We can’t move forward without understanding the past

We are all flawed individuals, and the wise among us no doubt wish they had made some choices in life differently. None of us are the people our dog thinks we are (we wish we were), and if our lives were put under the microscope, most would suffer deep embarrassment.

The past can’t be changed. We can only attempt to understand it as best we can, given that we live in a very different cultural context.

SJAM was a hugely important figure in Canadian political history, and it is ridiculous to think of placing any statues of him or most other historical figures in remote storage facilities in some sort of attempt to pretend that what happened didn’t happen. Unfortunately, as in most cases, the true story is long and very complicated and can’t possibly be condensed into a few short paragraphs on two side-by-side brass plaques, one pro and one con. If we truly want to honour all who played a part in our history, then we need to undertake the hard work of properly teaching our history to our children. (The textbooks and curriculum for this have yet to be written). If that sounds difficult, it is. There’s no easy way or quick fix to truly deal with issues like this. We will all be better for taking this on.