Thursday 2 January 2014

Made in Canada


When I was a little girl, growing up in the city of Toronto and in Thornbury, Ontario on the shores of Georgian Bay, the world in which I lived was populated with the names and brands of goods made in Canada -- a Sunbeam toaster on the kitchen counter, Mitchell's Apple Juice in the refrigerator, my best Sunday winter coat with the rabbit collar from Montreal. All these things made by the hands and through the labour of my family, my neighbours, locally, and in all corners of the northern country which I inhabited.  On the wages we earned from the things we made, we bought homes, we educated our children, we put food on the table, we bought skates and bicycles (made in Canada) on which we sped across the blue ice of our lakes and the gravel roads of our countrysides.

I am not sure when or why it all changed, why we basically stopped making things.  I am not a historian or an economist. But at some point, it seems, our demand for more and cheaper 'stuff' to fill the closets of our ever expanding homes and industry's drive to produce greater and greater profits came together in a perfect storm that has devastated our country both economically and psychologically.  This is not just a Canadian tragedy of course, but I think we might feel it more keenly, because we are a nation that has always struggled with identity, and one of the most important ways we build identity as a nation is through the things we design and build.

And so this gets me to the purpose of this blog -- to celebrate things Canadian made and the people that make them.  This isn't a blog focused on stuff and buying things, but rather I want to explore what these things represent and the stories behind them - Canadian stories. I'll also throw in some remarks about politics, music, and Canadian culture just to shake things up a bit. This is, of course, a personal blog, so I want to highlight things that I love and appeal to my taste and my style, and people whose ethics and purpose align with my idea of what is inherently good and fine and true and reflective of what Canada is and what Canada has the potential to be.

Hello, Bonjour. Welcome.

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