Reception
Death or Canada has been generally well received by both audiences and critics. In Ireland it garnered a 26% share of the audience, placing second only to Desperate Housewives, and in Canada it attracted a total viewership of 370,000 during its transmission on March 16, 2009 making it one of the most-watched Canadian programs on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.
In Ireland, the weekly newspaper, Western People, called it "an epic, tragic tale of extreme heroism and courage." In Canada, Bill Harris of Sun Media hailed it as an "excellent and emotional docu-drama" going on to say that the film "documents the exact moment when the fates of the two nations became intertwined. Neither place ever would be the same." The Telegraph-Journal in New Brunswick labeled it "a sombre, compelling docudrama" and John Doyle of The Globe and Mail said it was an "excellent docudrama" and a "profoundly disturbing...powerful story of what happened in Toronto that summer" and that it was "the true, searing story of an entire people surviving against the odds, overcoming extraordinary horror and transforming true despair into hope." Kevin Plummer of The Torontoist wrote that the film "represents an important collaboration crossing the boundaries between the academic and popular history...with producers like Thompson, who thoughtfully integrate academic history into their projects without diluting it."
A senior executive for History Television said "We have a great sense of pride when Canadian productions and coproductions find a wide and engaged audience. Death or Canada found popular and critical acclaim in Canada and Ireland and more importantly honoured and enriched our shared history through documentary and active investigation.”
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