The Spy, the General, and the Storyteller: Winthrop Pickard Bell, Roméo Dallaire, and Harold R. Johnson on the Development of Canada

Abstract I argue that Winthrop Pickard Bell’s 1915 prediction that Canada would develop into a nation was accurate by examining two Canadian public figures. First, I examine Bell’s analysis that a nation has its own culture. Second, I analyze Roméo Dallaire’s explanation that his actions in Rwanda were guided by his Canadian background. Third, I turn to Harold R. Johnson who argues that culture is story: we choose which stories to tell about ourselves. I conclude that there is a thread that runs through Bell, Dallaire, and Johnson, a cultural thread about nation, culture, and story.