Canadians tell their stories in CBC anniversary yearbook

As part of the celebrations for the 150^th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, the public broadcaster has compiled a book of personal stories and photos from 150 individual Canadians. The hardcover book which is in both official languages, English and French, is now sold in bookstores, and a digital version will be available on line for free in early December.

Creating a public space for stories

“CBC/Radio-Canada wanted to create a public space for Canadians to tell their story in 2017,” said Carole Breton, manager of 2017 activities for CBC/Radio-Canada. “That’s why there was the What’s Your Story campaign launched. And Canadians were invited to share what was important to them, what the country means to them specifically this year to celebrate Canada’s 150^th anniversary of Confederation.”

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‘Beautiful, touching stories’ reflect diversity

The stories reflect Canada’s diversity featuring input from members of various ethnic, linguistic, LGBTQ and Indigenous communities. “The variety of the stories is in and of itself compelling,” says Breton. “They all offer a different insight of what Canadians have on their minds this year.

“There are beautiful, touching stories. You can see the resilience that Canadians have. You can see also the hardship that they still feel but they wanted to share it with the audience at large. And for some of them it’s part of the healing process.”

CBC/Radio-Canada ‘at the heart of the conversation’

Breton says the project fits in perfectly with the public broadcaster’s mandate: “It’s also something that CBC/Radio-Canada truly believes in—to be at the heart of the conversation, to be present in the communities and to be able to tell Canadian stories on all of our platforms.”

And when the digital version goes online at www.cbc.ca/2017yearbook in December it will give people outside the country what Breton calls “a privileged look at Canada and what Canadians had to say in 2017.”