Canadian Studies Subject Guide: Reference & Web Sources

What has long been the most thoroughly researched account of the Komagata Maru incident is now released in a new and expanded edition. At the centre of the event are the ship's nearly 400 Punjabi passengers, who sought entry into Canada at Vancouver in the summer of 1914, only to be chased away by a Canadian warship. This story became a symbol of prejudicial immigration policies that Canadians today reject and served to fuel the emerging anti-British movement in India. It deserves the careful re-examination it gets in this thoroughly updated edition that provides a contemporary perspective on a defining moment in Canadian, British Empire, and Indian history.

Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan provide an unprecedented look behind the curtain of Canadian politics. Based on their exit interviews with several dozen retired MPs, they share observations about the practice of politics in Canada: the accidental arrival of many in political life; the mystery of what an MP is actually supposed to do in office; the role of the political party in an MP's life; and how complicated that role becomes whenever the media starts paying attention.

The Senate of Canada was created as a temporary expedient at the time of Confederation, offered as part of the negotiations to bring Canada's original colonial provinces into the new political union in the mid-1860s. Since then, the original provinces with upper houses abolished them. New provinces were created without second chambers to their legislatures. Only the Parliament of Canada remains stuck with its redundant and irrelevant colonial relic, costly to maintain and out of step with the values of a modern democratic country. Today, the Senate of Canada is rocked by ongoing scandal. News of this far-reaching scandal rightly disturbs Canadians, but the real national scandal is the very existence of the Senate itself.