for bravery. It will be a time for sharing and a time for expressing regret. But mostly, it will be a time for thanksgiving.
Those who share this time with us will, for perhaps the first time ever, understand and appreciate the exquisite beauty of the Canadian tapestry in all its vibrant, chaotic, and pain-filled history. We hope you join us.
Sunday, October 11, 10:30 a.m.
A Superior Man will be available for sale at the church and Paul will stay to engage in conversation and sign copies.