Moved by the State

Forced Relocation and Making a Good Life in Postwar Canada

By Tina Loo
Categories: History, Regional & Cultural Studies, Canadian Studies, Canadian History
Series: Brenda and David McLean Canadian Studies
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774861007, 296 pages, June 2019
Paperback : 9780774861014, 296 pages, November 2019
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774861021, 296 pages, June 2019
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774861038, 296 pages, June 2019
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Table of contents

Introduction

1 “No More Canadians Will Starve!”: Development, Discipline, and Decolonizing the North

2 “The Governmentality Game”: Problematizing, Resettling, and Democratizing Newfoundland

3 “Artisans of Their Destiny”: Participation, Power, and Place in Quebec’s Backcountry

4 “Deviating from the Strict Letter of the Law”: Race, Poverty, and Planning in Postwar Halifax

5 “A Fourth Level of Government”? Urban Renewal, State Power, and Democracy in Vancouver’s East Side

Conclusion

Notes; Bibliography; Index

Description

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Canadian government relocated people living in rural and urban communities, often against their will, in order to alleviate the all-too-common lack of social services and economic opportunities. Moved by the State offers a completely new interpretation of this undertaking, focusing on the bureaucrats and academics who designed and implemented these relocations – and on the larger development project they were pursuing. Tina Loo’s finely crafted history reveals the optimistic belief underpinning postwar relocations: the power of the interventionist state to do good.

Awards

  • Winner, Best Book in Political History, Canadian Historical Association 2020
  • Short-listed, Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History, Canadian Historical Association 2020
  • Short-listed, J.W. Dafoe Book Prize, J.W. Dafoe Foundation 2020

Reviews

…the book is thought-provoking and will inspire discussion among those looking to Canadian social and political challenges of the past, as well as those considering them in the future.

- C. J. Taylor, Parks Canada