“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

 

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

Interview with the Canadian WarMuseum
Featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod,Historian, Pre-Confederation

“Our Journey Begins"

During a recent visit to Ottawa, Ontario Visited had the privilege of spending some time speaking with Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation with the Canadian War Museum.  The Canadian War Museum is Canada’s national museum of military history. Its mission is to promote public understanding of Canada’s military history in its personal, national, and international dimensions.

Ontario Visited/War of 1812 Celebrations website has had the pleasure of interview many Historians, re-enactors, Politicians, organizers and leaders about Canadian History. As a prelude to our interview with the Canadian War Museum, I wanted to refresh you with a discussion Ontario Visited had with The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages he stated … “The War of 1812 is a decisive event in our country’s history” …“it is important to understand as this War defined the fact of Canada. This War is especially important to remember, as it is very, very rare story line in that it was an event that was National in Consequence. Again, it defined Canada.” Minister Moore continued to comment on some of the challenges in presenting the War of 1812 to all Canadians … “The first challenge is our physical boundaries. He stated that New Canadians are already engaged as they learn about Canada and go through courses to study to become Canadian Citizens. The second challenge is that it is important that the Quebec Story is understood. That although the War of 1812 was between the American/British and Upper Canada, there if the French Fact. The third challenge is to engage the Youth of our society and communities”….

With that being said, Ontario Visited was able to ask what message the Canadian War Museum – War of 1812 Exhibition planned to achieve through the activities and events planned. They replied …“We would like visitors to come to the Canadian War Museum to explore the history and some of the key battles and outcomes of the War of 1812 as seen from the four different perspectives: Canadian, American, Native American and British. We hope that the visitor will come away with the sense that there is more than one way to look at the War of 1812: that each participant saw it in a different way.”

I repeated our question to further understand…. “Through the eyes of the four main participants offering a richer and deeper understanding of a conflict that helped shape Canada into the nation it is today I asked Dr. MacLeod how does the Canadian War Museum plan to achieve this goal.” The response…“By presenting the War of 1812 through the eyes of the four participants, the Canadian War Museum is able to show what events were important to each participant, and how they were affected. For example, for Canadians, it was a successful defense against much larger neighbours. For the Americans, it was a second war of Independence against the British. For Native Americans, it was a catastrophic defeat. For the British, it was a minor overseas campaign amidst its struggles with Napoleon’s France.

Our exhibition has been very well received to date. A reviewer from the Wall Street Journal noted that we did “...an excellent— and evenhanded —job of defining the experiences of all four groups.” (Mark Yost, Thursday June 21, 2012 pD4)”.

(To Be Continued)