Years of Hope and Anger

Years of Hope and Anger is the 16th episode of the dramatic documentary television series, Canada: A People's History.

The episode first aired on CBC Television on November 11, 2001. As with the rest of the series, the story was told by the people involved and included a great sense of drama. This episode covered Canadian History from 1964 to 1976, despite the fact that some of the events in the earlier chapters occurred in the years preceding 1964. Due to the nature of the time period, the visuals used included photos (usually black and white), filming of indirect objects and archival recordings. Most of the words were recorded by voice actors, while some of the words were spoken by the figures themselves, and a few among this number were in the French language, with English subtitles.

Some of the main themes in this episode included Quebec sovereignty movement, the challenging of the status quo and the effects of progress. Special attention was placed on the possibilities of the era. The Vignettes and Chapter descriptions (shown below) support this.

Vignettes

Opening Vignette

“This is the story of a time when anything seems possible, when progress has become a religion, when people believe there are no bounds to the inventiveness of human beings. A time when the young do their own thing and want to save the world, when women right for equal rights and first nations claim their ancestral heritage. This is the moment when Canada asserts its identity to the world, just as it slides into one of the worst crisis in its history. A time when Canadians must choose between conflicting visions of their future and when excess of all kinds leads to a sobering awakening.”

Mid-Episode Vignette

“In the mid-‘60s, people everywhere are doing their own thing. Powerful institutions are under attack. Sometimes, there’s even revolution in the air. The long post-war boom comes crashing down and the country faces its most divisive crisis of the century (Levesque: ‘...que je pourrais être aussi fier d'être Québécois.’) (Trudeau: ‘I am confident that Quebecers will continue to reject separatism.’)”

Chapters

Hour 1

Hour 2

External links

• Years of Hope and Anger at the Internet Movie Database