Le Livre noir du Canada anglais

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Book jacket of the first volume reprint.

Le Livre noir du Canada Anglais (The Black Book of English Canada) is a series of three polemic books written by Quebec journalist Normand Lester. The essays relate what are, from the author's point of view, historical fabrications and injustices in Canada, notably those against the Quebecois, Jewish and aboriginal peoples.

1 Description
2 Volumes
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Description

The books were meant as a response to perceived Quebec bashing in the English Canadian press following the 1995 Quebec referendum, and the propaganda offensive of Ottawa against the Quebec sovereignty movement that would later develop into the sponsorship scandal. According to Lester, the English Canadian media was quick to pick up on stories that were distorted or untruthful, such as the supposed singing of a Nazi anthem at an early sovereigntist rally, which was actually an unrelated song with a similar title.

Generally, the books seek to disprove many of the claims of anti-sovereigntists, attempting to show that the Quebec sovereignty movement is not inherently fascist and anti-semitic, and that these prejudices were in plentiful supply in English Canada. Volume one was first to reveal the secret funding of fascist Adrien Arcand by former Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett (see the 'Controversy' section of the R. B. Bennett article). Its publication resulted in the suspension of Lester by the Société Radio-Canada, which was criticized by some Quebec seperatists as an attack on free speech by an organization they accuse of a federalist bias.