A Silver-Tongued Orator

Helen Forsey’s book about her father, Eugene, is a wonderful piece of writing. One would expect a biography from reading the title, Eugene Forsey: Canada’s Maverick Sage. But instead, after an introductory section that quickly condenses his jam-packed curriculum vitae, one reads chapters that describe various aspects of Forsey’s life, from his support for his family to his interests in several political parties and his passions for many policy initiatives that he made part of his political life adventure.

His own book, A Life on the Fringe: The Memoirs of Eugene Forsey, was published in 1990, the year before he died. His daughter Helen, a social activist in her own right, shows him both from a family perspective and through interviews with friends, colleagues and historians, as well as doing tremendous research through her father’s papers and speeches to provide...