CANADA COMPANY

organization instrumental in colonizing much of the western part of Upper Canada (now Ontario). Many residents of Upper Canada had incurred losses during the War of 1812 and subsequently claimed an indemnity from the British government. The latter agreed to pay a portion of the claims if the government of Upper Canada provided the remainder. At the suggestion of John Galt, an agent of the claimants, the authorities in Upper Canada decided to raise their share of the indemnity by selling the crown lands in the western part of the province to a company that would settle them. The Canada Company was formed in 1824 and chartered on Aug. 19, 1826. It obtained about 2,500,000 acres (1,000,000 hectares) of land in Upper Canada, for which it made annual payments to the provincial government until 1843. Galt was named secretary and, in 1827, superintendent of the company. He founded the towns of Galt and Goderich, built a road to Goderich, and brought settlers in to develop the area. His work was considered to be too costly, however, and in 1829 he was replaced by Thomas Mercer Jones. The company, often criticized as a monopoly in its active days, continued in existence until the 1950s. Cultural life Totem poles from various tribes native to British Columbia, in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada. The culture of the English-speaking Canadian people is a blend of British and American influences; that of the French-speaking people blends French and American influences. In general, the way of life, family structure, cuisine, and dress are closer to those of the United States than to those of Britain or France. Canada has become a cultural mosaic in which immigrant groups have been able to retain much of their ethnic culture. The British and French heritage, plus the influence of the United States, has led to broad diversity of artistic endeavour in Canada, a diversity further encouraged by groups of other national origins and a widely dispersed population. The major metropolitan centres have provided several focal points for artistic activity stimulated by a rapidly urbanizing society. Since 1950 economic growth has provided all Canadians with greater means for the practice and enjoyment of the arts, and the influx of immigrants from many countries has increased both the audience and the pool of available talent. Most provincial governments provide some form of financial assistance for the arts and for cultural organizations within their borders; and some have advisory and funding councils for the arts. At the national level the Canada Council was established in 1957 to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is funded by an endowment, by an annual grant from the federal government, and by private donations. The annual Governor General's Literary Awards, the preeminent literary prizes in Canada, have served to reward Canadian writers as well as to publicize Canadian literature through ceremonies held in various centres across the country. Literature The first truly Canadian literary works were written in French by explorers, missionaries, and settlers, and many of them became the inspiration of subsequent writings. Some were notable literature, such as Marc Lescarbot's Histoire de la Nouvelle France (1609). The first major contribution in English was made by Thomas Haliburton of Nova Scotia, with his The Clockmaker; or, The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville (1836). The years following were also marked by some works that have become classicsWilliam Kirby's Golden Dog (1877), Robert W. Service's Trail of '98, the humorous works of Stephen Leacock, and the long series of Jalna novels by Mazo de la Roche. Natural and vigorous French-Canadian writing was held back by a sense of isolation, strict Roman Catholicism, a small and relatively unsophisticated audience, and a tendency to favour academic and formal literary styles and themes. The 1940s witnessed the emergence of Canadian writers of the first rank. Hugh MacLennan established himself as a writer of international importance with Barometer Rising (1941) and Two Solitudes (1945), Thomas Raddall with His Majesty's Yankees (1942), and W.O. Mitchell with Who Has Seen the Wind? (1947). Gabrielle Roy's novel Bonheur d'Occasion (1945) was an immediate success, and Le Survenant (1945), by Germaine Guvremont, placed its author in the forefront of French-language novelists, in both Montreal and Paris. Still later came the novels of Robertson Davies and the satires of Mordecai Richler. The French-Canadian novel, long handicapped by sentimentality and stilted prose, went beyond even hard realism into the psychological realm with Marie-Claire Blais's La Bell Bte (1959). In the 1960s and '70s other important authors, among them Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, and Margaret Atwood, emerged to international prominence and made significant contributions on into the 1980s. In the 1980s Davies wrote a successful trilogy of novels, and Richler produced his most ambitious work, Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989). Although the growth of competent novel writing was the main feature of Canada's literary scene after World War I, the period saw marked changes in the work of Canadian poets. John McCrae's In Flanders Fields (1919) was the only important Canadian verse related to the 191418 conflict, but since then E.J. Pratt, Earle Birney, Irving Layton, Anne Hbert, James Reaney, Al Purdy, and Ralph Gustafson, among others, have attracted widespread attention.