In 2020, Montreal activists yanked down and decapitated a statue of Canada’s first prime minister, in protest of Sir John A. Macdonald’s function because the architect of the residential college system.
Now, one other larger-than-life historic determine is coming beneath scrutiny, as Quebec municipalities and establishments are mulling whether or not to tug the identify of priest and historian Lionel Groulx from public locations over views described as antisemitic and racist.
Earlier this 12 months, a Quebec-based historical past group that Groulx based in 1946 determined to take away his identify from its prestigious annual prize, following a session with its members during which about 60 per cent advocated for the change.
“Right this moment, with the popularity of range and the mandatory reversal of views in direction of colonialism in Quebec, the identify of Groulx can hardly act as a unifier,” learn a line within the 24-page doc launched by the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française.
Thomas Wien, the institute’s president, mentioned in an interview that Groulx was somebody who was “eminently advanced, and eminently fascinating.”
Groulx was born in 1878 close to Montreal. He was a historian who helped professionalize the sector, an mental and a Quebec nationalist determine who impressed delight. Born of modest means, he went on to turn out to be a priest, author and thinker who penned the slogan “maîtres chez nous” (“masters in our personal home”) that later grew to become a rallying cry of the Quiet Revolution within the Sixties.
Nonetheless, he was additionally a conservative nationalist whose views had been “tinted by racism and antisemitism,” together with a perception that French-Canadian Catholics had been a “chosen individuals” guided by divine windfall, Wien mentioned.
A avenue signal displaying Avenue Lionel-Groulx is seen in Montreal on Friday, Dec.6, 2024.
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Whereas the comparisons are inevitable, Wien maintains that Groulx and Macdonald have little in frequent. Whereas Canada’s first prime minister was a direct architect within the compelled elimination of Indigenous Peoples from their land and different atrocities, he mentioned, Groulx was a historian whose legacy is extra advanced.
Nonetheless, he famous that Groulx was a determine of controversy and criticism even when alive, suggesting he was not merely a product of his time whose views are being unfairly reinterpreted by means of a contemporary lens.
Get every day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
Renaming the prize, Wien mentioned, doesn’t quantity to denying historical past or “killing the daddy,” however moderately an acknowledgment that his legacy is healthier stored alive in additional nuanced kinds, together with a forthcoming web page on the institute’s web site.
Different historians disagree.
“I can perceive why English-Canadian historians have renamed the John A. Macdonald Prize,” wrote Éric Bedard, a historian who has studied Groulx. “It’s troublesome for me to elucidate that Quebec historians are imitating them for Lionel Groulx, since what was acknowledged with this prize was not his spiritual, social or political concepts, however the pioneer of a self-discipline.”
Of the 20 or so Quebec municipalities which can be recorded as having locations named after Groulx, solely two — Gatineau in western Quebec and Ste-Julie, on Montreal’s South Shore — indicated that they intend to broach the topic of a potential renaming.
In Montreal, greater than 26,000 individuals signed a petition began in 2020 to rename the Lionel-Groulx subway station after jazz legend Oscar Peterson. Nonetheless, town determined to maintain the identify on the station, in addition to on a close-by avenue, on the grounds that regardless of criticism of his work, “no consensus” had emerged round Groulx’s legacy.
The Université de Montréal thought-about whether or not to rename a constructing on its important campus, following a request by a number of historical past division professors in 2020. After a prolonged debate, the college determined to maintain the identify of the Lionel-Groulx constructing “whereas contextualizing this recognition and casting a crucial eye on the extra controversial facets of his work,” the college wrote in a September information launch.
“Though a few of his positions are opposite to Université de Montréal’s modern-day values, significantly these associated to range, fairness and inclusion, nearly all of the specialists consulted by the committee had been of the opinion that the racism, misogyny and antisemitism expressed in Groulx’s work weren’t central to his thought,” the authors wrote.
Vice-rector Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens mentioned the college fastidiously thought-about the choice primarily based on quite a few standards, together with historic context and whether or not the identify was aligned with the college’s values.
He mentioned a lot of the specialists consulted concluded that Groulx’s criticized remarks mirrored “the prejudices of his time.” Additionally thought-about was the truth that Groulx made particular contributions to the college, each as founding father of its historical past division and “as an individual who valorized the humanities at a time once they weren’t (valued),” he mentioned.
As an alternative, the college determined to fee a public artwork set up by Huron-Wendat artist Ludovic Boney to take a seat in entrance of the nine-storey constructing on the college’s important campus.
The artwork piece, known as Parallaxe, is known as after an optical phenomenon that causes an object to apparently shift place because the observer’s viewpoint adjustments, the college mentioned. “It’s the artist’s means of asking us to take a look at the legacy of UdeM alumnus Lionel Groulx from one other angle, or a number of different angles,” it wrote.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
Source link
