| A conversation with Adrienne Clarkson is disarming. Her new memoir, Heart Matters (Viking Canada, 272 pp.), raises more questions than it answers – no details behind her first divorce and a defence of the office of the Governor General that doesn’t stray beyond the buried traditions of Anglo-Saxon democracy.
But she’s funny, eloquent and, I think, truly believes in Canadian identity. I had a chance to speak to her about her new book – memory, celebrity and the future of the office of the Governor General.
Fast Forward: The early chapters of the book deal with your family’s life in China and moving to Canada during the Second World War. How did you conduct the research?
Adrienne Clarkson: From the time I was little, my parents would tell friends about the war, the occupation. My father died at 95, four years ago. He left boxes of notes and a novel (unpublished) about the war. One of the most wonderful things was the photographs – after the war, my father went back to Hong Kong and brought them back.
FFWD: When you began Heart Matters, did you know what you were willing to discuss and what you wouldn’t, or did the book evolve as you wrote it?
Clarkson: No, I thought about it a lot. I have spared the Canadian public my five years of Jungian therapy, paring down the book to what it should be – less than 300 pages. I don’t think anyone wants to read more than that. I wrote a lot out, and when I came to finishing the first draft, sliced away. I kept most of what is at the beginning – the traumatic boat trip to Canada and our early life here.
FFWD: What about those looking for a tell-all, full of dirt on famous figures?
Clarkson: There are things you don’t open the lid on. Like when you go through a divorce – I don’t think it’s appropriate to write on it, because it’s one-sided. I don’t think there’s that much value in that. I was doing it for myself – the people and events in the book touched my heart and made me what I became. Books that people write about their public life are often boring. I think it’s useful for archives, and I have stuff for that, for my official biographer. I want mine written by a historian, someone who knows the history of the Governor General and what they do. But nothing secret or things confided to me by former heads of state – Vladimir Putin, for example. Things were said that were very revealing, not for publication now, or for many years. It’s an unspoken rule that it isn’t done. What seems important now, probably won’t be important in the future.
FFWD: You comment on the cult of celebrity in the memoir, but I wonder how you managed to differentiate that from the position of Governor General?
Clarkson: It goes with the territory. I’m very glad that I went in to TV when I did – there were no Paris Hiltons, people famous for being famous. I understand why people become well known for what they do – talented performers and writers. That’s OK. But that other junky stuff about notoriety is unattractive. To get into it now, and have that be the way in, would be very degrading. I don’t think it’s going to stop.
I hosted (the CBC program) Take 30 when I was 25. Then, in 1965, there was this idea that you became famous when you hosted a show. Realizing that, I dropped a hard curtain between that and my private life.
FFWD: The British press has jumped on a brief mention of Queen Elizabeth II powdering her nose at a banquet that you mention as inappropriate.
Clarkson: They should have read the book. The chapter on the Queen is very short and complimentary. It’s a class thing, I guess. I admire her – she’s duty personified. But that’s the British tabloid press for you. And, of course, it’s coming from one of the colonies.
FFWD: The memoir begins with the seven seconds your heart stopped and the operation to install a pacemaker. How has the event affected you?
Clarkson: Interestingly, it’s not the first time I nearly died, which was after having an operation and hemorrhaging internally. I drifted into a dream-like state. I could hear people shouting around me and I thought, ‘why are they so excited about this?’ It’s so easy. I didn’t feel any fear. I think that I would feel fear about drowning, or in a burning building. Afterwards, I realized that I nearly died. And that if I had died, it would all be over. In terms of this world – I happen to believe there’s another. But this one would be, and I had left a lot undone, unresolved.
FFWD: You’re no stranger to controversy, but with this being an autobiography, have attacks against the book been more hurtful?
Clarkson: It was damaging and hurtful. I was always conscious of the fact that as Governor General, I wanted people to understand and respect the office and the importance it has in the constitution. When I saw it trashed, I was very upset. I tried to make that right again. People will believe what they want to for all sorts of reasons. I often say, when talking to graduates, it’s very important in life to have the right enemies. Knowing that someone is the enemy, and absolutely doesn’t believe in the same things that you do and wants to destroy you, is to be very aware that the world isn’t a simple place.
FFWD: Did you feel a need to defend the Governor General position?
Clarkson: No. I think, explain. That’s why there’s boring passages of what and why it’s done. You want to be certain as GG that you do things in your role as the precedent has been set. It looks like rubber-stamping, but if you didn’t do it there would be something really wrong – signing laws into effect, going to parliament and giving royal assent to bills. It’s not a tradition that’s empty – it has meaning to it. It’s the system we have – if you want to change the constitution, to get rid of the crown and the GG, you’d need consent from each province and territory, and of parliament. And you’re never going to get it. So let’s live with what we have and see how we can adapt it to being Canadian.
FFWD: Do you have criticisms of the GG position?
Clarkson: People ask, ‘why them?’ There have been a number of political positions in the past and people think they are some pawn of a political party. The system has to be looked at.
We need a GG who is not a political figure, but someone of a kind of stature, who can help a government to focus itself. I would tell the Prime Minister what people I met would tell me, and this is not a trivial thing. But it’s important not to interfere with the political process.
I think for the good of the office it has to evolve into a democratically chosen position. We should have something more transparent and which involves the democratically elected representatives of the people. The name should be submitted to a parliamentary committee specially formed for that purpose – an all-party committee who looks at the name, and talks to the person. Have it televised. People should see them and be able to ask questions. Find out what they know about the country. Then take the name to the leader of the opposition to second the motion.
There’s no point in moving from our role as a colony of Britain to a colony of the United States. That’s what we’re doing. The thing is, we have everything necessary – culture, labour-intensive, economically viable industries. We have to pay attention to that – what we’ve become, what we want to be. |
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