A blazing collection of responses to the ongoing Canada v. America trade war and ensuing swell of national unity, from a remarkable array of some of our sharpest and most influential Canadian minds.

It feels disorienting, and at times existential, to watch a trade war escalate and to hear an American president vow to make Canada the “51st state.” But amid the disorientation, there is an urgent question: how do we meet the moment?

The fact that treaties can be broken, that resources can be stolen, and that the consequences of land theft include loss of culture, ritual, and identity is not new to the Indigenous and refugee peoples living in this country. But to many other Canadians, this kind of threat is new. As a result, there appears to be a new sense of a “we” emerging. People are angry and standing together with renewed shared purpose. The swell of Canadian pride is undeniable and important to acknowledge. This is a pivotal moment in history to take stock of how we got here, to learn from our past and walk tenaciously together into an uncertain future.

Inspired by the 1968 collection The New Romans: Candid Canadian Opinions of the US, this new anthology will be edited by bestselling author and CBC host Elamin Abdelmahmoud, and will feature responses from Margaret Atwood, Omar El Akkad, Jesse Wente, Atom Egoyan, Canisia Lubrin, Tom Power, Niigaan Sinclair, Jay Baruchel, and many more, speaking candidly on America, and Canada, and the malleable contours of a national narrative still taking hold.