‘I was speaking to a group of high school students, and none of them knew who Lester B. Pearson was’: historian J.D.M. Stewart hopes to change that with his new book, The Prime Ministers

Learning and understanding Canada’s political history is ‘part of being an informed and civic minded citizen,' says author and historian J.D.M. Stewart of his new book, The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped.

Author J.D.M. Stewart says he decided to write his book, The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped, after meeting a group of Ontario high school students who didn’t know who Lester Pearson was. This experience alarmed him because Ontario requires students to take history in Grade 10.Photograph courtesy of Sutherland House

Feature

BY ABBAS RANA

December 8, 2025

If Canadians want to understand today’s Canada, they must first know the political history of the country and the leaders who shaped it, says historian J.D.M. Stewart, author of the new book, The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped, in a...

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