It’s our history: warts and all

Dear Editor: Neil Godbout’s fiery denunciation of the historically-illiterate’s anticipated response to the Vancouver “colonial audit” by the possible renaming of Stanley Park introduces a two-edged sword for discussion (Courier/Herald, Aug. 1).

Serious-minded, intelligent citizens, knowledgeable of history, have already lamented the push of a sanctimonious selfrighteous cabal to ram a nationwide guilt complex down our collective Canadian throats. Most Canadians are not inclined to enlist in this self flagellation guilt trip.

Our history is what our history is — warts and all. Our nation builders made mistakes, perhaps none worse than the residential school policy.

But, they were also the driving force, from the French explorers onward, who turned a continent stuck in a near Stone Age of development into the prosperous homeland that is ours today.

Godbout forcefully states that we have to be honest with our past, that we were taught a whitewashed, racist fantasy version of history. Strong stuff. Others will also recall a romantic, rather glorious recount of the natives encountered by the also glamorous Coureur Des Bois. It was enjoyable, uplifting, school reading.

In the United States, a segment of the population is successfully effecting the removal of statues of historical figures associated with the losing side, namely those connected to the infamous slavery cause. Herein lies the two-edged sword allegory.

Godbout demands an honest history, but pointedly ignores the failings of one element of the equation.

In examining the all important culture aspects, neither he, nor any other current commentator or advocate of Indigenous causes, ever mention native slavery. The unfortunate fact is that slavery existed continent-wide prior to the European incursion.

In Canada, it prevailed even after outlawed by Parliament. According to Wikipedia entries, our West Coast tribes were among the most aggressive, travelling as far afield as Northern California for slave prospects. Descendants of slaves were allegedly mistreated into the mid-30s. Not a happy thought, but also a fact of history, equally no longer relevant. History is, once again, history. But, let us hope that Vancouver chooses wisely the new name for their park. It would be ironic indeed if the U.S. was demolishing symbols related to a slavebased economy while righteous Vancouver somehow manages to dignify a similar past situation.

The past is not always prologue. John D. Thomas Okanagan Falls