Backgrounder - Writing Discover Canada

In developing the new citizenship study guide, many respected Canadians were consulted and provided comments that helped inform the final text. They include public figures and authors with unique perspectives on Canada.

• Randy Boyagoda, novelist, professor and contributor to The Walrus magazine
• Marc Chalifoux, Executive Vice-President of the Historica-Dominion Institute
• General John de Chastelain, former soldier, Chief of the Defence Staff and Canadian Ambassador to Washington
• The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General and co-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship
• Andrew Cohen, President of the Historica-Dominion Institute and author of The Unfinished Canadian
• Xavier Gélinas, historian, author of La droite intellectuelle québécoise et la Révolution tranquille (The Quebec Intellectual Right and the Quiet Revolution) and curator at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Jack Granatstein, author of Who Killed Canadian History? and former Director and CEO of the Canadian War Museum
• Rudyard Griffiths, author of Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto, board member of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and co-founder of the Dominion Institute
• Lynda Haverstock, former Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan and first female leader of a political party in Canada
• Senator Serge Joyal, advocate for the language, art, heritage and culture of Quebec
• Margaret MacMillan, eminent Canadian historian, author of Paris 1919 and historian at Oxford University
• J.R. Miller, author of Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens, Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Residential Schools and Sweet Promises: A Reader in Indian-White Relations in Canada; Canada Research Chair in Native-Newcomer Relations and professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan
• Jacques Monet, S.J., author of The Last Cannon Shot: A Study of French-Canadian Nationalism, Director of the Canadian Institute of Jesuit Studies in Toronto and leading historian
• Desmond Morton, former advisor to Tommy Douglas and the New Democratic Party, founding director of McGill’s Institute for the Study of Canada and well-known Canadian historian
• Bernard Pothier, historian of Acadia and former pre-Confederation historian at the Canadian War Museum

• John Ralston Saul, novelist, essayist and activist, and co-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship

In addition, organizations involved in the promotion of Canadian identity and citizenship were also asked for guidance on the development of a new citizenship study guide. These include:

• Canada’s National History Society
• The Historica-Dominion Institute
• The Institute for Canadian Citizenship
• The Association of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada

Many others provided their views and advice through the development of Discover Canada. For a full list of everyone who contributed to it, please consult the acknowledgment section of the guide.

While many individuals and organizations assisted in the writing of the new citizenship guide, authority for the final product rests with the Government of Canada.