 Initially, editor George Woodcock intended that "Canadian Literature" would be fully bilingual in French and English, but due to the lack of French submissions, after ten years of publication French-language material never rose above 10% of an issue's content.At the time of its foundation, "Canadian Literature" was the first and only quarterly entirely devoted to the discussion and criticism of Canadian writing and literature.Although the position of editor eventually went to George Woodcock, the university's first choice was a bibliographer, UBC's only specialist in Canadian literature, Reginald Watters; the position was offered to Woodcock after Watters decided to accept a fellowship in Australia.