In A Border Within (1997), Ian Angus calls for the expression of new visions of identity based in the experiential content of the nation. He requests that these secular expressions of contemporary identity be characteristic of the cultural history of Canada, emphasizing that they be articulated through rather than against diversity. Such contemporary expressions of community will lead to a more effective concept of nation in the face of globalization and multiculturalism. Representations of ice in contemporary English Canadian literature establish continuity with the strong identification established between English-speaking Canadians and the land they inhabit. Moreover, calling attention to the presence of ice in Canadian literary expressions leads to further notions of identity rooted in diversity and ecocritical ideals. Six works written by non-Aboriginal English-speaking Canadians—Wayne Johnston’s Baltimore’s Mansion, Alistair MacLeod’s No Great Mischief, Jane Urquhart’s The Underpainter, Robert Kroetsch’s What the Crow Said, Aritha van Herk’s Places Far from Ellesmere and John Moss’s Enduring Dreams—span a progression from realist to postmodern narrative, highlighting the consistent theme of limitation as it appears in representations of ice.