This study is an analysis of three English Canadian operas, Beatrice Chancy (composed by James Rolfe with a libretto by George Elliott Clarke), Elsewhereless (composed by Rodney Shaman with a libretto by Atom Egoyan), and Louis Riel (composed by Harry Somers with a libretto by Mavor Moore), that place Canadian history and Canadian historical fictions on the lyric stage. All three operas engage variously with race, gender, sexuality, power, and the political formation of the state. The central concern of this study is the representation through music of difference and race in Louis Riel, Elsewhereless, and Beatrice Chancy. The analysis considers music as a medium of representation and therefore an equal participant, with the libretto and the mise en scine, in creating subtle delineations of character, relationships, and complex interchanges with the world outside the work. In particular, through the analysis of music, narrative, and operatic performance, the study will consider how race is represented in these operas. Independent but affiliated studies on modern opera and the theoretical context of cultural musicology, and a longitudinal consideration of the representation of race and racism in historical operas, will form a theoretical and comparative historical background to the analysis of the operas. This study intends to contribute to the field of opera studies by focusing on contemporary Canadian operas.