The series The True North Strong and Free, #1–5 was painted immediately after Greg Curnoe’s mural Homage to the R 34 was removed from the airport in Dorval. Using large-scale rubber stamps for the first time, Curnoe expresses his reaction to the censorship of his major work, as well as some disappointment: “CANADA ALWAYS LOSES!” Curnoe’s phrase “CLOSE THE 49th PARALLEL ETC,” an allusion to the international boundary between Canada and the United States, is characteristic of his developing pro-Canadian, anti-American stance.