Critics accuse the Conservative Party of ‘politicizing history’ as national museum mandates change | National Post

2013/07/31 Leave a comment

More debate on the mandate of the new national history museum. Removal of the phrase ‘critical understanding’ is significant, and reflects a change in substance and tone. Ironic, given one of the valid criticisms of the Canada Hall was its Disneyland-like airbrushing of Canadian history.

All governments struggle with how to cover and portray their history and the balance between reinforcing a national narrative while being honest about the less uplifting parts. See Margaret MacMillan’s The Uses and Abuses of History for a great discussion and examples

via Critics accuse the Conservative Party of ‘politicizing history’ as national museum mandates change | National Post.

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How Stephen Harper is rewriting history – Canada – Macleans.ca

2013/07/29 Leave a comment

Good overview on the remake of the Canadian Museum of Civilization into the Canadian Museum of History, and the likely narrowing of focus and messaging. While the CMC was ‘content light’, my experience taking visitors around from many countries is that the Canada Hall gave them a powerful image of the diversity and evolution of Canada.

And some of Jack Granatstein’s lament in Who Killed Canadian History seemed exaggerated as our kids went through their primary and high school education with a reasonable amount of ‘traditional’ history in addition to social history. Not to say a refresh is not warranted, but hopefully less jingoistic than the War of 1812 celebrations.

How Stephen Harper is rewriting history – Canada – Macleans.ca.

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Scholars, authors wary of government review of Canadian history – Politics – CBC News

2013/06/16 Leave a comment

Canada’s version of Australia’s ‘history wars’ (under the Howard governmetn)?

Scholars, authors wary of government review of Canadian history – Politics – CBC News.

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Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to lead review of Canadian history

2013/05/03 Leave a comment

Starting with Discover Canada, the renewal of the Museum of Civilization to become the Museum of Canadian History, our own version of the ‘history wars’.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to lead review of Canadian history.

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