Rex Woods. The Fathers of Confederation. 1968. Replaced the original Robert Harris image, painted in 1884, and lost in the 1916 Parliament Building fire. (Source: The Parliament of Canada)[1]
“Some nations are conceived in revolution, and some in negotiation, but Canada was conceived here in Charlottetown, right after a party.”
– From the collection of Island author and historian, David Weale
If you’ve spent any time watching any kind of Canadian media lately, you’ve probably encountered a reference or two to Canada’s “150th birthday,” or the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Likewise, if you’ve spent any time on social media, you have also likely heard a number of people who are frustrated with the Canada 150 celebrations.
In reading through these discussions myself, I was often struck by the disparity between the official histories, like, for instance, the #Canada150 campaign, and academic interpretations of the past. The former was so relentlessly positive, and the latter so critical, that it almost seemed as if they were talking about two entirely different events. It also struck me that if perhaps more people knew about what really happened, they might be more inclined to see Canada 150 a little differently. But in most cases, this kind of information is very difficult to find.
So in response, I decided to start (another???) new series on Unwritten Histories, that I will be calling “Inconvenient Pasts.” In this series, I’m going to unpack some of our common historical misconceptions, talk about what really happened, and discuss what we can learn from both the events in question and subsequent interpretations. To put it another way, I will be disrupting traditional historical narratives, reinserting some of the inconvenient parts that have been left out, and hopefully shedding some light on our unwritten histories (see what I did there? 😉 )
In keeping with the Canada 150 theme (and the requirement that I poke fun at Prince Edward Island (known informally as PEI) whenever I can, since my husband is from there), we’re going to start by looking at the Charlottetown Conference, where it all began. Most people, including the Prince Edward Island provincial government, believe this to be the birthplace (and time?) of Canadian Confederation. And as we shall see, what really happened is actually far more interesting and complex than our traditional story.
