[Canada: a people's history. Episode 7, rebellion & reform]

Abstract

Each episode is extensively illustrated by reproductions of original paintings, lithographs, and photographs. These, together with the images of the interiors of churches, nineteenth-century homes, and various historic sites, offer tantalizing images of life and conditions in nineteenth-century British North America. Mark Starowicz also delved extensively into the archival records--research he used to give voice to the central characters of the drama. But some of the strengths of the sources create a serious dilemma. Instead of academic talking heads, Canada: A People's History offers the viewer far too many nineteenth-century 'talking heads.' By relying on original printed sources (and their authors) to present and explain the action, the program silences the cacophony of diverse voices that rang on the streets and in the homes, taverns, and churches of the colonies' towns and villages. Certainly, we do hear from well-born women; there are images of Natives and Metis; and Tecumseh is a central character and hero of the War of 1812. But the Canada of Canada: A People's History was, in the end, the accomplishment of a few discerning European men, with commentary by white, literate women.

I sat down to watch Parts 5-9 of Canada: A People's History with high expectations. I had not had the opportunity to view any of the series when it was originally broadcast. The programs had received considerable attention when they were released, and the idea of a popular history of Canada was enticing and exciting.

These episodes present the history of British North America from the American Revolution to the Pacific Scandal. 'A Question of Loyalties' opens with British Americans being persecuted in 1775 and ends with a photograph of veterans of the War of 1812. 'Pathfinders' considers the 'opening' of the West by European explorers and fur traders, and 'the peopling' of the region from 1812 to the Gold Rush of 1858 and the creation of the colony of British Columbia. After presenting the rebellions and the coming of responsible government, viewers are introduced, in 'The Great Enterprise,' to the men and the times of Confederation. 'The Great Enterprise' and 'From Sea to Sea' end with the 'completion' of Confederation and the resignation of Macdonald.

Canada: A People's History is a lesson in how to create a popular, national story. It has heroes and villains, intrigue, and great battles. It is the story of a people who, with fortitude and ingenuity, accomplished great things. I am sympathetic to the aims of the series and believe that the story of British North America's/Canada's peoples is truly remarkable. As I sat over five evenings and watched each episode, however, I found myself more and more disturbed.

Each episode is extensively illustrated by reproductions of original paintings, lithographs, and photographs. These, together with the images of the interiors of churches, nineteenth-century homes, and various historic sites, offer tantalizing images of life and conditions in nineteenth-century British North America. Mark Starowicz also delved extensively into the archival records--research he used to give voice to the central characters of the drama. But some of the strengths of the sources create a serious dilemma. Instead of academic talking heads, Canada: A People's History offers the viewer far too many nineteenth-century 'talking heads.' By relying on original printed sources (and their authors) to present and explain the action, the program silences the cacophony of diverse voices that rang on the streets and in the homes, taverns, and churches of the colonies' towns and villages. Certainly, we do hear from well-born women; there are images of Natives and Metis; and Tecumseh is a central character and hero of the War of 1812. But the Canada of Canada: A People's History was, in the end, the accomplishment of a few discerning European men, with commentary by white, literate women.

'The Pathfinders,' for example, effectively uses the life of David Thompson to frame the story of the opening of the West. Unfortunately, this focus also reinforces the message that it is the story of European men who journeyed alone into the wilderness and opened it up to productive settlement. Native populations are presented as tragic victims with little ability or, implicitly, desire to shape their own destiny. And native women, rather than central to the fur trade, are portrayed, very briefly, as country companions of lonely fur traders. The episode did, however, provide a counterweight to the Montreal-Toronto-Ottawa perspective that prevailed in the rest of the series.

The documentary-re-enactment format of Canada: A People's History also encouraged its producers to oversimplify what were exciting stories for which the end was not at the time predictable. British North Americans were a diverse lot. But this interpretation obscures and hides the drama of the many peoples of differing backgrounds, concerns, and desires who jostled in Halifax, fought along the canals and at polling stations, or attended camp meetings in Nova Scotia and Ontario. A more judicious narration would have avoided portraying the reformers as 'democrats,' assuming that Macdonald and Cartier had the only realistic political solution in 1864, or even that events and circumstances in the first half of the century were all inevitably leading to the creation of the nation.

Canada: A People's History had incredible promise. Many of us who teach Canadian history had looked forward to having a new way of enticing our students and of tapping into that thirst so many of them have to know abut who and what we are and were. Parts of various episodes may be useful in the classroom, but we will have to remind students that nineteenth-century British Americans did not often have such clean faces and clothes, most homes were not so neat and formal, and no one in 1800 even contemplated the idea of a northern nation called Canada.