We independently select everything we recommend.
asserted
we → select → everything
Buying through us may earn us a commission, which supports our work.
uncertain
which → buy → work
If only Americans better understood Canada and its people.
asserted
Americans → understand → Canada
That’s a thought many Canadians have shared in recent years, especially as the widening trade spat has disrupted cross-border travel and trade.
asserted
spat → ’ → travel
But those tensions have not stopped one American octogenarian — no, not that one — from sharing his many thoughts on Canada.
asserted
tensions → stop → Canada
Famed travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux, 85, recently released his 12th travel book, True North: On the Road in Canada, detailing his cross-country trek and the conversations and discoveries made along the way between 2022 and 2025.
asserted
writer → release → 2022
To better understand what everyone can gain by travelling across Canada, National Post spoke with Theroux to hear what he learned about his family’s Canadian roots, today’s sense of national unity, Canada’s disappointment in its southern neighbour, and the important role Canada has always played in American society and culture.
asserted
Canada → understand → society
This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.
asserted
Q&A → edit → clarity
You went to Yamaska, Quebec, looking for your family’s Canadian roots.
asserted
You → go → roots
What did you discover that you hadn’t known from your family’s stories?
asserted
you → discover → stories
I knew very little about my ancestors or what they did, where they came from, and I realized that they were pioneers and that when the original ancestor, Antoine, came here, he was 18 years old.
asserted
he → know → where
He came from a small village near Toulouse called Verdun-sur-Garonne, and arrived in Canada a callow youth.
asserted
He → come → Canada
He didn’t even speak French — he was a Gascon speaker.
asserted
he → speak → French
He hooked up with other Gascons.
asserted
He → hook → Gascons
He was also involved in (Louis de Buade, Comte de) Frontenac’s last big campaign against the Onondaga people, a punitive mission, actually.
asserted
He → involve → people
Two thousand soldiers went to the Onondaga territory with Frontenac, who was in his seventies then, leading them.
asserted
who → go → them
He was carried.
asserted
He → carry → ?
They were there trying to punish First Nation people, but they did a very wise thing.
asserted
they → try → thing
They actually disappeared.
asserted
They → disappear → ?
They just withdrew from their village.
asserted
They → withdraw → village
Antoine later retired and became a farmer in Yamaska.
asserted
Antoine → retire → Yamaska
And here’s the interesting part: He went to Yamaska, following one of his children there in 1707, and died there in 1759, the pivotal year … of the fall of Quebec.
asserted
He → ’ → Quebec
The family’s still there.
asserted
family → ’ → ?
So here’s a Canadian story — a family that goes to a small village.
asserted
that → ’ → village
The patriarch goes there, has children; his children live there, and they become farmers.
asserted
they → go → children
Three hundred years later, they’re still there.
asserted
they → ’re → ?
That’s not an American story.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
I don’t know any American (families) who, 300 years later, are still in the same place, still farming, still struggling, and still speaking the language.
asserted
who → know → language
I was going back to a place where I have family.
asserted
I → go → family
That has never happened to me in travel.
asserted
That → happen → travel
It’s a wonderful experience, actually.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
And a very sobering experience too, because, as you know, a lot of the Québécois couldn’t find work, so hundreds of thousands of them came to New England, like my grandfather, and settled, worked in the mills, had children, like my father.
asserted
thousands → know → father
So it’s not only a trip to Canada, it’s a trip to the past.
asserted
it → ’ → past
It’s connection with the family.
asserted
It → ’ → family
Did hearing Indigenous people’s stories change how you thought about your own family’s place in Canada?
asserted
you → hear → Canada
Yes, but it’s a divided loyalty because I have First Nation ancestry.
asserted
I → ’ → ancestry
My grandmother was related to — she was Anishinaabe Nipissing, and she was born in Belleville, but one of her ancestors was First Nation.
asserted
one → relate → ancestors
I’m very proud of the bravery, the boldness of an 18-year-old who leaves his village, crosses an ocean, goes to a place that’s impossibly cold and inhospitable, and survives it.
asserted
that → ’m → it
A lot of the French who went to Nouvelle France went back to France.
asserted
who → go → France
They got homesick and went back, or they went to the American colonies.
But he didn’t, he stayed.
asserted
he → get → colonies
…and 149 more, not listed.
The Aporia
