Legault's comments on history draw ire
INDIGENOUS OUTCRY
MONTREAL • Despite the angry outcry from many of Quebec's Indigenous leaders, Premier François Legault has repeated once again his assertion that Quebec's history began with the arrival of French explorers 400 years ago.
Legault's ministers were doing damage control Tuesday after Indigenous leaders said the premier's recent comments on the creation of a Quebec history museum excluded Indigenous Peoples from the province's history.
While announcing the creation of the future Musée national de l'histoire du Québec on April 25, Legault said the history of Quebec “began first with the explorers, Cartier, then after that Champlain, who is the founder of our nation.”
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) issued a statement Tuesday to “remind the Quebec government that Quebec's history began long before the arrival of Europeans on the territory.”
“By excluding the First Peoples from Quebec's history in the design of the future Musée national, the premier and historians are implicitly contributing to the systematic erasure of our common past,” says the statement by the AFNQL, a political organization of 43 First Nation chiefs in Quebec and Labrador.
“The comments made are unacceptable,” said AFNQL Chief Ghislain Picard. “We are inseparable from this land's history and Champlain's arrival does not define Quebec. The First Nations have been present here for millennia and are profoundly attached to this territory that they occupy. To suggest that we are pre-history amounts to relegating us to a secondary role, while our contribution to the formation of modern Quebec is fundamental.”
On Tuesday, Ian Lafrenière, the minister responsible for relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, issued a declaration.
“We acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples inhabited this territory long before us,” Lafrenière wrote. “In Quebec, the First Nations and the Inuit are an integral part of the past, present and future. Quebec is in a nation-to-nation relationship with them, thus recognizing their history and their contribution. It is impossible to present the history of the Quebec nation without talking about the contribution of the First Nations and the Inuit. It should be highlighted within the museum.”
In a written statement, Minister of Culture Mathieu Lacombe said, “Quebec deals nation-to-nation with the First Nations and the Inuit and recognizes their distinct history on the Québécois territory. However the Musée national de l'histoire du Québec will present the history of the Québécois nation, distinct from that of the First Nations and the Inuit.
Both ministers said the content of the museum won't be decided by the government, but by a committee of experts selected by the Museum of Civilization.