Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The
McKenzie Rebellion":
Our Rebellion is still a bit raw, but you could
run your idea by Council. It would be nice if they could agree on something
colourful and not a crack at the treasury.
******************
As part of Canada's Centennial project, the town invited names for several parks. Banner Editor and publisher, Bob Buchanan suggested William Lyon Mackenzie
He said it slyly. As if he knew it wouldn't fly.
I didn't understand that. I thought Aurora would be proud of its historical association with the Rebellion. Everything about it appealed to me.
Just because they didn't win, didn't make it less valid.Some York residents paid with their lives for having the courage to fight for
what they believed..
They went up against an army with little in the way of weaponry . They were fighting for better representation. Why wouldn't they? Times were difficult .
That was 1837. Twenty-five years after "our little crossroads" first appeared. Sixteen years before the Village of Machell's Corners
was established . Twenty six years before postmaster Charles Doane named the newly incorporated town Aurora. Twenty nine years before the nation, Canada was created.
It didn't happen easily. It didn't happen just with talk. The Rebellion was part of the shaping and as a newbie ,it seems time to me should have given it a different perspective.
But it hasn't. It hadn't by 1967. And even now in 2012, it hasn't happened.
I find that extremely interesting. I would like to understand.
I do understand that memories of cruelty and injustice are handed down through generations.The pain goes away but memory stays.
We are only a few generations removed from settlement in Canada and even less from our Rebellion of 1837.
I accept "our Rebellion is still a bit raw" .But I would like to hear more about why.
It always struck me that written history reflects bias of the author.
The Magna Carta did little to change the lives of ordinary people.
Yet it's stil cited i law.
I think blogs and Google will change that. Maybe they can still change what we understand of this young nation's history. If current generations of families who were here at the beginning were to share their family's memories.
.
Furthermore, while they didn't win , things did change after the Rebellion.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
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11 comments:
Not too many people know that there was Canadian involvement in the early burning of the White House and few would know what a Fenian was. But, hey, we don't teach history anymore.
The Mackenzie House is now a Historical Museum - you know, like what we originally had, in Toronto. You can visit - quite neat. Reputed to be haunted and they had trouble getting caretakers to stay there. There was a spooky bald guy & it turned out Mackenzie had worn a wig for years. The printing press in the basement would rumble into action during the night. Cool stuff for kids!
Bolton claims the Rebels originated there & history books have them marching/riding down Yonge Street and meeting in taverns all over. Those boys did get around.
There is a part of our history which is a much darker past of our community.
That is the injustice of land being taken from our aboriginal people.
If we think they just up and moved we are sadly not talking the truth about our past.
Maybe the comment you received referred to the strictly local rebellion against the previous council?
john1
Which makes it tragic/comic when people with European backgrounds demand town funding for a trails system. Once there was a natural trails system throughout the entire area that followed the contours of the land taking into account the flow of water and sustainable hunting spots which could be revisited.
The same people who demand a wildlife park and throw a tantrum if they even hear of a resident coyote.
Children learn the ' romantic ' story of Grey Owl when they touch briefly on North American Indians in grade school. No one bothers to mention that he was an English fraud with blue eyes. Guess we didn't have any of our own that could be used.
To john1
That is not just the past. We still treat Native People badly. They get a raw deal in education, health and social services because we control the flow of money. When talk turns to ' visible ' minorities, it does not include aboriginal people to whom we are the visible majorities.
No one ever mentions poor Mrs.M who got dragged all
over the place,even out of the country, with her family following her husband's follies. Never heard of her being a ghost in the Mackenzie House. Maybe she was just glad to get out of there.
I remember the tales of haunting. One of the papers held a sceance to try to pull in the spirits. It was a bust, mostly because they tied it to Hallowe'en and there were screaming kids in the street. Also because those involved were goofs.
Thank you for this week. It was fun.
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