Canadian Nordicity is a pioneer work in more than one sense. It covers - the entire Canadian North: not only the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, but also seven provinces of Canada with northern territories. The North is at once the most extensive and least known region of Canada.
The author, who won both the Governor General's Award and the Prix Scientifique de la Province de Québec for this volume, introduces a novel concept: nordicity. Nordicity signifies the level of awareness and the degree of northern or polar consciousness in the minds of Canadians, as well as in the policies and actions at various levels of Canadian government.
Professor Hamelin has shown great skill in presenting the dynamic interplay of geography, ethnology, industry, settlement, and communications, as well as corporate and governmental policies as they influence contemporary life and development in the Canadian North. The treatment reflects skillful melding of fact and concept from the mind of an outstanding Canadian scientist.
Hamelin is concerned that many, probably most, Canadians know very little about their North. This is a time when major decisions are being made concerning the Canadian North that will affect the whole country, and this book provides excellent background against which to debate our course there.

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William Barr specializes in geomorphology and has, for the past thirty years, focused his research on the history of Arctic exploration. He has published fourteen books, including translations from German, French, and Russian, and more than a hundred articles. He is author of From Barrow to Boothia: The Arctic Journal of Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease 1836-1839.

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