Jane Harris
Jane Harris's creative non-fiction chapter, "Jessie's Generation: Canada's Firebrands of Mercy and Justice," on page 204 of Hot Apple Cider, tells the true story of Jessie Robinson, a well-to-do woman from Lethbridge, Alberta, who made a difference in her community and beyond.
Jane Harris Zsovan was 16 when she typed up her first article and mailed it off to a magazine that came inside the Edmonton Journal. A few weeks later, she proudly displayed the rejection slip to her teachers and friends. But she soon figured out how to get acceptances.
Today she's a full-time author and journalist based in Lethbridge, Alberta. An incorrigible writer, Jane's writing style combines thorough research with lively writing to reveal personalities behind contemporary and historical events.
Her articles have appeared in The National Post, Western Standard, Alberta Home, Alberta Views, Alberta Venture, Award Magazine, Lethbridge Home Trends, The Anglican Planet, and Faith Today. She also writes a history column for The Christian Herald and is a regular contributor to Lethbridge Living.
Jane`s first book chapter was Wen-Dizing The West, published in Taking Care of Business (Heather Robertson ed., H.B. Fenn 1997). She`s also written commissioned histories for the Sir Alexander Galt Museum (The Public Spirited Life of Arthur George Baalim 1992) and the Lethbridge Community College Faculty Association (A Place Built By Special People 1995).
In 2006, Jane wrote Stars Appearing: The Galts' Vision of Canada (ISBN 9780978098506). This creative non-fiction books explore`s Lethbridge`s unique place in the Canadian Confederation through the lives of John Galt, founder of Guelph Ontario, his son Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, and grandson Elliot Torrance Galt.
Currently, Jane is exploring the Aberhart Manning legacy for a book called Eugenics and The Firewall, slated for publication by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing in 2010.
Jane, Hot Apple Cider came together in a rather unusual way. What made you want to have your work in it?
I loved the idea that a Christian anthology would present Canadian stories with our own place names, spelling and viewpoint. We have so many incredible stories in this country – going back even before Confederation to the French and British regimes – that reflect a vision few people get to know about, even if they are raised in Canada.
Many of those stories would not be acceptable to an American publisher. By the way, that doesn’t mean Americans don’t want to read these stories. A guy from Alaska bought several copies of my Galt book at a signing. He wanted Canadian history written from a Canadian point of view – something he couldn’t get at home. And that’s something Canadians have a hard time getting, too – especially when it comes to books with a Christian world view.
Here’s an example: In the last few years Canadian ministries have highlighted the fact that Sir Leonard Tilley was reading scripture when he was inspired to suggest the name “Dominion of Canada” as the name for our country. But do people know that the reason he was looking for a name is that both Canadian and British delegates to the London Conference (which prepared the British North America Act for presentation to the British House of Commons) were terrified to call our country by the most common word used to describe a Constitutional Monarchy – "Kingdom?” Canada was and is a Kingdom, but the delegates were afraid that using that word would spark an invasion from the US, similar to the war of 1812..
Pondering the problem, Tilley began his morning scripture reading. He saw the words of King David in Psalm 72: “And he shall have Dominion from sea to sea.” Dominion means Kingdom, but it also connotes a land where even the sovereign bows down to God, as King David did.
Now, that is a story that would likely never be printed by an American publisher, but shows the power of God working in this nation. This country has thousands of similar stories that only a Canadian, or possibly British, publisher would be interested in.
This book is 100% Canadian. Canadian authors, publisher, printer–everything.
The Christian publishing industry is dominated by large American publishing houses. Canadian sales are very small in comparison. Americans want to tell their own stories, and rightly so. But Canadians have unique stories to tell, too. And we must tell them.
It’s very important for Canadians to have a vision of who they are and what they can contribute to the world. Most Canadians have heard the legend of George Washington and the cherry tree. But have they heard the true story of Margaret Scott giving up her job as a federal bureaucrat to help the poor in 19th century Winnipeg? Have they heard of Governor General Georges Vanier’s faith driven fight against fascism? What about John Diefenbaker’s Christian conviction that Canada needed a Bill of Rights?
Let me tell you a story from my own life:
As a little girl, I went to Sunday School in Alberta. Our Sunday School papers were printed in the US – Indiana, I think. As I remember it, they talked about American holidays, American heroes, and even the American Revolution. (They didn’t mention the long trek of the Loyalists who left everything behind to start over in British North America.)
I don’t remember reading much about Jesus in those papers, which was the primary weakness. But the other weakness was the paper's failure to remember that it had an audience outside the US. I was about 8 when I decided I hated that paper.
A few years later, my parents gave me some badly written Christian books for youth. It was years after that before I'd even open up to the possibility that Christian writing wasn’t just a hideout for bad writers. Now, if I could have laid my hands on a book about Margaret Scott’s work with the poor in Winnipeg, I think I'd have been hooked on Christian literature.
In her foreword for Hot Apple Cider, Janette Oke mentions that writers are often asked, “Why do you write?” How do you respond to that question?
I think I was created to write. Perhaps, there’s enough of the Celt still in my blood that I have to tell stories to make sense of the world, particularly stories of people who have built things, helped others, and made the world a better place. If I couldn’t read or write, I’d probably be sitting in the middle of a village somewhere asking questions from the wise men and telling stories to the children and anyone else who had a minute to spare.
The piece you wrote for Hot Apple Cider, “Jessie’s Generation: Canada’s Firebrands of Mercy and Justice,” is a true story about Jessie Robinson, a woman from Lethbridge, Alberta, who stepped out of her comfort zone and made a real impact on Canadian society in the early 1900’s. Why did you feel it was important to write her story?
I attend the same church Jessie Robinson attended. Over the years, the story of the nursing mission has been secularized so much that most people in Southern Alberta, including those in my own church, had no idea the Lethbridge Nursing Mission was actually a ministry born in our church. I jumped at the chance to share the faith elements of Jessie’s story with my congregation, my city, my country and beyond.
I discovered Jessie’s story while I was in university researching a paper about Southern Alberta women involved in the pre-World War One Social Reform movement. My paper was eventually published in the newsletter of the Lethbridge Historical Society.
That was my first publication credit – and it earned me my first article assignment, "Wind Stopping Gals," published in what was Lethbridge Magazine.
My ‘Women’s History Project” still fills a drawer of my file cabinet – waiting patiently for the day I can turn it into something publishable. When I heard about Hot Apple Cider, I knew I had to take Jessie out of the drawer. In a couple of days I had a draft of "Jessie’s Generation: Canada’s Firebrands of Mercy."
Your first published book, Stars Appearing: The Galts’ Vision of Canada, is also about Canadian people who made a difference, among them a penniless clerk named Alexander Tilloch Galt, later Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, whose vision for Canada, shared with his friends, Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George Etienne Cartier, spread beyond the continent. You must have had to do a great deal of research to write this book. Was it a lot of work or a labour of love?
I was so happy writing that book, it didn’t feel like work. I had to tell the story because we all seem to have forgotten who we are and what this country can be.
As far as I can tell, Lethbridge is the only city in Canada co-founded by a Father of Confederation, Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, with his son, Elliott Torrance Galt. But Lethbridge isn't the only city that owes its success to the vision of that family.
Though Alexander first came to Canada as a boy, the family lost everything, and they eventually returned to Scotland in disgrace after his father was let out of debtor’s prison.
As an 18-year-old boy, Alexander escaped the shame and poverty by coming back to Canada alone to work as a clerk in a company his father had helped found. In just a few years, he was promoted to his boss’s job. He later became MP for Sherbrooke in the Kingston Parliament.
But his greatest contribution to Quebec was probably making it possible for French Canadians to buy their own farms. As Commissioner of the British American Land Company, Alexander facilitated the settlement of the Eastern Townships in Quebec by helping both English and French-speaking Quebeckers purchase farms with low interest, long credit.
This was the same policy his father, John Galt, founder of the Canada Company, used in Guelph. Like his father, Alexander offered settlers the chance to contribute labour as well as money toward the purchase. And this was the same policy Alexander's son Elliott used to help settle towns in Southern Alberta. (The Mormons in Raymond, Sterling, Cardston, and Magrath were offered credit for work they did on the irrigation system as part payment for the land they purchased from Elliott’s companies.)
Lethbridge, Sherbrooke and Guelph were all planned communities, and the original portions of the cities shared a three point design favoured by John Galt. A young Quebecois man living in Lethbridge once told me he was astounded when he realized the same guy who has a high school named after him in Sherbrooke founded Lethbridge. The young man also told me that his wife had mentioned to him that downtown Lethbridge looks like Sherbrooke.
Lethbridge’s links to Ontario and Quebec and the Confederation story were celebrated right up until the 1970s, until it was no longer cool to talk about Alberta in relation to its place in the British Empire or its connection to Central Canada.
Based on the research I’ve done on the book I’m working on now, I've come to the conclusion that foreign control of Alberta’s oil industry and regional grievances, such as The National Energy Program, have also downplayed Alberta’s willingness to celebrate the role that Ottawa and other parts of Canada have played in creating the province.
The result is that by the time I wrote Stars Appearing: The Galts’ Vision of Canada, few people anywhere in Canada understood Lethbridge’s unique place in the confederation story. Many people had no idea that the Galts actually had residences in the city. In Lethbridge, I’ve met lots of people who are stunned to realize the man we named the park after was also a father of Canadian Confederation.
There's a monument on the wall of the city’s museum that explains who Sir Alexander Galt was – "A Christian Gentlemen whose benevolence and sympathy for those in distress will long be cherished by his fellow countryman at large, Canada's first high commissioner in London, and one of the Fathers of Confederation."
The monument predicted we would remember and cherish the memory of what Sir Alexander did. But we don't. His work and the work of his contemporaries is largely forgotten. I want to change that. I want the words on the monument to reflect reality in a way they don't do right now. I want to see Canadians cherish the memory of all those who gave us this beautiful gift from God, our most beloved Canada. So yes, I guess that is a labour of love.
Are you writing another book?
Yes, I’m writing a book about how the UFA/Socred Legacy continues to affect Canadian politics and culture.
I’m also gathering information for some books about the colonists of Wellington and Dufferin counties in Ontario and their descendants who settled much of Alberta as well as pockets in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. I'm a descendant on both sides. Three of my four grandparents descended from those people – one branch arrived in Upper Canada in 1795, the other in 1836. Their descendants arrived in Alberta between approximately 1910 and 1917.
Do you feel Canadians know enough about our history and the people who paved the way for the rest of us?
No. And I think we have a history of playing down our history because some of it upsets the neighbours. I also think that it was politically correct to play down some aspects of Canadian history and institutions during the Quebec Referendums. That was a huge mistake that really has left a sense of confusion about who we are in many parts of Canada, including Quebec.
You don’t only write about our Canadian history. You’re actually a working journalist, writing in a number of areas. What are some of the stories and articles you’ve written in the last few months?
It’s a grab bag for sure. In the last few of months, I’ve written columns about Jewish colonists in Canada and why Canadians celebrate Boxing Day. I wrote an article about Albertans who turn agricultural waste into fuel. Then there was a news story about the City of Medicine Hat rejecting a big city consultant’s recommendation to privatize its $1billion dollar oil and gas exploration and drilling business, much to the consulting firm’s utter shock.
What else? I wrote a couple of architectural articles and a few design pieces for a home decorating magazine. So, if you need help choosing flooring or an alternative energy fireplace, just ask and I’ll point you in the right direction.
I’ve just finished a piece on the local Allied Arts Council’s ArtStage. Before that, I wrote an arts article about an original Christmas Theatre production hosted in a local church. And last week I pressed "send" on an article about Anglican Lay Readers. Earlier this year I did other national articles about Anglicans in palliative care, Anglican Sunday Schools and fostering growth in rural parishes in Canada.
I’m assuming you get feedback from a lot of people because of the nature of your books, and feedback is great for the author – you know someone is actually reading your words! But I’m wondering if you’ve learned anything from your readers that you could share with us?
Yes, I used to think my conviction that Canada is a great nation with an inspired past, its own stories to tell, and its own greatness was rare. Then I wrote Stars Appearing: The Galts’ Vision of Canada. People would stop and stare at the cover when I was at signings, dumbstruck that they didn’t know that the man Lethbridge’s park and museum were named after was a Father of Confederation. And they’d look at me and say, “How come I never heard this before?”
People under 40, especially women, seem to be the most fascinated with Canada and the most confident in this nation’s destiny. But they certainly are not alone.
I don’t think it’s just the economy that has caused sales of books with a Christian world view to slump in this country. Hot Apple Cider proves that Canadians are starting to demand books written with them in mind. That doesn’t mean we’re going to stop reading foreign books, but we’re not going to be satisfied with only foreign books written to appeal to large markets in other countries.
And it’s not just Canadians who want to hear our stories. People from Alaska, England and Germany have purchased my books at signings in Fort MacLeod. Of course, the Fort gets a lot of people on international bus tours stopping to learn about the North West Mounted Police and the Red Coat Trail.
Aside from your own pieces, is there a particular piece or thought in Hot Apple Cider that stood out for you?
So many pieces stand out it would be hard to pick one or two. I loved Brian Austin’s poems, though. He really captures the emotional pain of people we like to brush off as homeless and hopeless. Stops you in your tracks to consider priorities.
A lot of people want to share their stories in order to help others. What advice do you have for someone who wants to write but doesn’t know how to begin?
Grab a piece of paper and a pen. It sounds simple, but really, that's the hardest part: actually starting to write. I also think most people should start with local and regional markets. Too often, I see writers who think they should start with a foreign market. Rarely does that work out for beginners.
For one thing, it’s easier to check out whether or not someone in your own community or province is reputable. I did publish nationally early on my career, but it was to markets in neighbouring provinces that I was familiar with. It’s also much more likely a Canadian market is going to think your article about building snow forts or fighting mosquitoes will relate to their readers.
In Canada, we have lots of great arts organizations, including local arts councils, writers’ groups, and provincial and national writers and authors associations, including The Word Guild and the Periodical Writers Association of Canada to help you on your way as you progress.
Also, please use Canadian spelling and style in Canadian markets. It’s best to restrict British or American spelling for queries and submissions outside the country.
What is your prayer for the readers of Hot Apple Cider?
I pray that readers, no matter what country they are from, will be inspired by the stories and articles in Hot Apple Cider to ignore the impossible odds, and, with the help of God, follow the mission He has given them a vision to do. And that they wouldn't try to live other people's lives, but would live the lives God gave them. Let people say, “I dared to follow the destiny God gave me.”
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