Room for All of Us

In this exciting and revealing personal inquiry, former governor general Adrienne Clarkson explores the immigrant experience through the people who have helped transform Canada.

The Canadians she befriends—whether an Ismaili doctor, a Doukhobor farmer, a Holocaust survivor, or a Vietnam War deserter—illustrate the changing idea of what it means to be Canadian and the kind of country we have created over the decades. Like her, many of the people who came did not have a real choice: they often arrived friendless and with a sense of loss. Yet their struggles and successes have enriched Canada immeasurably.What drove them to become the kind of people they have become? What would have happened to them if Canada had not taken them in? What have they added to our national life us as we go forward in the twenty-first century?

Written with humour, insight and personal revelation, Room for All of Us is a tale of many destinies. Like W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants, Clarkson’s book offers a richly textured, intimate and unforgettable portrait of a changing country and its people.