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Moved by the State

Forced Relocation and Making a Good Life in Postwar Canada

Tina Loo author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of British Columbia Press

Published:1st Jun '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Moved by the State cover

“Why don’t they just move?” This reductive question is asked whenever reports surface of the all-too-common lack of social services and economic opportunities in Canada’s rural and urban communities. But why are certain people and places vulnerable? And who is responsible for a remedy?

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Canadian government relocated people, often against their will, in order to improve their lives. Moved by the State offers a completely new interpretation of this undertaking, seeing it as part of a larger project of development and focusing on the bureaucrats and academics who designed, implemented, and monitored the relocations rather than on those who were uprooted.

In this finely crafted history, Tina Loo explores the contradiction between intention and consequence as diverse communities across Canada were resettled. In the process, she reveals the optimistic belief underpinning postwar relocations: the power of the interventionist state to do good.

…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 * Prairie History *

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

ISBN: 9780774861007

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 560g

296 pages