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The Canadian Encyclopedia was a born-in-Alberta gift to Canada.
Edmonton publisher and Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig had been alarmed at
the lack of Canadian content available in encyclopedias, the majority
having been released for decades by American and British publishers. Not
only was content lacking for the readers of Canada, but also the updates
were minimal on the little content that did exist.
In 1985, the former bookseller and owner of the Edmonton-based Hurtig
Publishers, released the first edition of The Canadian Encyclopedia, five
years in the making. The Alberta provincial government had provided more
than $3 million in funding, and each school in Canada received a set of
the three-volume work. The encyclopedia proved to be an immediate
best-seller, with the first 154,500 sets selling out after four days.
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Eventually, though, the encyclopedia would become the bane of Hurtig's
existence. A junior encyclopedia in 1991 failed to draw the interest of
the previous editions, and resulted in the sale of both Hurtig's
publishing house and the encyclopedia to McClelland & Stewart. The
Toronto-based publisher would re-conceive the book into a CD-ROM format,
which could be updated annually and include the Gage Canadian Dictionary,
a thesaurus adapted from the Oxford Thesaurus and Roget's II, most current
edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia and Maclean's Year in Review. In
2000, M&S would publish one final single-edition volume in book form.
The encyclopedia itself has undergone further change and was donated in
2000 by McClelland & Stewart chairman and encyclopedia publisher from
1991-2000 Avie Bennett to the charitable Canadian historical education
foundation, Historica. Updated in Edmonton under the tutelage of its
original editor James H. Marsh, since Oct. 2001, the encyclopedia has been
available in English and French on-line at
www.histori.ca.
In maintaining a cutting-edge perspective, the bilingual encyclopedia
could provide quick access to thousands of articles from 3,500
contributors across Canada. As well, the encyclopedia could cater to young
readers through interactive learning via themes, quizzes and games.
Though now retired from the bookselling and publishing trade, Hurtig has
not stopped publishing or selling books. He is the author of four works on
Canadian nationalism and social issues, the latest being The Vanishing
Country: Is It Too Late to Save Canada?, released in 2002. He also remains
active on the speaking circuit, and still lives in Edmonton.
