Long-dead Canadian war hero makes magic at Ajax school
Student inspires war museum to deliver tunic worn by Sir Isaac Brock at 1812 Queenston Heights battle
The head of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa got an unusual letter last fall from a Grade 8 student asking him to come to her school in Ajax to help argue that Sir Isaac Brock was the “Greatest Canadian Ever.”
“I was quite moved by her letter,” recalled Mark O’Neill. “They were having a history fair and she felt that Isaac Brock deserved to win for his efforts defending Upper Canada. He was her hero and she asked if I could bring something about Brock from the museum to the fair.”
Could he ever. But it would mean taking a priceless bit of Canadian history away from the safety of the museum on an overnight road trip to a public school.
Still, O’Neill knew if he brought Brock’s 200-yearold red army tunic — the one he died in at the Battle of Queenston Heights in 1812; fatal musket-ball hole still under the left lapel — it would make an impact on the young historians of Dr. Roberta Bondar Public School.
“I believe, in a digital world, seeing the real McCoy is very important and museums need to do more of this outreach,” said O’Neill, who made the trip to the recent history fair as the special guest of 13-year-old Brock fan Midhat Naeem.
The tunic, however, went early. It was driven down the highway the night before by two dedicated museum handlers, one of whom had to be in the presence of the box with the tunic at all times.
They brought along a special glass display case, never dreaming it wouldn’t fit in the school’s front door at 7 a.m. the next day.
Thank heavens for bigger gym doorways.
“Early history can be personalized through objects and, here you are, face-to-face with the tunic in which Brock died. It’s a national treasure,” said O’Neill.
The red tailcoat had been kept in good shape by Brock’s descendants on the Channel Islands. In 1908, his great-nieces returned it to Canada, and it eventually took its place in the Canadian War Museum.
And now a young student of Pakistani descent had reached back into early Canadian history — a history studies suggest Canadians know little about — to become captivated by a military commander.
“To go to the school and see all the student reactions to their various historical heroes — from Terry Fox to Nellie McClung, Billy Bishop, Tecumseh — was so exciting,” said O’Neill.
But in particular, “here’s Midhat, wearing a replica tunic she and her mother made, complete with her hi- jab. I thought this was fantastic. This is what I imagine Brock and others of his time hoped Canada would become: a wonderful, inclusive country of the north.”
Midhat wore a red tailcoat with black collar and gold buttons for the fair that she and her mother had fashioned from an old red thrift store coat. She said, “it seemed unreal that they brought General Brock’s uniform to my school. I’ll always remember this day.”
Principal David Royle confessed he “almost had a panic attack” when the display case refused to go through the front door.
“We were witnessing a moment in history. Sir Isaac Brock was coming to the school. This is priceless.”