How a statue debate can (re)write history

LoriChalmersMorrisonsays that when the project receivedinitial approval, it considered the possibility of extending theproject to other leaders, including aboriginal and female rolemodels from history.

Meanwhile, in Halifax...

The fight over monuments was revived recently in Nova Scotia whenthe province's premier said he'd like to meet with Halifax's mayorabout a figure of Edward Cornwallis that towers over a south endpark.

Some historians, such as David Bercuson at the University ofCalgary, caution against judging the actions of the past with thestandards of the present.

But Jon Tattrie, the author of Cornwallis: the violent birth ofHalifax, says he counts himself among Canadians who want to see amore diverse depiction of their past in public spaces.

"Really,the solitudes that our generation is charged withbridging is between European cultures and First Nations cultures."He said he's sympathetic to the perspective of Daniel Paul, aMi'kmaq elder and author who has argued the monument should beshifted from its position in the centre of the city into a militarymuseum on Citadel Hill.

Premier Stephen McNeil, who is also the minister of aboriginalaffairs, has said the Liberal government will work withmunicipalities and the Mi'kmaq "to ensure that our history isreflected, but done so in a respectful way."

Statueof limitations

Bercuson, who teaches at the University of Calgary, says he'swary of assessing past misdeeds through a modern lens."It is a difficult yardstick to measure people's actions by. Wehave to be extremely careful about how we want to cleanse ourhistory," he said in an interview.

"I'm Jewish. What do I do about John A. Macdonald? He was avicious anti-Semite. Am I advocating that his name bechiselled offof buildings and we take him off our money, no I'm not."

"We have to study him for what he was. See him in the fullnessof his existence and draw our own conclusions about what kind ofperson he was. We have to remember he helped to build the country."

John Boileau, a former military officer and the author of severalbooks of military history, has attended Tattrie's public talks onhis Cornwallis book and criticized his viewpoint.

"I think they should leave well enough alone," he says. "Thewarfare ... was brutal. Men, women and children were killed on bothsides," he said in an interview.

Boileau said one of his greatest concerns is over where the pushto remove historical monuments will end.

"(George) Washington owned slaves. (Thomas) Jefferson ownedslaves. Are you going to knock their faces off various bills?"