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As a #cdnhist who (I hope) has reasoned views on this subject (you can assess them here: https://activehistory.ca/2015/01/old-chieftain-or-old-charlatan-assessing-sir-johns-complex-legacy-through-political-cartoons/), I find this letter profoundly disappointing. It is written to polarize rather than build bridges. #cdnpoli 1/ https://twitter.com/MLInstitute/status/1349020875639681026
2/ First, I cannot think of any professionals working in #cdnhist to whom this sentence actually applies: "Those who see Canada’s history as little more than a shameful series of mistakes and failures..." To whom, exactly, do the authors refer? Vague labels are never helpful.
3/ Historical judgements are never made in a binary frame. The question is not whether we are "for" (or "friends of...") or "against." We assess the past with an eye to bringing meaning to our present and future. These authors seem to be more interested in #cdnpoli than #cdnhist.
4/ The "sustained attacks" on #SirJAM are not actually attacks, but rather reflect how his name & policies remind ppl of an earlier (& often ongoing) time when they had not equal standing in our country. See #VictoriaBC Mayor Helps's comments here: http://wordsfest.ca/events/2020/monumental-problems
5/ I agree with the signators that "governments, historians, teachers, media & other engaged Cdns ensure everyone has access to a balanced view of our common past and the ppl who made us." But where, we might ask, would they put these words in their #cdnhist? (racism nxt 2 twts)
6/ #SirJAM: “if [the Chinese] came in great numbers... they would send Chinese representative to sit here, who would represent... Asiatic principles altogether opposite to our wishes... the eccentricities which are abhorrent to the Aryan race & Aryan principles, on this House.”
7/ Here's another quotation from #SirJAM in parliament: “the Aryan races will not wholesomely amalgamate with the Africans or the Asiatics." I grabbed these from Tim Stanley's work. You can read it in context here: https://activehistory.ca/2015/01/john-a-macdonalds-aryan-canada-aboriginal-genocide-and-chinese-exclusion/
8/ Neither quotation represents a Canada in which many of us want to live. I don't care abt whether #SirJAM stands or falls, & I agree with some of the words in this letter. It strikes me, though, that the authors are exhibiting the politicization they claim to critique. #cdnpoli
9/ In publishing a letter that points mostly to #ResidentialSchools as a singular point of critique, these authors do a disservice to the past & #cdnhist. My questions for them is this: why entrench here rather than proposing someone in our collective past that builds unity?
