In The True North: How Canadian Creativity Changed the World, D. Paul Schafer explores the extraordinary legacy of generations of Canadian artists, inventors, scientists, politicians, and activists—a legacy of creativity that has not only shaped today’s Canada but has made a huge impact on the world as a whole. Among the many fascinating facts you’ll learn while reading The True North:
• Alexander Graham Bell is best-known as the inventor of the telephone, but he was active in many other fields of invention, including aviation and the development of the hydrofoil.
• Anne Innis Dagg, known for her pioneering work on the behaviour of giraffes, comes from a family renowned for its contributions to Canadian scholarship: her father, Harold Innis, was a celebrated economic historian and her mother, Mary Quayle Innis, a noted author and academic administrator.
• When the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA championship, the whole country rejoiced, particularly because the roots of this internationally popular sport can be traced back to the game’s inventor, James Naismith, a Canadian, who was born in Almonte, Ontario.
• Canada is a world leader in adult education, early childhood education, and the creation of greater opportunities for people with disabilities, with major contributions from such figures as J. Roby Kidd, Fraser Mustard, Henry Enns, Jean Vanier, Terry Fox, and Rick Hansen earning worldwide recognition.
In addition to describing the many ways in which Canadian creativity has shaped the world, the author in his concluding chapter also considers how these and other contributions might be enhanced and expanded in the years ahead, particularly in such areas as the environment, multiculturalism, the arts, and artificial intelligence.
