GEORGE ELLIOTT CLARKE
Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke. The Château Laurier, April 9, 2017.
In anticipation of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations, the Citizen’s Bruce Deachman has been out in search of Ottawans — 150 of them — to learn their stories of life and death, hope and love, the uncommon and the everyday. We’ll share one person’s story every day until Canada Day.
“OK, the job description … so I want to send a shoutout to Sen. Jerry Grafstein and Sudbury poet Roger Nash, because together, they were the ones who cooked up this plan to give Parliament a poet laureate. I think the legislation went through in 2000.
“It’s a two-year gig, alternating French and English. The first one came on line in 2002 — George Bowering — and I’m No. 7. I began my ‘reign’, so to speak, in 2016.
“There are three duties connected to the position. One is to write poetry for official occasions. Secondly, to promote Canadian poets and poetry. And the third is to advise the Librarian of Parliament on the poetry collection.
“The City of Halifax approached me last year and asked me to compose the official poem for the 100th anniversary of the Halifax explosion. What an honour. I can’t let the Haligonians down. Once I was appointed, I thought to myself, ‘What do I really want to do? What are the poems that I want to try to write while I’m in this position? And that was one of the very first that came to my mind: I have to write something for the explosion.
“And so far I’ve had three poems read in the Senate and one in
the House of Commons. The first poem that got read in the Senate was on Senate reform. And enough folks liked it that As It Happens ran Senator Harder’s recitation of the poem. For me, that’s the Holy Grail of poetry recitation — to have a Senator or MP read your poem.”
How does one become poet laureate. Do you apply for it? Is it a paid position?
“Yes, you apply. And there’s an honorarium of $20,000 per year. But how do you become a poet laureate? Like most things in government, there has been an accretion of sophistication around the process. So when I applied in 2015, while I was still poet laureate of Toronto, a member of Parliament at the time, Joe Comartin, who was the NDP member for WindsorTecumseh, remembered me from my time on the Hill — I worked there for Howard McCurdy from 1987 to ’91. And Mr. Comartin put my name forward. And it went before a five-member committee that included the National Librarian, the Librarian of Parliament, the Commissioner of Official Languages and the head of the Canada Council. Then the speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate made the final decision.” Why did you want to serve?
“I felt the position could be more visible, or audible, than, in my mind, it had been. Are there specific time requirements of the poet laureate?
“No, but — and I believe this is true of my predecessors as well — I have found it to be a very timeconsuming position. I’m busy every day doing something related to being poet laureate. Travelling around the country, giving readings, supporting other poets in terms of book launches, all of which is a thrill for me. But at the same time, it’s tiring. Last week was the first time in a year that I was not on a plane, going somewhere. Every day I do something related to the position.
“I get about a request each week from a Senator or MP. I’m just thrilled, and every request is different. I’ve had requests to write poems in honour of veterans from a particular constituency. I had a request about a National Historic Site on the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border.
“I’m also re-writing, although not as a poem, the Constitution Act, including the Charter and the BNA Act, to represent my vision of Utopia. What would the perfect Canadian Constitution look like, from my perspective? I was in my early 20s when the constitutional debates were going on, and I remember it very, very well. And I was excited by it. I remember Pierre Trudeau’s language — it was going to be the ‘people’s package.’ And what did we get out of it? What we got was, at least 35 years in, a pretty serviceable charter — I think it’s done a lot more good than harm — and the BNA Act continues to have its function, particularly regarding the division of powers.
“On the other hand there are some oddities. My unaided reading of the constitution suggests that the second paragraph of the preamble to the BNA Act says that the reason why Confederation is taking place is so that the Dominion of Canada may further the interests of the British Empire, which I don’t think the Government of Canada has been doing consistently, at least not for the last 70 years or so. So it might be time to retire that particular preamble, keeping in mind that it doesn’t have the force of law, per se, but it does set up a way of reading the Constitution that could be problematic. I think that clause has outlived the British Empire.
“So I’m rewriting the clauses that, to me, seem problematic, while at the same time proposing new ways to think about governance.
“So in my poetic version of the Constitution, for example, we still have a monarch, but that monarch is chosen by lottery, every 10 years. It could go along with 6/49, and maybe Roll Up the Rim. When will we get to see this? Ideally by July 1.”