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CANADIAN LANDSCAPES/ PAYSAGES CANADIENS
important aspect of Canadian self-definition, reinforcing a binary opposition
in which “normative Canadianness is White and British" (34). Everything else,
however much welcomed, accepted, or tolerated, is thus “the Other” and is
usually marked accordingly with terms such as “multicultural”, “multiethnic”
or in another way that emphasizes otherness and difference.
In The Diviners, Laurence highlights the character of Morag’s daughter
Pique, the offspring of a Scottish-Canadian mother and a Métis father, to point
out the coexistence of different cultural backgrounds in Canada and thus
create a diverse and more inclusive literary landscape. Pique is a representative
of the young generation in which Laurence sees hope of reconciliation. Like
her mother, Pique embarks on a complicated journey to find her roots and
come to terms with her mixed heritage. Through the character of Pique, lis¬
tening to her father’s stories about her heroic ancestors fighting alongside Luis
Riel for the Métis rights, Laurence reveals the tensions between Indigenous
and settler cultures. But Pique’s father also tells her a poignant story of the
Métis part of her family, a story whose fragments are embedded in all five
Manawaka books: about his brother Paul, who had drowned at twenty-five and
whose death was never properly investigated; about his sister Val, who died at
twenty-seven as a drug-addicted prostitute; and about his second sister Piquette
and her kids who tragically died in the fire at their shack in Manawaka. In this
bitter summary, Laurence points out the unfair treatment and discrimination
against Indigenous people and their social exclusion.
Pique’s identity as the descendant of both the settlers and the Métis means
that she is placed between two cultural landscapes, without fully belonging to
either. Drawing from the ancestral mythologies of both her parents, Pique
embodies the emerging Canadian multiethnic feminine identity of the 1970s.
Her journey of self-discovery interweaves with her connection to her ancestry,
underscoring Laurence’s broader exploration of the transformative power of
landscapes and storytelling. As Morag embarks on her pilgrimage to Scotland
and Pique on her journey to Galloping Mountain to rejoin her Métis relatives,
both quests transcend mere genealogy, evolving into searches for a deeper
understanding of themselves and reconciliation with their ancestral heritage.
The Manawaka series concludes with Pique’s song, which says “I can’t help but
being torn. [...] But the valley and the mountain hold my name” (Laurence,
The Diviners 382) and in which Pique embraces her Scottish and Métis heritage.
As Sassi points out, Pique’s construction of identity works “through identifi¬
cation with land, with space, which has not been domesticated or acculturated”
(168). Through the landscape metaphors of the valley, representing the Métis
Prairie heritage, and a mountain of Scottish ancestry, Laurence underscores
the importance of reconciliation — an embrace of both the triumphs and chal¬
lenges of the past, as a crucial element in forging an inclusive Canada.
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