Abstract
In October 2011, the Government of Canada began a two-year, nation-wide celebration of the bicentenary of the War of 1812. The widely-criticized initiative returned the public eye to a traditional ‘interpretive tableau’ of war heroes, namely Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Charles de Salaberry and Laura Secord. While the scope and expense of the federal government’s efforts have been unprecedented, the political battle to maintain certain memories of the War is one that is not new. A struggle against the forgetfulness of Canadians, and particularly young Canadians, has animated commemorations of the War for almost two centuries. Looking at a selection of past commemorative efforts this essay explores how the inertia of a traditional tableau of heroes has tended to overshadow other narratives and newer interpretations. Yet all is not lost. Using the example of the author’s exhibition, Faces of 1812, it is suggested that publicly-constructed histories can be employed as a useful departure point for the public historian and provide a foundation from which the public can obtain a broader, more critical perspective on both the commemorated events and history writ large.
Highlights
The cynical observations of Tom Irwin, the fictional history teacher in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, too often ring true when the past is commemorated publicly
The widely-criticized initiative returned the public eye to a traditional ‘interpretive tableau’ of war heroes, namely Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Charles de Salaberry and Laura Secord
When the public is pressed to remember the conflict, they are offered the same historical set piece, trumpeting colonies preserved, the coming together of disparate peoples unified under the British flag, and the fostering of a sense of shared purpose against a common foe that would eventually lead to the creation of the Canadian nation. Along with these narrative lines can be found an interpretive tableau of heroes, the brave Sir Isaac Brock, his Shawnee ally Tecumseh, the upright, Loyalist wife Laura Secord, and the daring French-Canadian commander Lieutenant-Colonel Charles-Michel de Salaberry
Summary
One common thread that has linked past commemorative efforts with those of today has been an underlying fear of the public’s forgetfulness. While acknowledging the heroism of her efforts, Wallace raised doubts over the ultimate importance of the information that she related.[64] In the 1950s and 1960s, historians such as C.P Stacey and G.F.G Stanley challenged the ‘militia myth,’ the idea that it was everyday Upper Canadians who defended and saved the province from American invasion.[65] More recently, historians such as George Sheppard, Jane Errington and Alan Taylor have questioned the identity and loyalties of British Americans before, during and after the War.[66] The interpretive tableau that is at the foundations of the bicentenary message of the federal government, sidesteps the historical revisionists of the twentieth century and papers over several other historical cracks such as the continuing tensions with First Nations and with the United States. The events of 1812–1815 did profoundly change the lives of those who experienced them, but their struggles did not end with the Treaty of Ghent and the success of a future Canada was clearly not assured in 1815
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