History is being rewritten in New Orleans, much like it was two years ago in Prince George.
The Louisiana city is in the process of removing four large and prominent public statues that had been in place for decades in tribute to important Confederate figures. The 102-year-old statue of Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard came down in the middle of the night Wednesday, the third statue to be removed. There has been no date set for the removal of the last statue, featuring General Robert E. Lee.
The Confederacy was the government formed when the southern states separated from the United States after the government in Washington, led by president Abraham Lincoln, proposed ending slavery. Jefferson Davis was the first and only president of the Confederacy and his statue in New Orleans was removed last week. The formation of the Confederacy prompted the American Civil War.
For many Americans, statues and other monuments in praise of key figures in the Confederacy are racist and glorify a shameful aspect of the nation's evolution. For others, those landmarks are the public recognition of a proud, independent legacy.
It's been hugely divisive, of course, with protests and counter-protests. The contractors hired to remove the statues have been threatened and heavily armed police have had to secure each scene before the statues were taken away. Across America, however, local and state governments are now questioning whether they should be doing the same.
As Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary, Prince George city council could take the same brave move that their counterparts in New Orleans did and remove the racist monument that still stands in the middle of this city.
Erected exactly 50 years ago to mark Canada's centennial anniversary in 1967, the mural in Prince George Community Foundation Park celebrates the white settlement of B.C. The top centre panel features aboriginal people sitting dutifully at the feet of a missionary, looming over them, the church in the background much larger than the teepees.
In light of what happened in residential schools in this region, that image alone is reason enough to justify the mural's immediate removal.
In case there's any confusion about who the mural is for and whose experience it is recounting, the bottom reads "They sought furs and the far Pacific, but found their future in the waiting forests."
And who would "they" be?
Significantly, this mural stands next to Four Seasons Pool, across the street from Fire Hall No. 1 and within sight from the windows in the mayor's office in city hall. In other words, the mural's placement suggests that this is the official version of history, that there was no history before white people came to this region and that proper learning and education didn't begin until aboriginal children were taken forcefully from their homes and families to be placed in residential schools.
Two years ago, just months after being elected, Prince George city council took the brave and admirable step of renaming Fort George Park to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park. That is a far more historically appropriate name for what was the site of the original Lheidli T'enneh village and where the cemetery for the ancestors of living Lheidli residents are buried. The renaming was a truthful and respectful acknowledgment of the city's first inhabitants.
Removing the mural would be a continuation of that process. In an era when the Lheidli T'enneh flag flies permanently alongside the Prince George flag at city hall and at UNBC, such a monument would never be allowed to be built today, so why do we continue to tolerate its continued existence?
As a society, we can't change the past but we can change our view of the past. The artists responsible for the mural were working in a time before the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the unique rights of indigenous peoples and before the genocidal implications of residential schools were publicly recognized. Seen 50 years later, however, their art is whitewashed propaganda and their version of history is both false and hurtful. Their creation should not be the final word on local history.
"Today we take another step in defining our city not by our past but by our bright future," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said about the removal of the statues.
"While we must honour our history,
we will not allow the Confederacy to be
put on a pedestal in the heart of New Orleans."
Nor should Prince George residents allow a piece of art that condones residential schools and ignores the history of First Nations to stand in the city centre. There is no shame in acknowledging the mural is wrong. The shame, however, lies in knowing what it signifies, having the authority to remove it and doing nothing.
Mayor and council, you did the right thing two years ago. The time is now to do right again.
