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Mattea Roach and Michael Greyeyes go head-to-head in the Canada Reads 2023 finale

On the final day of Canada Reads 2023, Michael Greyeyes and Mattea Roach make their final arguments over why their chosen book is the "One Book to Shift Your Perspective."

On the final day of Canada Reads 2023, the two contenders discuss the ethics of Ducks

CBC Books ·

Michael Greyeyes and Mattea Roach debate on the finale of Canada Reads

2 years ago
Duration 3:21
On the finale of Canada Reads Mattea Roach was questioned by Michael Greyeyes regarding the ethics at the core of the graphic memoir.

On the final day of Canada Reads 2023, two contending books were left as Jeopardy! star Mattea Roach and actor Micheal Greyeyes debated over why their book is the one all of Canada should read.

Roach is championing Kate Beaton's 2022 graphic memoir Ducks, which recounts Beaton's time spent working in the Alberta oil sands. It is the second graphic novel to compete in Canada Reads. The first was Jeff Lemire's Essex County, which was voted off in the first round after being defended by musician Sara Quin in 2011.

An illustrated book cover featuring a woman standing on the steps of a truck in the oil sands.

Greyeyes is championing the novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel — an apocalyptic tale about the interconnected lives of several artists and actors living in a world undone by disease. 

During the first round of debates, Ducks was up for examination. After making their opening statement, Roach was questioned by Greyeyes regarding the ethics at the core of the graphic memoir.

"I think the questions that it raises, that Kate herself tried to answer, is that the migrant workers — we'll call them — have choices about where to work and how to make their money. And in the opening chapter she said, 'There are lots of places to get work. I could stay here and try to find work, but the best and easiest way is to go there to make money in a short time.' And I think about the cost — certainly for Indigenous people, certainly for the environment. And I think when those workers leave and they take that wealth, there's this void. I'm saddened to think that's the answer," said Greyeyes.

Actor Michael Greyeyes and host Ali Hassan in studio for Canada Reads 2023.
Actor Michael Greyeyes and host Ali Hassan in studio for Canada Reads 2023. (Joanna Roselli/CBC)

The actor goes on to discuss Canada's legacy of environmental extraction and how that effects Indigenous communities. 

We make choices that benefit us over the lives of the people who live there and the communities that are left and suffer though cancer and devastation.- Michael Greyeyes

"It has been Canada's answer for a long time, how we make choices that benefit us over the lives of the people who live there and the communities that are left and suffer though cancer and devastation. And so, this book is really sobering. How do you respond to those criticisms?"

In their response, Roach asks the panellists to consider the book's afterword, where the author reflects on her complicity. 

"What I do think is interesting is that the afterword really engages with that void that you're talking about. So there's the main text of the book in which is taking us through what it was like for Kate to live that reality of working in the sands. It doesn't give us that sort of self reflection, that sometimes in graphic memoirs you'll see in like the the gutters, in the spaces around the panels, you'll sometimes see that commentary. It's left to the afterword where [Kate Beaton] acknowledges 'there are things I should have been thinking about when I was younger, that I just didn't really have the range to consider' that now that she's in the position to write this book, she does have the range to consider," said Roach.

The fact that this book is so sobering and leaves us with that discomfort is part of why Canadians need to engage with it.- Mattea Roach

"This isn't in the book, but I think about the way that she's articulated herself in interviews to talk about some of these things that you're mentioning, of the Indigenous communities in the area that are being devastated by these cancers that no one seems to care to investigate. It's a thorny question. The fact that this book is so sobering and leaves us with that discomfort is part of why Canadians need to engage with it."

Jeopardy! super-champ Mattea Roach sits at the round table in studio for Canada Reads 2023.
Jeopardy! super-champ Mattea Roach sits at the round table in studio for Canada Reads 2023. (Joanna Roselli/CBC)

Meet the Canada Reads 2023 champions and their chosen books are:

Here's how you can watch the Canada Reads 2023 debates:

PODCAST: Listen to the debates as a podcast on CBC Listen. The episode will be posted each day after the live airing.

WARNING: The books chosen for Canada Reads deal with difficult topics, such as trauma and abuse. These stories may be shared during the broadcast. Click this link to find publicly available resources for support.

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