The Call of the North
Excerpt of a speech given by PM Stephen Harper to an audience in Yellowknife (source):
The understanding that most Southerners have of the North has been shaped more by romantic imagery than practical experience.
We grew up on the history of explorers like Hudson, Franklin, Frobisher and Amundsen.
We read the stories of writers like Pierre Berton, Farley Mowat, Jack London and Robert Service.
We perceived the North through the paintings of Lawren Harris and Frederick Varley, and the creations of Inuit sculptors.
All of these things - and the harsh climate that touches all Canadians at least some part of the year - have planted the North deep in the Canadian soul.
We live in a northern country. We see ourselves as a northern people.
But it’s largely a concept of the North as it was, not the North as it is or, more importantly, the North as it could be.
Was it?
