Book Description

How did British colonists in Victorian Montreal come to think of themselves as "native Canadian"? This incisive, richly illustrated work reveals that colonists adopted Aboriginal and French Canadian activities -- hunting, lacrosse, snowshoeing, and tobogganing -- and appropriated them by imposing British ideologies of order, discipline, and fair play. In the process, they constructed national attributes, or visual icons, that were recognized at home and abroad as distinctly "Canadian." The new Canadian nationality mimicked indigenous characteristics but, ultimately, rejected indigenous players, and championed the interests of white, middle-class, Protestant males who used their newly acquired identity to dominate the political realm. Becoming Native in a Foreign Land demonstrates that English Canadian identity was not formed solely by emulating what was British, it gained enormous ground by usurping what was indigenous in the fertile landscape of a foreign land. It will appeal to scholars and enthusiasts of Canadian history, identity, and culture.