Dimitri Soudas: Quebec City’s foolish decision to erase history

Of note, Quebec’ history wars?

Last week, the mayor of Quebec City made a decision that should concern every Canadian who still believes that history matters.

A historic mosaic, installed at city hall, depicting the moment Samuel de Champlain meets a First Nations chief, is being removed. Why? Because, and I quote, it was deemed to be “offensive.” That’s it. That was the only criterion. One of the most important figures in the founding of Quebec — and, by extension, of Canada — is now considered too problematic to be shown to the public.

Let’s be honest: the mosaic depicts a painful truth. Yes, the Indigenous chief is shown in a posture of submission. Yes, it reflects the colonial lens through which history was often portrayed. But the role of history is not to make us comfortable. It is to show us what happened. The moment we begin to edit the past to make it easier to look at, we stop telling the truth, and we begin to create fiction.

Seventeen years ago, in 2008, I wrote the speech delivered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. It was one of the proudest moments of my life, because it was a moment of unity, between French and English, between past and present, between our country and the city that gave birth to it.

In that speech, Prime Minister Harper honoured our collective memory: “1608 is a historic date for you, for Quebec, and for all of Canada. Because it was beginning on July 3, 1608, exactly 400 years ago today, that we really started becoming what we are today.”…

Let that sink in. The very language, culture and political existence of modern Quebec, and of Canada, can be traced to the moment Champlain arrived and established a settlement on the shores of the St. Lawrence. And today, that very moment is being removed from the walls of the city he founded.

This is not reconciliation. This is revisionism. This is not respect. This is erasure.

We have a duty to teach our full history, including the injustices. Including the imbalances of power. Including the painful truths about colonization and its lasting effects on Indigenous peoples. But we cannot do so by pretending the past did not happen. We cannot do so by tearing down mosaics instead of building understanding.

When we erase history, what comes next? Language? Identity? Memory?

Source: Dimitri Soudas: Quebec City’s foolish decision to erase history