Stan left a few holes in his attempts to find quintessentially Canadian stories from each region of the country. He did an amazing job with prairie farmers, Newfy oil-patch workers, ranchers and prospectors. Although bits of “Night Watch” and “Canol Road” make me cringe—no rodeo cowboy would save up for a “farm”—these stories are the more amazing for having arisen from a couple of road trips. But there was a lack of songs about aboriginal communities. “Northwest Passage” is magnificent and brings a tear every time I hear it, but it is of another age. Kelsey and Mackenzie weren’t the “first men”—just the first men with writing and the backing of an industrial society. I’m sure that Stan would have continued to learn history and that these holes would have been filled—if only.

—Morley Eldridge, Victoria