John Ralston Saul makes the declaration we are a "métis nation" pointing as much to national identity as to a roadmap for our future.

CBC Radio rebroadcast (originally aired in April '09) the 2009 UBC-Laurier Institution Multiculturalism Lecture The Aboriginal Peoples and New Canadians: The Missing Conversation (available for four weeks as July 13 podcast).

His coterie:

"It's crucial that all Canadians cultivate an understanding of our Aboriginal heritage, and the role Aboriginal people played in the development of Canada," says Beverly Sabourin, Vice Provost (Aboriginal Initiatives) at Lakehead University. "Understanding our common history and our respective roles will help guide us into the future, allowing all of us to collaborate in building a "fair country."(Lakehead U Talk)

"In one of the strongest and most convincing passages in the book, he argues that the 'single greatest failure of the Canadian experiment, so far, has been our inability to normalize - that is, to internalize consciously - the First Nations as the senior founding pillar of our civilization. In such a normal situation, we would ask for their advice as a matter of course, look for the input of our First Nations on all the great questions of the day.'(Literary Review of Canada)

His critics:

"... extremely frustrating for a Canadian scholar"(Matthew Hayday | Pample the Moose)

"Saul deals well with a number of "truths" but his notion of "fairness" brims with misplaced self satisfaction."(Joerge Dyrkton)

Allan Gregg in conversation: John Ralston Saul - A Fair Country

- See: Politics

:: note :: ... insightful on the days before July 1 ...