Ditto what Shayne said. I have done a bit of research on this, and asked a few people in a position to know (or at least have an
informed opinion, and the answer comes back the same: the canadian block is a fallacy.
However, I googled "canadian block" just to see what would turn up. And I found this:
http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/longpoems/abrams/introduction.htmThe salient part of the very long (and frankly, turgid) page is this:
The implication of Cary’s opening lines is that peace and freedom, together with the accoutrements of classical civilization and the invigorating qualities of Canadian nature, are to be found on the Plains of Abraham, and are to be enjoyed under circumstances of utter and complete tranquility:
Oft, on the green sod lolling as I lay,
Heedless, the grazing herds around me stray:
Close by my side shy songsters fearless hop,
And shyer squirrels the young verdure crop:
All take me for some native of the wood,
Or else some senseless block thrown from the flood.
(ll. 11-16)
Here Cary seems at pains to demonstrate the harmonious life that exists on the plains. His tranquill landscape contains no hint of conflict or antipathy; indeed the poet/speaker — that is, European man — is in a state of concord with the creatures of Britain's Canadian colony: he is accepted alike by the domesticated "grazing herds" and by the "shy" and "shyer" animals of the forest who perceive him, he speculates, either as an animate "native of the wood" or as an inanimate "block" cast ashore from the St. Lawrence. It is more than possible that Cary's use of the word "block" brings with it to this context a double valency and two meanings, one derived from its traditional (Shakespearian, Popian) usage as an image of inertia and senselessness, the other deriving from the implication that his Canadian "block" is a piece of flotsam from Quebec's burgeoning timber industry, described by Cary in some detail later in the poem. If this possibility is granted, then it would appear that Cary's doubly suggestive "block" serves to reconcile old-world concepts with new-world realities and, beyond that, to show, like the entire context in which it appears, that on the Plains of Abraham there is to be found in 1789 a peaceful and harmonious relationship between man (even man with commercial connections) and nature (even wild nature).
And all that makes about as much sense as anything else you're likely to hear on the reality of Canadian Blocks.
cheers
RET