October 30, 1995: a day Canadians won't soon forget. A nation of nearly 30 million people on the verge, and then. . . a resounding Maybe. A la prochaine.

As dizzying an experience as the Quebec referendum was for us all -- no matter what side of the issue -- imagine its effect on a man brought in just one year prior to run an institute whose mission is "to promote a better understanding of Canada through the study and appreciation of our heritage," at that perceived "anglo fortress" in the heart of Quebec, McGill University. Such is the fate of Desmond P. Morton, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC).

If Morton, 58, is intimidated by the challenges facing McGill, Quebec and Canada, he hides it well. In a post- referendum speech in November, he said, "I have never been busier or happier in my life." The noted Canadian historian's background has well prepared him for this role. "All of [my previous research interests] are about conflict and resolution," he said after his arrival at McGill, "about people working together to achieve things, and often failing, and trying again."

Although its mission statement makes no mention of defending federalism, and despite McGill's official non- partisan position, the Institute's very existence advocates Canadian unity. Morton professes no illusions, though, about trying to save the country: "No academic institute anywhere can change the course of history." Instead, through teaching, hosting conferences and seminars, producing the occasional research paper, and through media appearances by Morton himself, the MISC is taking a pro-active role in the sovereignty debate. "I think that our goal to help Canada is perhaps a very ambitious one," he concedes. "But there is an academic assumption that if you explore a problem, the dimensions of the solution will gradually emerge. And if you don't explore them, they won't. By studying an issue, by being aware of an issue, I think you move the issue on."

Studying Canada -- and thereby moving the issues on -- is what the Institute is all about. The MISC was established in 1993 thanks to a $10 million gift from Andrea and Charles Bronfman, Arts'52, LLD'90, Co- Chairman of the Seagram Company Ltd. Seagram's, the Montreal-based distiller, has a long history of interest in our country -- it hired Stephen Leacock to write a book celebrating Canada after his (forced) retirement from McGill in 1936. Charles Bronfman's own feelings have been obvious to all Quebecers since the eve of the 1976 provincial election when he warned, "If the PQ forms the next government, it's going to be pure, absolute hell." In the subsequent years Bronfman has maintained a lower political profile but has continued his support for Canada. One of the main projects of the Charles R. Bronfman Foundation, for instance, is the Canadian Heritage Program, which produces one-minute dramatizations, in English and French, of significant people and events in Canadian history. "It seems sad that most of our time and energy is being spent on unity issues," he said recently, "and it is sad to see the country diverted from other goals." Bronfman would like to see Quebec concentrating more on economic problems.

The University matches the MISC's private funds -- its operating budget for 1995-96 is $890,000. There is a board of trustees, made up of Charles Bronfman and 12 other notable Canadians such as Patrick Watson, former head of the CBC, and Joe Ghiz, Judge of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island and former premier of Prince Edward Island. The Institute and its director are on a three-year probation period, and an unfavourable review by the board, although unlikely, could lead to a phased withdrawal of the Bronfman gift. Morton has every intention of avoiding that contingency.

Traditionally a supporter of athletics at McGill, Bronfman's wish to champion Canada fit perfectly with McGill's long-standing desire to strengthen its weak Canadian Studies program. Then-dean of Arts John McCallum, who left McGill in 1994 to become the Royal Bank of Canada's chief economist, put forth a series of proposals to the Charles Bronfman family in 1992, stressing McGill's pan-Canadian and international strengths, as well as Montreal's cultural diversity. The Bronfmans accepted the final proposal, and the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada opened its doors in June 1993, with Morton coming on board in March 1994. The position of director of the MISC was considered so prestigious that McCallum says that he debated vying for it himself and leaving his post as dean. In the end, he states, "I was never a candidate," and adds, "I think Desmond Morton was a great choice."

In accordance with the proposal, the MISC has spent money to allow the English and Political Sciences departments to hire, on a short-term basis, two junior faculty. The Institute sponsored five new undergraduate courses in September 1994, including Nationalisms in Canada and Canadian Studies seminars. The MISC doesn't offer graduate courses but does grant five graduate fellowships. In addition, this fall the Seagram Visiting Fellows and the Seagram International Fellow programs were launched (through another gift by Seagram's). The Institute funds special interdisciplinary courses that are part of the Canadian Studies curriculum, such as Material Culture in Canada, offered through the School of Architecture, which focuses on objects, artifacts and places that have played an active role in defining Canadian culture. Professor Annmarie Adams, BA'81, says of the MISC, "It's been a catalyst at McGill to bring people from different departments together. Most importantly, it's given a place to Canadian Studies."

Coming in from the cold at the MISC's cozy Peel Street offices, a maple leaf toque pulled down over his ears and ever-present reading glasses perched on his nose, Morton appears more scholarly than military. Yet the Calgary native attended the College Militaire Royal de St-Jean before receiving his BA from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston in 1959. He rose to Captain in the Canadian Army and historical officer at National Defence Headquarters, then left the army to assume the position of assistant provincial secretary of the New Democratic Party of Ontario. Along the way, he earned an MA from Oxford and a PhD from the University of London (from the London School of Economics), leading Morton to scholarship. After a teaching stint at the University of Ottawa, Morton landed at the University of Toronto in 1969, where he remained until the MISC came calling. He was Principal of the U of T's Erindale College from 1986 to '94, and he retains his professorship there while seconded at McGill. "Like the Institute itself," Morton says, "my future is subject to review." Morton has taught and published numerous books and articles on Canadian military and social history, labour and industrial relations, and politics. He recently co-authored, along with J.L. Granatstein, Victory 1945: Canadians from War to Peace (HarperCollins, 1995). Morton admits that heading east down the 401 makes him "sort of a 'Wrong Way Corrigan,' " but how could he have resisted such an offer? "Jobs for us old white guys are getting scarce." Morton believes that Canadian Studies as a discipline has a "Mickey Mouse" reputation -- not only at McGill but elsewhere. He counters, "There are some dramatic controversies in Canada's past and some fascinating and outspoken individuals. Embalmed in textbooks, they cause no offence, nor much interest, either. I have sometimes argued that Canadian history should be banned from the schools as a subject unfit for young minds. Then, of course, those young minds would read it avidly, with flashlights under the covers."

Canadian Studies programs can be found in more than 120 universities worldwide, but there are only a few in Canadian schools -- including Carleton, Trent and Simon Fraser universities -- and Morton believes that McGill has the only significant Canadian Studies program in Quebec. Jean-Guy Bigeau, former executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, says that what distinguishes the MISC from other Canadian Studies programs is its focus on workshops and seminars, its board of trustees and "a mandate to provoke public debate." The MISC's seminars and conferences have attracted diverse participants. Not all events have a Quebec slant: for example, in January 1995 CityTV and MuchMusic founder Moses Znaimer, BA'63, and former McGill principal David Johnston discussed the information highway; January 1996 saw a seminar on affordable hospital care; another conference is being planned for 1996 in conjunction with the report by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

But of course, the Quebec Question can't be -- and isn't -- ignored. In January 1995 the MISC held a nationally telecast bilingual forum entitled "A Preview of Our Year of Choice," featuring federalist and sovereignist, and francophone and anglophone viewpoints. In February 1996, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein was the keynote speaker for an MISC conference about Canada's future. Do these conferences have any effect, and are they debates at all or simply a free pulpit for politicians and academic- types? Morton bristles at this negative inference. "It was precisely this level of debate [between the participants] that provoked such ample comment, particularly in the French media." He adds that news people from outside the province found it a "revelation" that "francophones in Quebec both condemn federalism and support it with considerable passion."

When the Institute opened in 1993, the prospect of a separate Quebec was remote: the Yes side had less than 40 percent of Quebecers' support. But soon after came the 1994 election victory by the separatist Parti Quebecois, followed by the June 12, 1995, signing of the agreement to renegotiate with Canada by the three separatist leaders -- Lucien Bouchard, Jacques Parizeau and Mario Dumont -- and the drafting of the Quebec declaration of independence. Next came the formulating of the referendum question and the announcement of the voting date, October 30, and finally -- and most significantly -- the parachuting in of Bouchard to take over the campaign three weeks preceding the referendum. When all the shouting was done, of the four-million-plus Quebec voters, 49.4 percent said "yes" to beginning the process of leaving Canada; 50.6 percent said "no." Rejected ballots notwithstanding, about 50,000 votes made the difference.

Much has happened since the referendum to make any federalist uneasy, including Parizeau's resignation and subsequent replacement as Premier of Quebec by Lucien Bouchard, uncertain leadership by the federalist forces in Ottawa and Quebec, and the return of a hardened attitude in Western Canada. Morton remains optimistic. "I profoundly believe that people are ruled by both reason and emotion."

Morton likens our current dilemma to a married couple heading for a messy divorce. And, he warns, "What kind of divorce would it be if the two former partners have to continue sharing the kitchen and the bathroom?" But divorce, insists Morton, is not imminent. Like a good marriage counsellor, he knows that the best role for this small Institute is as a facilitator. "My task is to help study the research and communication of the issues and facts that people need to make sensible decisions. In a democracy, people are the decision-makers, however much they want to pass that burden to elected political leaders."

To help Canadians reach a decision, in the media and at lectures since the referendum, Morton has listed what he sees as the realistic options for Canada and their consequences: "a) We can prepare for the end of the world's third oldest federal system; b) we can get ready to use force to keep Canada together; or c) we can do what it takes to make federalists of a healthy majority of Quebecers." For option a), a breakup would mean sorting out Quebec's share of the national debt, its boundaries, and thousands of Ontario-Quebec agreements. "International law is generous," says Morton. "[Quebec] would get all the federal assets on its territory, from buildings to jet fighters. Canada gets all the liabilities, from MPs' pensions to national debt." If an agreement was reached for Quebec to pay back its billions of dollars of mutually achieved debt, Canada must keep its former province prosperous enough to pay. "Bury all those vengeful schemes to make Quebec miserable," Morton says. For option b), the use of force, Morton is blunt: "Civil war is horrible beyond imagining. No."

That leaves c): persuading Quebecers to keep the country together. This Calgary-born, British-educated Canadian Army veteran believes: "What devours the heart of the Quebec-Canada relationship most Quebecers will recognize and most other Canadians will instinctively deny: a lack of respect." Morton continues, "To show respect, Canadians don't have to agree that every Quebec grievance is justified. [Showing respect] works from common decency, understanding, and just a little of that affection so many Canadians were eager to show on October 27 [the Unity Rally in Montreal]." He recommends appointing a Royal Commission similar to the recent commission on aboriginal peoples, to be headed by respected non-politicians such as Peter Lougheed and Pierre-Marc Johnson. "Oh, you groan, another commission?" Morton said in a post-referendum speech. "But do you really know what Quebec federalists really want? Does Preston Manning or even Jean Chretien?" He adds, "I hope that by spelling out options I can persuade people that some are better than others."

If Quebec says good-bye to the other provinces, Morton feels that the MISC will lose none of its relevance but rather will serve it "with an authentic and thorough understanding of the Canada it has left." He believes that McGill, as a centre of values, teaching and learning, will remain an important asset to Quebec, and the government will recognize that. As for McGill's official impartiality in the referendum debate, Morton says, "Universities are, by definition, 'universal.' They cease to be universities if they engage in political battles for other than their basic existence and for the values of free enquiry."

Morton is not impartial. "The more we know about Canada, the more we'll want to keep it together," he says, "the more we will appreciate what an enormous achievement this country has been and the more it is a model for a crowded world in which different people must live together. We have made a prosperous life in a difficult climate. We have adapted technologies, from those of our First Nations to the latest understanding of electronics. We have achieved things together that we could never have managed (or afforded) separately, from medicare to the sovereign association of the CBC and SRC."

Is anyone out there listening?