Canada: The Story of Us (2017– ) User Reviews

Not as bad as everyone says

[erius21 · 6/10 · 16 November 2018]

I think it was enjoying to watch and I hope we get another series because they missed very important cultures and nations that also made Canada what it is. What I saw I enjoyed, but it is missing enough to make another series! If it's the story of us, let's not leave anyone or anything else out!

Maritimes first settlers completely ignored.

[yrobichaud · 1/10 · 16 April 2017]

It seems Acadians who settled as pioneers in Port Royal in 1604 and later at Fort Louisbourg, also in Nova Scotia are not included at all in what was Lower Canada. It's a major shame how they who developed the beaver trade with Europe is not mentioned. They were from Seigneurie D'Aulnay in Poitou France, north of Bordeaux. The were cultivators for Seigneur Charles D'Aulnay. In 1632, 300 Elite French men came from Seigneurie Isaac Razilly. Between 1635-1650 D'Aulnay brought 20 French families and started populating this country. Both my parents families are from this group. In the 1671 census, there are 53 French family names, all from Lord Charles Menou D'Aulnay. I have pictures of an Abenaquis tribe chief considered King and daughters who were princesses and can affirm they did not look richer then the poorer of the poor French claimed in this mini series. Acadians taught them how to culture the land in return learned how to hunt, build canoes. Lived in harmony fairly well. I can see how Quebecquers would feel offended as well. Obviously no French historians were consulted. Genealogy is one of my hobbies and have many books with facts from archives. I hope Justin Trudeau will acknowledge Acadians and the Maritmes as part of Canada somewhere in the near future. Big disappointment!

This series is not as good as "Canada: a People's History"

[burnabee-61619 · 4/10 · 27 March 2017]

After watching the first 15 minutes I was disappointed the direction the series was trying to tell. There was too much use of video clips such as forming ice crystals, watching several times of a musket ball slowly being fired and ripping thru the flesh, zipping over mountains and through trees, barnacles on the bottom of sailing ships. Shown was Champlain's men cutting down trees to build their fort, then you show a CAD graphic building of the fort, it seemed the producers was more interested in creating a video game. The comments from various actors were too flowery and were unsuccessful trying to instill a passion of this series and our history, and with hints of the injustices that happened 400 years ago. This 2017 series falls short and does not compare to the 17 episodes of "Canada, A People's History"; that series was really well done and quite compelling. The new "Story of Us" is not that interesting to watch, "People's History" could have been rerun with greater success.

Who at the CBC writes, directs, and produces this nonsense?

[fortean · 1/10 · 11 April 2017]

Any series about Canadian history that identifies the War of 1812 as "Canada's War of Independence" does not know much about history. Who did Canadians become independent from? The invaders from the United States, who were defeated, (and their capital burned in 1814)? Wasn't Canada, (or, the several colonies, of British North America, including Upper Canada and Lower Canada), still comprised of a few British colonies, after the Treaty of Ghent? Not until the Statute of Westminster, in 1931, did the Dominion of Canada achieve independence as a nation, (no longer a British colony); and, the Canada Act, in 1982, made Canada entirely independent of the British Parliament, (full legal sovereignty, including constitutional legislation). Whoever wrote, directed, and produced this series probably flunked their Canadian history tests.

I'm not wasting a minute watching this series. Real Canadians are not interested in this "alt-history"!

Do NOT waste your time on this one

[nltremblay-23665 · 1/10 · 17 October 2018]

As a teacher of Canadian history, I often use "Canada: a People's History" to supplement my lessons. I was hoping this would be another useful resource to use in my class. Boy, was a wrong! "Canada: The Story of Us" is shallow, badly written, filled with inaccuracies, and leaves huge gaps in our history. TV celebrities and sports figures stating such gems as, "the Rockies are huge. Really, really big" replace historians who actually know something about our history. Anglophone actors mispronounce their French lines. Platitudes fill every episode. We were so excited about this coming out for the 150th. We sat down to watch it and within 10 minutes, we knew it was a bomb. This is SO bad on SO many levels. DO NOT WATCH.

What a big waste of time and money

[jyduplessis-810-7022 · 1/10 · 24 April 2017]

Don't bother watching this badly scripted FICTION, Too many omissions and inaccurate "history." Should have been titled "Canada: The Story of THEM" instead. This is by far a big waste of tax payers' money and time. May I suggest, CBC, next time you want to make a documentary on Canadian history you should hire real historians and forget the reality shows pseudo-experts.

History showed from the perspective of an ignorant person...

[yalbmerteinalem · 1/10 · 6 April 2017]

The only people who will give this a good rating, will be from Ontario. 😄 Canada is a beautiful country, with a rich history. I feel sorry for the people that needs to highlight the English army has clean and the rest has dirty... It only shows a lack of respect others...

My Canada is better than this...

The Story of Somebody?

[Narce · 3/10 · 14 June 2017]

I too was disappointed by this series. I found there was a lot of emphasis on the indigenous peoples, but not on contributions from other groups, like the Scots, Irish, Japanese, Germans, and even the Americans that had profound influences on our nation and the ways in which it developed. Even the French (aside from Champlain and the FLQ) had only occasional mention. It seems to me that the makers of this series placed a higher value on style, rather than substance.