Canada's genocide denial is not as fringe as most people think. Here's another garbage piece published by the @nationalpost, written by non-expert Conrad Black, trying to defend Macdonald, an architect of Indigenous genocide, and grasping to put a positive spin on colonization.
As an historian, that subtle is just, wow. 1. He did not end Canada's colonial status, that really didn't happen until the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and even after that, Canada was - and continues to be - very much a "colonial" country.
2. JAM was most certainly not "benign." He went to war with the Metis and Indigenous communities to steal resources, oversaw and defended deliberate starvation policies on the prairies, started the Indian Residential School system and defended it etc etc etc.
3. "Democratically elevated patriarch of the country he chiefly founded"? OK, no, JAM was one of many "fathers of confederation" "democratically" elected by very few, white male property owners who had the ability to vote, not to mention he was kicked out of office for corruption
4. "including all of its races and ethnicities." JAM was openly a white supremacist, so, get outta here with this "inclusive", "tolerant" rear-guard defensive garbage: activehistory.ca/2015/01/john-a…
That's just the inaccuracies in the article's *subtitle*. In short, I like @innes_rob's approach: Macdonald should not be forgotten, nor should he be uncritically celebrated like Black et al. do to defend Canada's nationalist mythology + the colonial status quo it keeps in tact.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Sean Carleton

Sean Carleton Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SeanCarleton

28 Oct
As per yesterday's news, Sen. Beyak's suspension ended without a vote by Senators due to the Liberals' proroguing of parliament. As a result, her website is back. She removed the letters of support but left up her original residential school denial speech: lynnbeyak.sencanada.ca
Here is a speech doubling down on her denialism: lynnbeyak.sencanada.ca/p107810/
Read 6 tweets
29 Aug
According to @NoBordersMedia, Montreal’s John A. Macdonald statue has just been toppled. As an historian of settler colonialism in what is currently Canada, let me share some accessible resources to help folks understand why this is a positive development.
First, it is important to remember that Indigenous peoples have been challenging the lionizing - the uncritical celebration - of Macdonald for 100+ years.
It is indisputable that Macdonald was a primary architect of Indigenous genocide in Canada. My colleague @innes_rob makes the case clearly here: theconversation.com/john-a-macdona…
Read 7 tweets
8 Jun
John A. Macdonald's anti-Indigenous and anti-Chinese racism is well documented. What is lesser known, however, is his connections to the history of #slavery and the #BritishEmpire. JAM was not a slave owner, but his second wife's father was. Thread.
There have been debates recently about the legacy of the British Empire. Was it good or bad? Here there can be no doubt: British imperialism was a ruthless project of thieving on a global scale. It was not "benevolent"; it was exploitative. Full stop: nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/…
Many empire apologists point to the fact that Britain abolished slavery (in 1833 - though it was a drawn out process), and they contend that abolition = absolution. That's absolute rubbish.
Read 12 tweets
3 Jun
This week has revealed what S. Razack calls Canada's racial "amnesia," the persistent denial of our long history of racism. As an historian, this forgetting is frustrating but not surprising. Here's a thread, using Heritage Minutes, to show how this amnesia is actually learned.
First, let me cite Razack's work. Check out the essays in this book, including the introduction by Razack and her difficult chapter on the murder of Indigenous woman Pamela George in Regina: btlbooks.com/book/race-spac…
Razack argues that Canadians hold certain core myths about themselves - they are tolerant, multicultural, peacekeepers et al. - that are invented, propagated, and learned in ways that serve to hide the real history of racism and genocide that Canada, like the US, is built on.
Read 25 tweets
1 Apr
As an historian, I’ve been re-reading the work of my colleagues re: the history of pandemics to gain some context for the current crisis. Right now, I am digging into Esyllt Jones’ book on the 1918-1919 pandemic influenza in Winnipeg. Can’t recommend this enough.
So many interesting stories and insightful analysis in the book. I found this graph interesting, showing infections and deaths.
Jones argues that epidemics don’t affect the population equally, but is shaped by the contours of social inequality; it also spatially discriminates as shown in this graph map of the epidemic in Winnipeg, with the poor, immigrant North End hardest hit in 1918-1919.
Read 6 tweets
12 Mar
Canadians, a few weeks ago, responding to #ShutDownCanada: all these Wet'suwet'en solidarity actions are inconvenient and hurting the economy. We can't just cancel everything to fix social problems.

Canadians, now, responding to #COVID19: #CancelEverythingNow #ShutDownCanada
Well, that hit a nerve. Here's a short thread explaining why, though the two things (#ShutDownCanada and #CancelEverythingow) are obviously different, the way Canadians are responding to them is telling about our priorities and political will to deal with pressing social problems
The divergent responses to #ShutDownCanada and #COVID19 "inconvenience" reveals an uncomfortable truth: settlers care more about themselves/their own prosperity rooted in ongoing colonization than improving relations with Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of these lands.
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!