Removing memorials ‘an unending process’, says Canadian historian

SAKSATOON — A Canadian historian who has long studied Aboriginal rights is not on board with the idea of taking down statues and removing names.

Ken Coates from the University of Saskatchewan says he worries about that kind of action because one never knows where it will stop.

“To use an obvious example, Pierre Elliot Trudeau — prime minister of the country in 1969 — and his government proposed the [White Paper Policy], so one suspects we’ll be going after that name shortly as well,” he said.

“I think it’s an unending process.”

RELATED: Sir John A. Macdonald statue removed in Charlottetown after city council vote

Coates says Macdonald did some remarkable things for our country but also did some things that over the passage of time have been shown to be very wrong.

But he says that can apply to all human beings.

“Running around and looking at one issue and saying on this basis we should remove this person from our recollection of the past simply leads us down a path that’s not good for Canada as a whole. We have to look at individuals in their time, in the value system of that day, realize the fundamental mistakes that were made, and take collective responsibility for those,” he said.

“But also, not lose sight of the positive contributions that occurred as well.”

Coates says it’s understandable that people are frustrated with Macdonald’s role in residential schools and other negative impacts he had on the country. But these figures aren’t being celebrated anymore so memorials need to be seen with a balanced eye.

RELATED:

• Pope silent, Catholic bishops ‘shocked’ after children’s remains found in Kamloops
• Indigenous Services minister wants Pope to apologize for Canada’s residential schools
• Hundreds more unmarked residential school graves, anticipate experts
• Discovery of Indigenous children’s remains evidence of Canada’s genocide: experts

And there’s a solution to concerns raised about existing statues.

“Don’t take down memorials, necessarily, but think about putting up other ones that actually remind us of the negative consequences of history, that remind us of the other people who fought back or made other efforts to make the world right,” he said.

“In that whole dialogue and that whole process, there’s a balance that makes our society better. If we just start to silence people and silence names and take them away, I don’t think we achieve very much.”

As far as claims of “erasing history” goes, he says Canadians overall are very “historically-illiterate.”

“We can do a lot better,” he said.

“Canada was for many generations and is to this day a fundamentally discriminatory society. First Nations people, Metis, Inuit people, have been treated very poorly for 150 years and for 150 years before confederation. It’s not like this is a new revelation. So, let’s come to terms with this, and let’s talk more openly about the things that went wrong and find ways to memorialize that and talk about that and remember the lives of people who died. But let’s also talk about the more complex human beings that created the country we live in today.”

The comments come days after the bodies of 215 kids were found in a mass unmarked grave at the site of a former Kamloops, B.C., residential school.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday said removing statues or names of controversial people from venues was cancel culture.

RELATED:

• Kenney: removing names, statues of historical figures a slippery slope, calls it ‘cancel’ culture
• CBE changing Langevin school name back to Riverside
• Students, profs at Ryerson using ‘X University’ as they demand name change
• UBC reviews award of honorary degree to former principal of B.C. residential school

A school in Calgary removed the name of Sir Hector-Louis Langevin, a prominent contributor to residential schools, from its campus and reverted back to its former name of Riverside School.

The Calgary Catholic School district said it would be engaging with stakeholders to decide whether to remove the name of Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin, another person who was a driving force behind residential schools, from one of its high schools.

Students at Ryerson University in Toronto are calling the school “X University” as it calls on the institution to cut ties with the name Ryerson due to its connections to residential schools.

-with files from Joey Chini