black and white photos The battle for Vimy Ridge one hundred years ago has been characterized as a defining moment in Canadian history. The idea of thousands of Canadian young men dying together in the mud and tangled wire of northern France was, and still is, considered by many as nation-building.

Tom Goodman generally accepted this view until he discovered a rich trove of letters between his grandmother and Archie Polson, the uncle he has never met. Reading through the exchanges, Goodman came to realize that war is sometimes about winning, but it is always about loss. He has now collected many of these letters, along with his own contextual narrative, so that we can see the true cost of war to a family and a country.

Tom Goodman's profile page

A lawyer for 35 years, Tom Goodman was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1992. He served as an adjudicator under the Humans Rights Code and the Canada Labour Code. Goodman ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in Selkirk-Interlake in 2000; he ran as a Green Party candidate in the same riding in 2006. He served as chair of the Manitoba Horse Racing Commission. A proud Icelandic-Canadian, he currently lives in Stonewall, Manitoba.