Writer
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, Writer
From a start in the mid-1980s in Montreal, I have worked as a journalist in print, radio and television across North America, including 20 years at the National Post. Today I write books and articles, along with my blog.
Books
Maple Syrup: A Short History of Canada's Sweetest Obsession
From the quiet beauty of sugar maple forests to the high-tech, high-stakes world of syrup production, this book takes you on a remarkable journey into one of Canada’s most beloved traditions. Led by Peter Kuitenbrouwer, a forester with a deep appreciation for the land that began during his childhood on a farm in west Quebec, this beautifully illustrated narrative uncovers the rich Indigenous heritage of maple syrup, explores its cultural significance and reveals the complex industry that sustains it today, where vast warehouses store a product so valuable it became the target of the Great Maple Syrup Heist, one of Canada’s most infamous thefts.
Blending history, culture and science in a story that stretches from northeastern US and from Nova Scotia to Ontario, Maple Syrup stands as a testament to the resilience, communal joy and economic intricacies that define maple syrup, and is the perfect read for anyone who loves Canada, its heritage and the irresistible taste of spring.
Our Song: The Story of O Canada
Peter Kuitenbrouwer traces the origins of Canada’s national anthem, from Calixa Lavallée’s composition—with French words by Adolphe Basile Routhier—for a celebration of the French fact in North America, performed in Quebec City on St. Jean Baptiste Day in 1880. Eighty years later the song gets official words in English; by that time Quebecers have discarded the hymn. One hundred years after O Canada’s birth the House of Commons in 1980 adopts O Canada as the nation’s official national anthem.
First published by Lobster Press in 2004, Our Song appeared in a new edition from Scholastic Canada in 2015.
Blending history, culture and science in a story that stretches from northeastern US and from Nova Scotia to Ontario, Maple Syrup stands as a testament to the resilience, communal joy and economic intricacies that define maple syrup, and is the perfect read for anyone who loves Canada, its heritage and the irresistible taste of spring.
7 Secrets of Highly Successful Kids
A skateboarder, an actor, a drummer, and a ballet dancer, among other kids, share opinions about what it means to be successful, plus strategy for reaching goals. To report 7 Secrets, author Peter Kuitenbrouwer travelled across Canada to gather the inspirational stories of 25 children, aged 9-12. Their secrets include “Choose a good role model” and “Don’t be afraid to try a new thing.” First published by Lobster Press in 2001, 7 Secrets appeared in a new edition in 2006, featuring new interviews with tweens about their recipes for success, a foreword by Degrassi: The Next Generation star Miriam McDonald, and updates on kids five years later. Translated into Korean, Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia.
Journalism
My Father, His Firebombs and My Messed-Up Sixties Childhood
National Post
“National Post reporter Peter Kuitenbrouwer digs deep back into his remarkable childhood to explore his complicated relationship with his father. This five-part series begins with this indelible moment from 1969 when Peter, then 7, was in the back of a car as police pulled over his father.”
Toronto High School Students Are Shoring Up Urban Biodiversity
Canadian Geographic
“Janaya*, a Grade 12 student at Toronto French School, unlocks a gate in the tall chain link fence behind the sports field, and steps into another world. Dead leaves rustle underfoot as Janaya and a dozen of her fellow students thread their way carefully down a path into a steep ravine that borders the school campus. Stately trees rise around them — red oak, black cherry, sugar maple, hemlock, white pine.”
Breaking Bad, with maple syrup
The Globe and Mail
“In a brazen heist a dozen years ago, a makeshift gang of thieves stole more than $18-million worth of maple syrup. Over many months, the crooks hauled thousands of barrels of syrup from a warehouse along Highway 20, east of Montreal. Discovered in the summer of 2012, it was the biggest theft in the history of Canada; it made headlines worldwide and became a golden opportunity for jokes on late-night TV. What could be more Canadian?“
The Strange History of ‘O Canada’
The Walrus
“By the time my family moved to Quebec in 1968, the province had long since stopped singing Canada’s national anthem. At age seven, I attended an English public school on the south shore of Montreal. I recall that—in what today seems a declaration that, yes, the British won the war on the Plains of Abraham—every morning we stood and sang “God Save the Queen.” Later, at a French Catholic school, we recited the Lord’s Prayer (“Au nom du Père, et du Fils et du Saint-Esprit, amen”). Even at my English high school in Lachute, “O Canada” never crossed my lips.”
The next trend in luxury Canadian real estate? Multi-level 'iceberg' basements.
Maclean’s
“In Hoggs Hollow, an upscale Toronto neighbourhood, people love their trees. In November, many lawns bore a sign reading, “Stop the Chop,” a campaign to save a 250-year-old sugar maple. The signs remain, but the plea failed. The massive tree had stood behind a house that a family bought with plans to demolish it and build a new home. The buyers ignored a city forestry report and cut down the maple to accommodate a two-level basement whose area is nearly twice the above-ground footprint of their planned new house.“