Share Post:

Interviewing the Acacia Group’s Jonathon Van Maren on his new book

Jonathon, in the last several months, you’ve published two new books. Can you tell us a little about them?

The first is more of a booklet that I co-authored with my colleague (and sister) Justina Van Manen titled Life Under Glass: The Ethics of Embryo Adoption. In the pro-life movement we get a lot of questions about the ethics of various reproductive technologies, and embryo adoption comes up a lot. It is a beautiful way to rescue frozen children in need of parents, and there were no existing resources that comprehensively examined the issue. We wanted to answer frequently asked questions.

The second is Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield (with a foreword by Preston Manning). This is a biography of the man who was, for more than a half-century, one of Canada’s most significant Christians. It’s incredible how much he packed into one life—the founding of a religious order, the formation of several Christian boarding schools for boys in the Manitoba wilderness, the creation of a conservative media empire that laid the groundwork for a political movement and channeled Western alienation. In “retirement” he created and edited a magnificent 12-volume history of Christianity: Their First Two Thousand Years.

Why did you want to write a biography about Ted Byfield?

In a country with few conservative icons, Ted was my hero already as a boy. My grandparents subscribed to his magazines. The Book of Ted: Epistles of an Unrepentant Redneck was the first political book I read. Ted spoke for millions of Christians who had no voice in the mainstream media and often had no voice in politics—he supported the pro-life movement (and got kicked off the CBC for confronting Henry Morgentaler), condemned the sexual revolution, and championed what he once called the “Old Canada.” He did all of this with brilliant writing and a fantastic sense of humour.

But he did more than just condemn—he fought for the things that he loved, and Preston Manning credits him with marshalling support for the Reform Party through his magazines, speeches, and media appearances. There is a direct line from Preston Manning’s Reform Party to Stephen Harper’s majority government in 2011. As Acacia’s own Peter Stockland once put it: “No Byfields, no Alberta Report. No Alberta Report, no Reform Party as it was formed. No Reform Party, no PC collapse. No PC collapse, no Harper government. It’s shorthand history, but it’s fair shorthand history.” Ted’s convictions impacted the course of Canadian history, and I believe he was a great man.

Because those who fought the moral revolution that transformed Canada are not in vogue, Ted’s extraordinary life has been almost entirely ignored by historians and biographers. I believe that Canada’s Christians need to honour and celebrate and know their own heroes and history, and Prairie Lion is my small contribution toward that end.

What was it like to spend time with him in his final years and be able to interview him for this book?

I will always treasure the hours and days I got to spend with Ted. He was a consummate storyteller, and sometimes it was hard to write because we were laughing so hard. It was difficult sometimes to keep him talking about himself—he was just so interested in other people. And right to the end, he was optimistic about the future. He was constantly calling me and others with random ideas about how to get the stories of Christianity to a wider audience. He never quit working, and never wanted to.

What did you learn about Mr. Byfield’s life that most surprised you?

When he died last September, Ted had lived through all but 61 of Canada’s 154 years, and his memories were incredible. As a little boy, he saw the great railway tycoon Sir Donald Mann on a Toronto streetcar. He was sitting in the press gallery with his parents when King George VI addressed Parliament in 1939. On one of his treks with schoolboys across thousands of kilometres of old voyageur trails, he found the high ridges of the famous Red River carts still there—and met an old man who remembered the villagers leaving to fight with Louis Riel at Batoche. He had long chats with John G. Diefenbaker, and took on the Laurentian elites. I never realized just how much of Canadian history he had experienced.

Where is the best place for our readers to buy a copy of this book, along with your others?

Life Under Glass can be ordered from Amazon here. Prairie Lion can also be ordered from Amazon. You can also order a hardcover from his son Vince Byfield here.

What will you write about next? Do you have a project in mind?

One day I’d like to write a history of Canada’s pro-life and pro-family movement—to record the story of the backlash to the moral revolution that transformed this country so that upcoming generations know that not everyone simply accepted what was happening. I’ve begun compiling research to that end. More immediately, I’ve been asked to write an updated version of my 2016 book The Culture War, so that will be a work in progress. In October, I’ll be in Ireland for a book tour to promote Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement, which got cancelled twice during Covid—so I’ll focus on that first!

Jonathon Van Maren is a Strategic Communications Consultant with The Acacia Group. To learn more about Jonathon, or to retain him to assist you with your communications needs, please click here.

Sign Up for our newsletter