Yanic Truesdale on why some are compelled to make hard choices in life
For Day One of Canada Reads 2019, the opening debates were highly persuasive as the five panellists made the case for why their book should be the one all Canadians should read.
Actor Yanic Truesdale who is defending Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, translated by Rhonda Mullins, talked about why his own family background helps him appreciate the issues raised the book.
"I was abandoned by my father when I was two years old. The irony is not lost on me — here I am, I'm defending a book about a mother who abandoned her kids! It's an undefendable choice. However, you have to go back to the 1950s — there were no role models for women who wanted to do anything else other than being a mother or a wife.
"The church put so much pressure on the families to have children. My mom's boyfriend of 40 years is from a 16-children family. Céline Dion has 13 brothers and sisters. I think Suzanne got married because she's from that time….she felt overwhelmed and I think she felt she had no choice. But back in the 1950s, they didn't realize they had other choices because no one showed them the way."