From assaults on historical figures such as John A. Macdonald to cancel culture and charges that Canada is a brutal nation-state, the country that every generation and every immigrant built is now facing routine and corrosive attacks. How did this happen? In this new book, twenty critical thinkers provide answers: we are awash in relentless grievance narratives and utopians who expect Canada's history to be perfect. The rise of critical theory, identity politics, and ideological politics in the education system also play a part. The authors challenge the naysayers and their caustic criticisms, but also offer a positive path forward. They show how truth-telling, informed history, and renewing a Canada where citizens reject divisions based on colour and gender, and instead unite around laudable, time-tested ideas will create a freer, flourishing Canada for all.

Includes index.

Foreword: Canada: The centuries-long project /Mark Milke -- The four doctrines of the Apocalypse: Critical Theory and our compromised institutions / Bruce Pardy -- Cancel culture harms journalists, journalism, and citizenship / Gordon Clark -- How a professor was cancelled by academic Stalinists on campus / Bruce Gilley -- The fight against Critical Race Theory at and Ontario school board / David Millard Haskell -- I know what identity politics does to a nation: I'm from Lebanon / Rima Azar -- Is Canada systematically racist? / Matthew Lau -- Carving out a country: From Magna Carta to Confederation / John Robson -- Sir John A. MacDonald saved more indigenous lives than any other prime minister / Greg Piasetzki -- How a "Maker of Canada" was framed: The unjust treatment of Egerton Ryerson / Lynn McDonald -- A crime against Sir Matthew Begbie's humanity / Peter Shawn Taylor -- Halifax cancels its founding father: The case of Edward Cornwallis / Leo J. Deveau -- Struggle and success: A balanced account of women in early Canada / Janice Fiamengo -- The British colonial achievement and its deniers / C.P. Champion -- A new challenge for Canadians of any colour: Remixed racism / Jamil Jivani -- How the Yukon Court of Appeal denied Charter rights to an Aboriginal Canadian / Peter Best -- Indigenous peoples have a chance, if they grasp it / Joseph Quesnel -- How teaching the full history of world slavery frees us from selective guilt / Marjorie Gann -- The problem with Canada's "woke" self-loathing: A view from abroad / Gourav Jaswal -- Ideas, immigrants, and the future of Canada / Ven Venkatachalam and Mark Milke -- Renewing the peaceable kingdom: Why ideas and not identities should matter / Mark Milke -- Acknowledgements -- Endnotes -- Index -- About the Aristotle Foundation.