Canadian Crusoes

"Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains" is a novel by Catharine Parr Traill. Written after "The Backwoods of Canada" (1836), it is her second Canadian book. It was first published in 1852 by London publisher Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Company. It was edited by her sister Agnes Strickland.

The work is set in what is today northern Ontario, where three children become lost and must fend for themselves, drawing from the source of its namesake, "Robinson Crusoe". The novel sets out to show that these children, two of which are English Canadian and the other who is French Canadian, are able to work together to survive in the new world of Canada. This is emphasized by the fact that the children later meet a Native Canadian girl, who joins their group and is able to help them with her own skills.

By the end of the novel, the children escape from the Canadian wilderness and are paired off - the English Canadian boy with the Native Canadian girl and the French Canadian boy with the English Canadian girl. Their skills are all useful, and they must work together to build the nation. However, the English Canadian ethic is still privileged over the other views.