Since the early 2000s, Brazil has been an official priority in Canada's foreign policy —and Brazil has been in Quebec's priority list even longer. In scholarly terms, this high level of attention has translated into substantial interest in Brazil by Canadian academics and in Canada by Brazilian academics. Besides resulting in numerous books and scholarly articles, this interest became institutionalized with the creation, among other organizations, of the Brazilian Studies Network within the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CALACS) and the Associação Brasileira de Estudos Canadenses (ABECAN), unfortunately now dormant.
Despite all this, no single work thus far has studied Brazilian-Canadian relations in a comprehensive, historical approach. Rosana Barbosa's book addresses this omission. Concise, to the point, and extremely well written, this book is an outstanding contribution—and, as I shall argue here, a starting point—for the study of the social, economic, and political relations between two of the largest countries of the Americas, both of which aspire to have some weight in continental affairs.
As such, Barbosa's book speaks not only to historians but also to specialists of foreign policy and international relations. Indeed, the book is an interesting case study of how two middle powers relate to each other, hesitating between studied indifference and active engagement. The longitudinal character of the study allows for a rich and textured analysis of Brazilian-Canadian relations. Furthermore, while not directly the focus of this book, the constant interference—whether conscious or not—of the United States in this relationship emerges as a significant question to be studied in more detail.
Barbosa points out that ties between Brazil and Canada have a long history, starting immediately after the arrival of Europeans in the Americas in the early sixteenth century. A plaque on the Pálacio de la Ravardière (São Luís do Maranhão's city hall) reminds passers-by that France's efforts at colonizing South America (France équinoxiale) and the colonies of Nouvelle France somehow converged. Canadian French has surprising traces of Tupi-Guaraní (Brazil's most important native language), including the words ‘maringouin’ (mosquito) and ‘boucan’ (smoke, from which also came the word buccaneer). Other words have become common in both English and French, such as tapir, jaguar, and tapioca. How these words travelled is a future research suggestion derived from Barbosa's book.
Of course, cod is at the center of the story, bringing Canada and Brazil together through the larger Atlantic world. To eat bolinhos de bacalhau in any Brazilian bar is thus to take a long trip in time using the Brazilian-Canadian connection. However, it would be good to know how the balance of trade was squared: What goods did Brazil export to Canada to pay for its cod? In the triangular world of Atlantic trade, exchanges needed not be direct. Brazilian-Canadian trade thus offers an understudied perspective on the “Age of Empire,” as Hobsbawm called it. Cod, however, is far from being the only good exchanged between the two countries, and bilateral trade has become progressively more diverse and complex, now including bilateral exchanges of both primary and manufactured goods. The Bombardier-Embraer disputes over aeronautics and government subsidies at the beginning of the twenty-first century pointedly remind us of this.
Diplomatic relations between Brazil and Canada have been dominated historically by inconsistency. From a Canadian perspective, a common dilemma surfaces as Canada hesitates between pursuing its human-rights and democracy agenda and promoting its business interests above everything else, a dilemma most strikingly apparent during military rule in Brazil. From a Brazilian perspective, Canada has had to compete for Brazil's attention with numerous other countries—the United States, especially, but also Europe and the members of the Mercosul. As a middle power in the Americas, Brazil on occasion considers Canada as a potential competitor, rather than as a partner.
Another important contribution by Barbosa to the study of Brazilian-Canadian relations is her stress on the fact that the private dimensions of these exchanges are as important as diplomatic ties and formal agreements. In fact, the private dimension is sometimes more important. Official inconsistency does have an effect on private dynamics, but it does not determine them. This pattern has meant that Brazilian-Canadian relations developed and thrived thanks to uncoordinated private initiatives, including two-way migratory flows, missionary undertakings, and political activism, to name just a few. This is not a normative statement intended to say that private exchanges are better or somehow more productive than public ones, since coercion, corruption, and political interference in internal affairs have also been present in Brazilian-Canadian private relations.
One of the book's most fascinating case studies is “The Light” (the Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company), which was at one point both Canada's largest investment abroad and the largest foreign direct investor in Brazil. As Brazil's major power provider during the first half of the twentieth century, The Light is tightly linked to Brazilian industrialization—and, through it, to Brazilian economic policy, urbanization, land use, and, more generally, social change. Business decisions taken in Toronto could thus have tremendous influence throughout Brazil, half a continent away.
Moreover, Canadian investments in electricity were not confined to Brazil but were also significant in other Latin American countries, such as Mexico. Barbosa's study can thus become a launching pad for the comparative study of the history of Canadian foreign direct investment, surely in power generation but also more generally. In even broader terms, it can be a steppingstone to address the grievous question of the net contribution of foreign direct investment to local development.
In conclusion, this is an interesting and stimulating book, one that raises more questions than it can answer. My only complaint is that Barbosa's analysis stops roughly in the 1970s, with limited reference to what came afterwards. In my view, ending the analysis at a more recent date would have rounded off the book more completely.
Barbosa's book triggers numerous questions and should thus feed new research projects. Her systematic resort to archival material, clearly referenced in the notes, facilitates such future undertakings. It is my hope that this is just the first of many studies in this field.
