Torontonians mass outside the Globe and Mail building in September 1939, to snap up extra editions at the outbreak of the Second World War.The Globe and Mail
Today marks the debut of A Nation’s Paper, a collection of essays developed and written over two years, involving dozens of writers, editors and researchers, that explores the role this newspaper has played in the progress of our nation since George Brown founded The Globe 180 years ago.
Our goal was not to write a history of Canada, or of The Globe and Mail. Instead, we searched for issues and events in which the paper intersected with the life of the country, influencing its course.
The essays, which will appear over the course of this year, cover environmental and women’s issues, the LGBTQ community and the place of Quebec within Canada. We delve into our foreign coverage and the inner workings of the paper, including the editorial page and letters to the editors. We also examine sports and arts coverage.
At our best, this newspaper has fought for a free and independent press, open borders, a market economy and a compassionate society. But over the years we also championed residential schools, misreported Africville in Nova Scotia, and sometimes took a blinkered approach to Western Canada and the North.
The essays will also be published as a book this fall by Signal/McClelland & Stewart: A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada. Royalties will be donated to Journalists for Human Rights.
At a time when many newspapers have been forced to close or have become wraiths of their former selves, The Globe continues to thrive, through the trust and support of our readers. You make this newspaper possible. You made this project possible. Thank you.
John Ibbitson
General Editor, A Nation’s Paper