Time to bring you a new feature I call "This Week in History Revisionism". I saw Global News tweet that had video of a crew removing the statue of Sir John A. MacDonald from Kingston's City Park. This is big news, given Sir John A resided in Kingston, and it's an awkward time in the Limestone City given the vast number of things dedicated to the 1st Prime Minister. Also, Halton District School Board and Hamilton -Wentworth District School Board will need physiotherapy to deal with all the back-patting the two boards will engage in as they have decided to remove the Egerton Ryerson name from two public schools. For some reason Sir Winston Churchill has also joined the villains party as his statue somewhere was covered in red pain. Ah, yes it's been a busy week!
*DISCLAIMER* *SIDEBAR* *ZACK MORRIS SAVED BY THE BELL TIME OUT*
I need to say this now before people draw their own conclusions sooner rather than later. I am not against removing of statues. I have a history degree, and am an educator who loves nothing more than to discuss legacies of great historical figures in a classroom setting. I'm more invested in the process to remove the statue and what might replace it than the actual act of removing a statue. I know what a statue or naming of something represents and I know that removing a statue does not erase history. I also know that most famous people's legacies are mixed and when that is the case even tacit involvement in something like residential schools tips the scales in favour of removal. Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled meanderings.
Lets ask the question "What are we doing when we remove statues?". To me its largely a symbolic gesture really devoid of anything meaningful in the plight of our Indigenous people.
It does not get them clean water, adequate housing or a promise to uphold treaties It does not nothing to solve the problem of the over-abundance of indigenous children in social services.
Nor does it correct the over representation of indigenous men in our jail cell.
It does very little to move the curriculum needle so that every student in K-12 and post-secondary education get educated further about residential schools and our colonial past.
It does not increase the funding to APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) so that stories can ben told and learning can happen.
It does nothing to increase funding for social services, nor does it end a vengeful court battle that has the federal government withholding reparation rightfully deserve.
What I have just mentioned are almost all part of the 94 Calls to Action that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission put forward to help with both the "Truth" and "Reconciliation". You know what is not part of the 94 recommendations? Re-Naming and re-homing statues. It's a nice gesture, and I suppose it might be a conversation starter, though I'm waiting for that conversation to happen. I'm also waiting for the government to fulfill its mandate of putting meaningful work into the 94 Truth and Reconciliation recommendations. It's a brilliant document that essentially calls upon every single person in our still great, all be it flawed country, to do something or provide something for the rest of the population to engage in. It asks for extra resources to be allocated, and better structure both in our social services, educational and legal system.
The Calls to Action:
As a teacher, I have a lot of work to do and to reflect upon and in the past five years have started to incorporate a lot more Truth and Reconciliation content in my history and law classes, and I know I need to refine that even more, and find more ways to do my own small part in educating youth and moving the needle forward. My assignments will not be based on whether or not statues should be removed as I believe on the whole we are better of without them. Instead my assignments will focus on the process of removing them and what should be in their place and why? That at least moves the conversation.
Just removing statues or splattering red paint on them is back-patting, surface level stuff, and not as meaningful as people like to think.
Lets keep the conversation going and start to truly embrace what Truth and Reconciliation really means.
Steve Clark
Steve is a 21 year teacher who has extensive experience in teaching both history and law
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