Skip to content

From the archives

A Tragedy of Our Own

The Air India bombing and how we live with the past

Playing the Rights Card

A history of Canadian foreign policy as domestic theatre

Two Other Solitudes

The India-Canada relationship has taken a long time to develop

Sarah Jennings

Sarah Jennings is a political and cultural writer in Ottawa and the author of Art and Politics: The History of the National Arts Centre.

Articles by
Sarah Jennings

Extreme Makeover

What kind of capital city will a multibillion-dollar renovation of Parliament create? January 2017
A chapter in Design of Cities, by urban planner, architect and author Edmund Bacon, is entitled “Glory of Exuberance.” In it, Bacon cites Canada’s Parliament buildings and their governmental environs as “one of the finest expressions of Victorian exuberance in the world.” The glory of the work he noted is marked not only by its mostly neo-Gothic style architecture but also by its magnificent…

Gardens of Mourning

The vast, idealistic effort to bury World War One's fallen soldiers July–August 2014
In this year of remembrance of the outbreak of the First World War, no more profound symbol of the carnage and valour can be found than in the cemeteries, created and still maintained by the Commonwealth (formerly Imperial) War Graves Commission. Although monuments to fallen heroes have existed since ancient times, never before had all the military casualties of war been commemorated in such a formal and physically defined…

Artistic Autocrat

The creator of Canada’s National Ballet was charming and ruthless January–February 2012
Dance historian Carol Bishop-Gwyn has selected a fascinating personality to write about in her choice of the classical dance czarina Celia Franca, whose ruthless dedication led to the creation of one of Canada’s most esteemed arts companies, The National Ballet of Canada. This is a portrait of one of the most crucial figures in our post-war artistic and cultural…