SOURCE: "The Inquisition of Nationalism," in Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes, Vol. 12, No. 5, Winter, 1977, pp. 62-71.

In the following essay, Christian investigates the question of Innis's nationalism.

Twenty-five years after his death Harold Innis's reputation is slowly regaining the heights that it held during his lifetime. It may be, as Marshall McLuhan suggests, that Innis is more admired than read; but nonetheless he is now generally esteemed as a great scholar, and perhaps held in even higher regard as an early and perceptive Canadian nationalist. Concerning his greatness as a scholar I take it that there is little controversy; later economic historians may challenge the details or the conclusions of his studies, but I doubt that there are many who would seriously deny that he was a commanding figure, not just in Canada, but throughout the English-speaking world.

Innis's supposed nationalism, however, is a quite...