Montreal City Weblog

Kate 15:06 on 2019-06-18 Permalink Reply  

• Bill Binns 18:27 on 2019-06-18 Permalink

  Groan. What’s the over/under on apostrophes? Three? Four? Let’s hope they do what they did with the Mount Royal summit and choose something so indecipherable that people will still be calling it “Amherst” 100 years from now.

• Kate 19:51 on 2019-06-18 Permalink

  Kondiaronk is not a bad name – no hyphens, no apostrophes. But I’ve never heard anyone actually call it that.

• DeWolf 00:22 on 2019-06-19 Permalink

  I generally agree with grumpy old men that things shouldn’t be renamed willy-nilly. But I think an exception should be made for the 19th century Eichmann. The guy who thought smallpox blankets were a splendid idea needs to disappear from our landscape, period.

• qatzelok 08:04 on 2019-06-19 Permalink

  But “WHY” does it have to dissapear? Because he was such an evil man, or because we don’t like to be reminded that success is often predicated by the number of artrocities you’re willing to perform for the empire or state?

  This erasure of National atrocities is sort of like how we recycle plastic: out of sight, out of mind.

• Michael Black 08:49 on 2019-06-19 Permalink

  I don’t feel much either way. But it’s easy to get trapped into blaming government or public officials, but everyone benefited and much of the public was racist.

  Every European carried the potential of smallpox or other disease, so deliberate spreading is just a matter of degree.

  A relative, Annie Bannantyne, was famous for horsewhiipping Charles Mayre in Red River, for saying had things about the mixed blood women.

  My great, great grandfather stood up to Thomas Scott, who at the very least thought the Metis were in the way.

  When the expeditionary force got to Red River, they let a lot of retaliation happen. My great, great grandmother’s brothers house got torched among other things.

  A lot of racism still happens, we need to deal with that as much as blame Amherst and others.

  Friday the Syilx are having a Salmon ceremony, I’d point out the Okanagan Nation flag now flies at UNI Okanagan, an extra flag pole installed.

  But Friday is also National Aboriginal Day, various events happening. I know there will be something at Cabot square, probably elsewhere too. These belong to everyone, people should take them in.

  Michael

• Kate 08:51 on 2019-06-19 Permalink

  qatzelok, following your logic, we should have things named after Hitler and Stalin too, to remind us. No. We name things after people to honour them, not merely as a reminder. That’s why there’s the pressure to take down the Macdonald statue (which I don’t think is pressing, but which I can understand) and the statues of Victoria (which I don’t agree with at all, for reasons previously explained).

• Bill Binns 08:54 on 2019-06-19 Permalink

  @Kate – The other summit, in Outremont is “officially” named… “Tiohtià:ke Otsira’kéhne”. Just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? How many people in this city of millions do you think can read that name and make any sense of it?

  @DeWolf – Yeah, Amherst was the “19th century Eichmann” except for the small problem that there is zero evidence he ever acted on his germ warfare idea and even if he had it would not have affected Canadian Indians. The letters that caused all the fuss were in relation to Indians living in present day Pennsylvania. Not to mention the fact that he never lived to see the 19th century.

  If Amherst had stood up in Montreal City Hall in the late 18th century and announced that he had a plan to wipe out the Indians with a new and terrible weapon, he likely would have been applauded and encouraged so why don’t we get started on erasing all Montreal history before the current super-woke period.

• Marc 11:03 on 2019-06-19 Permalink

  This isn’t an erasure of history, Amherst and that time period will still exist in the textbooks. They’re simply being taken out of celebratory public space. It’s like taking down the portrait of a family member that you find out is a rapist or how you don’t listen to Louis CK anymore.