Table of Contents

Introduction: Canada Is

Chapter One: The Sudden Disappearance of Victoria

Chapter Two: Leaving the Fort

Chapter Three: Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw

Chapter Four: Polar Bear Season

Chapter Five: Sleeping Giant

Chapter Six: The Road to Dawn

Chapter Seven: The Lost Kingdom

Chapter Eight: The Republic of Madawaska

Chapter Nine: “Saint John’s Is Gnawing on My Bones”

Chapter Ten: At L’Anse aux Meadows

Acknowledgments

Sources

About the Author

Award-winning travel writer and novelist WILL FERGUSON is one of Canada’s best-selling writers. His first book, Why I Hate Canadians was a bestseller and established him as an iconoclastic writer; How to Be a Canadian, co-authored with his brother Ian, was a Globe and Mail bestseller for over eighty weeks. His other books of non-fiction include Bastards and Boneheads and Canadian History for Dummies. His first novel, Happiness™, won the 2002 Leacock Medal for Humour and the 2002 Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. He was also awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel 419, and the Crime Writers of Canada Award for The Finder. Will lives in Calgary with his wife, Terumi, and their sons, Alex and Alister.

Reviews

"Yet another masterfully entertaining examination of Canuckishness penned by the Calgary author. . . . In each stop on this coast-to-coast travelogue, Ferguson sneakily wraps a local history lesson in a wickedly entertaining meander through obvious and obscure local landmarks. . . . Insightful and gag-filled. . . . Ferguson’s fascination with Canadiana is infectious." —The Calgary Herald

"Full of surprises . . . and idiosyncratic charms. . . . Travel writers don't always get to climb Everest or visit the Taj Mahal, and they can be judged best by what they come up with on a slow day. Ferguson is good when he's sipping a handful of icy water out of Hudson Bay; he's better eating pancakes in a Finnish restaurant in Thunder Bay. . . . Ferguson proves a companionable guide in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw." —National Post

"Will Ferguson is a talent. He writes refreshingly, provocatively and eloquently. He takes on issues from a contrarian's perspective, but never exceeds the bounds of reason. He looks for the essence and his search brings out some smashingly insightful stuff." —Ottawa Citizen

"Ferguson's strength does not lie in whether he writes funny or not. His strength is that he writes so well." —The Times-Colonist

"[Ferguson] delves into the soul of the cities he visits, sometimes climbing into helicopters, seaplanes and kayaks, and attending underground poetry slams." —Airlines

"Ferguson takes readers on this quest for hidden gold in the best tradition of the true Canadian voyageur. He uncovers nuggets of hidden treasure in the stories of small towns and their resilient people. The landscape itself proves larger than life. He mixes the historical with the contemporary, adds a touch of humour and brings readers close to his subjects—in a way that only he can manage. . . . For those of us who seek to know that place beyond the horizon, this is a great journey and a great read." —The Costco Connection, Buyer’s Pick

"[Ferguson's] writing leaves nothing to be desired. It's got a kind of This Hour Has 22 Minutes shtick that generally has readers guffawing in public spaces. . . . His vast historical knowledge . . . adds intellectual credibility to what is already a hilarious read." —Georgia Straight

"You'll enjoy this book. . . . Ferguson [gives us] lively, thought-provoking riffs on Canadian culture. . . . Anyone who can spin a tale as well as Ferguson, while peppering it with trenchant and often humorous commentary on what it means to be a Canadian traveling through Canada, will easily grab and hold the reader's attention for the more than 300 pages that make up this book." —Quill & Quire

Praise for Will Ferguson:
"The funniest writer in Canada." —National Post

"Ferguson possesses a crafty eye for detail, not to mention a highly developed understanding of the essential folly in what passes for everyday life." —Edmonton Journal

"Lively, knowledgeable, opinionated, disrespectful, debatable, and immensely readable." —The Gazette (Montreal)

Ferguson (Happiness; Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan) spent three years exploring the "outposts and enclaves" of Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland, and the result is a travel narrative that is "subjective and site-specific." Indeed, Ferguson succeeds in showing Canada's diversity, from the colonial ambiance of Victoria, British Columbia, to the tundra of Churchill, Manitoba, populated by polar bears. He travels to Moose Jaw to tell the tragic story of Tom Sukanen, a Finnish immigrant who spent much of his life and savings building a ship that was to sail him home. Today, the ship still lies in the midst of the prairie in Saskatchewan where Sukanen left it. He also visits the Republic of Madawaska, which lies on the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick, and exists only for tourism purposes; the fjords of Saguenay and the fiercely separatist community of Chicoutimi in Quebec; and the Dawn Settlement, the terminus of the Underground Railroad and a flourishing transplanted African American community in Ontario. Ferguson, who has rightly been compared to Bill Bryson, is a skilled guide to these unique places, successfully capturing their past and the present in a narrative laced with humor and spectacular prose. This illuminating account of our northern neighbor is highly recommended for all libraries.-Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

"Yet another masterfully entertaining examination of Canuckishness penned by the Calgary author. . . . In each stop on this coast-to-coast travelogue, Ferguson sneakily wraps a local history lesson in a wickedly entertaining meander through obvious and obscure local landmarks. . . . Insightful and gag-filled. . . . Ferguson's fascination with Canadiana is infectious." -The Calgary Herald

"Full of surprises . . . and idiosyncratic charms. . . . Travel writers don't always get to climb Everest or visit the Taj Mahal, and they can be judged best by what they come up with on a slow day. Ferguson is good when he's sipping a handful of icy water out of Hudson Bay; he's better eating pancakes in a Finnish restaurant in Thunder Bay. . . . Ferguson proves a companionable guide in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw." -National Post

"Will Ferguson is a talent. He writes refreshingly, provocatively and eloquently. He takes on issues from a contrarian's perspective, but never exceeds the bounds of reason. He looks for the essence and his search brings out some smashingly insightful stuff." -Ottawa Citizen

"Ferguson's strength does not lie in whether he writes funny or not. His strength is that he writes so well." -The Times-Colonist

"[Ferguson] delves into the soul of the cities he visits, sometimes climbing into helicopters, seaplanes and kayaks, and attending underground poetry slams." -Airlines

"Ferguson takes readers on this quest for hidden gold in the best tradition of the true Canadian voyageur. He uncovers nuggets of hidden treasure in the stories of small towns and their resilient people. The landscape itself proves larger than life. He mixes the historical with the contemporary, adds a touch of humour and brings readers close to his subjects-in a way that only he can manage. . . . For those of us who seek to know that place beyond the horizon, this is a great journey and a great read." -The Costco Connection, Buyer's Pick

"[Ferguson's] writing leaves nothing to be desired. It's got a kind of This Hour Has 22 Minutes shtick that generally has readers guffawing in public spaces. . . . His vast historical knowledge . . . adds intellectual credibility to what is already a hilarious read." -Georgia Straight

"You'll enjoy this book. . . . Ferguson [gives us] lively, thought-provoking riffs on Canadian culture. . . . Anyone who can spin a tale as well as Ferguson, while peppering it with trenchant and often humorous commentary on what it means to be a Canadian traveling through Canada, will easily grab and hold the reader's attention for the more than 300 pages that make up this book." -Quill & Quire

Praise for Will Ferguson:
"The funniest writer in Canada." -National Post

"Ferguson possesses a crafty eye for detail, not to mention a highly developed understanding of the essential folly in what passes for everyday life." -Edmonton Journal

"Lively, knowledgeable, opinionated, disrespectful, debatable, and immensely readable." -The Gazette (Montreal)