2022 Debates

What did you think of the Day One debate?

I enjoyed the debates. I thought the panelists were thoughtful, insightful and respectful.

It looks like Five Little Indians will be the one to beat....anxious to see what Day 2 will hold.

I agree. I am expecting "Five Little Indians" to win. I guess we'll see as the week goes on!

So far, so good! I enjoyed watching today's debate. They all seem very passionate about their own books, but also excited about the others. I think CBC should send a box of chocolates to everyone who is watching along.

Artless was a little harsh, ouch. I do wonder if that is truly the word he was looking for or whether something was lost in translation. Either way, I think that comment definitely helped get that book eliminated.

Very good debate today! Still thinking Five Little Indians will take it.

>4 Yells: I think it is perhaps a translation issue.

I think the calibre of the debates is one of the highest I have ever seen on Canada Reads. Everyone seems so well prepared and so engaged in finding the best book to connect Canadians. So far, the eliminations have been just as I expected. I think Washington Black will go tomorrow.

I, too, am enjoying the debates this year. The panel is excellent. What Strange Paradise was my favourite of the five books, but I'm almost certain Five Little Indians will win. And not undeservedly.

>5 gypsysmom: I also think that everyone is being very polite. That might not be the exact word I'm looking for, but no one is being disrespectful, no one is shouting over anyone else, etc.

However, I thought Washington Black would be in the final against Five Little Indians, so I'm surprised.

If Five Little Indians takes it tomorrow, I might need to go buy a lottery ticket. They are being voted off in the order I figured that would be - that NEVER happens.

I have been very impressed this year. I enjoyed reading all five books and think they all fit the theme in different ways. The champions have really embraced their choices and have done a fantastic job selling them. Polite is a good word; they have been quite respectful of each other, even when disagreeing. After some of the dramatics in past years, this is refreshing to watch.

>8 Yells: "Respectful" was the word I was trying to think of! (So it's funny I didn't think of it when I next said "no one is being disrespectful"!)

Today should be very interesting. Neither Tareq nor Suzanne have voted against either of the two final contenders. Mark did, but made it clear that was not indicative of how he would vote today...he's keeping an open mind.

I wasn't able to watch the debate this morning so I just finished watching the replay and I have to say that I am not surprised that Five Little Indians won but I was really hoping Scarborough would be the finalist. I just finished saying to my husband that I thought the story Scarborough told is much more universal than Five Little Indians. Undoubtedly the story of residential school survivors needs to be told and the survivors given help but Scarborough shows how many more people are disadvantaged by poverty. I think Canadians tend to ignore poverty unless they come from that background themselves. Kids growing up in their huge detached houses in the suburbs of our major city probably have no understanding of what issues people living in poverty face. Whereas I believe that over the last few years with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and the Murdered and Missing Women and Girls Inquiry there has been a lot of attention given to native issues. As of course there should be but we also need to talk about other marginalized citizens.

Great debates and discourse this year and it was a pleasure to watch Canada Reads and to read all 5 of the books.

If ever there was a year with an obvious winner, this was it. Five Little Indians is a good book, and certainly one Canadians should read. Given current events, the issue is so much on everyone's mind that the book was guaranteed a win.

I agree with >11 gypsysmom: that, given current events, maybe this book didn't need to win to raise Canadians' awareness of this issue. Scarborough, I think, connected people because it is about community and the impact of small acts of kindness or unkindness.

My favourite, as a novel, was What Strange Paradise, and it too connected people in the broader sense of community and the refugee crisis. A crisis which war and climate change will only exacerbate.

So we had a year when I (most people, I believe) could predict the winner easily. That said, it was a great year of debate because of the excellent panel and how much they dove into each of the books.

See you next year!

>12 LynnB: The three you mentioned are the three I plan to read. Looks like I already had "Five Little Indians" on my tbr.

I also agree that it didn't need to win, but we pretty much knew it would (also as you've mentioned).

I too thought that this panel was really good. No-one was dismissive of other books in the running. All of the books are winners, so many people will buy/read them. I had already read Washington Black, What Strange Paradise and Five Little Indians..I am ordering Scarborough as a result of it being discussed on Canada Reads. There have been a lot of books lately by First Nations authors in Canada but I thought Five Little Indians was a vivid portrayal of the after effects of, and lives lived after, residential schools. It took Michelle Good 9 years to write the book, her first novel. She is a worthy winner!

>14 dragondiana: I agree that Michelle Good"s Five Little Indians was a worthy winner. The way it dealt with recently released young adults is a perspective we haven't seen much of....most books happen either in the school, or many years later. So, it really adds to our understanding of the long-term effects of this historic wrong.