Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

Springtime Geist

May 4, 2015

Spring has arrived and with it the latest issue of Geist magazine (No.96).

My regular column takes a look at John Ralston Saul's book on Aboriginal rights, The Comeback. Saul thinks that Aboriginal people in Canada have made enormous strides in reversing years of population decline and cultural oppression. They are a success story. Yet the rest of us continue to be preoccupied by stories of failure and distress.

This is a "new form of racism," says Saul, and it stands in the way of a new relationship with Aboriginal people.

Saul is pretty hard on all governments though he is particularly judgmental about Prime Minister Harper, whom, he writes, "is emotionally unable to engage in open, transparent conversations about these issues."

You can find Geist at your favourite magazine stand now.