Chin Up, Canada

Donald J. Savoie’s remarkable career as a scholar, policy analyst, and occasional government insider has brought him many honours, and in this very personal book, his love for a Canada that he believes “offers more advantages to its citizens than any other country” shines through. At the same time, he bemoans how our politics and sense of self have been soured by widespread claims of victimhood by Canadians in all regions and, seemingly, all walks of life. He believes such a mentality is rarely justified, with Indigenous and Black communities being exceptions for which he makes a heartfelt appeal for more help.

Savoie’s perspective is coloured by his belonging to the Acadian community in New Brunswick. Pushed inland by the British, his ancestors settled in tiny Saint-Maurice, on “the land that God gave Cain.” For generations, Acadians survived “by clinging to one another, by living...