Once known for peacekeeping, Canada is becoming a militarized nation whose apostles?the New Warriors?are fighting to shift public opinion. New Warrior zealots seek to transform postwar Canada's central myth-symbols. Peaceable kingdom. Just society. Multicultural tolerance. Reasoned public debate. Their replacements? A warrior nation. Authoritarian leadership. Permanent political polarization.
The tales cast a vivid light on a story that is crucial to Canada's future; yet they are also compelling history. Swashbuckling marauder William Stairs, the Royal Military College graduate who helped make the Congo safe for European pillage. Vimy Ridge veteran and Second World War general Tommy Burns, leader of the UN's first big peacekeeping operation, a soldier who would come to call imperialism ?the monster of the age.? Governor General John Buchan, a concentration camp developer and race theorist who is exalted in the Harper government's new Citizenship Guide. And that uniquely Canadian paradox, Lester Pearson. "Warrior Nation" is an essential read for those concerned by the relentless effort to conscript Canadian history.
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Hi-tech tactics during a strike at a dockside factory in Montreal. A workplace cancer tragedy in Sarnia, Ontario. Immigrant workers sticking with their union at the chocolate factory. A struggle for pay equity in the courts and on the streets. A campaign to create jobs by cutting hours of work in B.C. An organizing drive 350 kilometres out into the frigid Atlantic. These are some of the fascinating stories told by Jamie Swift in his chronicle of the first ten eventful years of one of the most dynamic labour unions in North America.
A strength of the book is its national scope, and the range of jobs portrayed, drawing on stories from every region of the country.
"We had a little war there," laughed Alain. "One of the first internet strikes. We'd just entered a new century and with it a new level of struggle using new technology."
"Unions are always accused of looking out for ourselves," said Mike. At 47, he was one of the youngest pipefitters at the mill. "We're trying to reduce the work week to keep people employed, and not just our own members."

Ten activists, scholars, and writers analyze contemporary development issues linking Canada and the Third World, and provide an in-depth critique of Canada's role in perpetuating poverty in the nations of the South. Widely adopted as a course text at the college and university level.