Resisting Canada

The poems included in Resisting Canada address, among other things, Indigenous agency, cultural belonging, environmental anxieties, and racial privilege. These poems ask us to judge and resist a statecraft that refuses to acknowledge past and present wrongs. Think of Resisting Canada as a poetic letter to Canada’s politicians and leaders.

Resisting Canada gathers together 28 poets for a conversation bigger than poetic trends. Its organizing principle is Canada—the Canada that established residential schools; the Canada grappling with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; the Canada that has been visible in its welcome of Syrian refugees, yet the not-always-tolerant place where the children of those refugees will grow up; the Canada eager to re-establish its global leadership on the environment while struggling to acknowledge Indigenous sovereignty on resource-rich land and enabling further colonization of that land. In the face of global conflicts due to climate change, scarcity, mass migrations, and the rise of xenophobic populisms, Canada still works with a surface understanding of its democratic values—both at their noblest and most deceptive.

The poets: Jordan Abel James Arthur Marie Annharte Baker Billy-Ray Belcourt Wayde Compton Beth Cuthand Rosanna Deerchild Marilyn Dumont Marvin FrancisLouise Bernice Halfe-Sky Dancer Jim Johnstone El Jones Christine Leclerc Canisia Lubrin Lee Maracle Sachiko Murakami Arleen Paré Michael Prior Shane Rhodes Janet Rogers Armand Garnet Ruffo Ingrid Ruthig Gregory A. Scofield Leanne Betasamosake Simpson Karen Solie Moez Surani Derek Webster Rita Wong

Reviews

“Resisting Canada… slices through the narrative of Canadian exceptionalism…. It is a searing critique of a settler state that continues to silence, abuse, and oppress Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, and features the work of new and established figures in contemporary poetry: Lee Maracle, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Canisia Lubrin, and Billy-Ray Belcourt, among many others.” – Marcela Huerta, Montreal Review of Books

“This is not an anthology of cheeky bon mots about the scoundrels in Parliament, nor is it too interested in relitigating the nationalist project of Canadian literature; rather, Resisting Canada questions the integrity of Canadian statehood…. What makes Resisting Canada stand out among other recent Canadian poetry anthologies is not simply its editor’s unapologetic polemicism or the defiant spirit of its poems but the way these strands are inextricably integrated.” – Bardia Sinaee, Quill & Quire