It was the PQ.
Evidence of meeting #5 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was event.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #5 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was event.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
What I'm getting at is that you indicated there were sensitivities this time, which weren't there last time.
Do you think that's just the Bloc and the PQ playing politics, trying to divide people and in fact inciting violence upon Quebeckers? They incited emotions that literally divided Quebeckers—not Canadians. This was something really quite remarkable that the Bloc has actually played a very significant part in pushing forward.
4:05 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
Of course the opposition to this thing came from various sources. It came from the Bloc, it came from people, and it came from Premier Charest. We listened to everybody and we said okay, that's a bigger problem than the problem we were expecting, so....
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Right. But it would be fair to say that Premier Charest, in fairness, was not actually supporting or seen to be encouraging those who were threatening the security of some 2,000 people, including families, that you had coming to this event. Premier Charest had nothing to do with that.
4:05 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
No. I just said that he exposed his view.
He simply said that he would not go. We understood that he, like many others , did not want to support this event. I wrote about this in the document, which includes just about everything. We listened to people, regardless of who they were, and we reached this conclusion. I gave the example of the visit from a head of state. In such a situation, regardless of the threat, the required police forces are present.
In our case, this was different. We suggested an event, which raised issues, questions. We thought that it would get a little bit of reaction, but not as much as it did. We were free to withdraw this event. We received a negative reaction in terms of sensitivity and, as far as security was concerned, we were advised not to hold the event.
February 25th, 2009 / 4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Mr. Juneau, and welcome to the committee.
Mr. Juneau, I would like to know whether or not you are an historian, and if you have been involved for a long time in—
4:10 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
No, I am a forester, sir. But that does not prevent me from loving history.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I understand that.
Tell me, you must be part of an international association and have regular contacts with groups involved in re-enactments of this type, held in the United States or elsewhere.
4:10 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
We are not part of an international association nor are we a member of the "re-enactors". These "re-enactors" are organizations that organize re-enactments. We are in contact with them given that they have come to the Plains of Abraham on a few occasions, but we are primarily in contact with the Quebec re-enactor corps. There is also a group in England and in France.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
Mr. Tremblay came to speak but I think it is a certain person named Dresler who is in charge of the corps.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
That is where I was headed with my question. Have you ever heard of a re-enactment similar to this being cancelled because people were afraid of security problems?
4:10 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
Not to my knowledge. We are aware that the situation differs according to the re-enactment, according to the long-term impact of the battle. I agree with what Mr. Mulcair said earlier, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham has had an ongoing effect, whereas in the case of other re-enactments of battles, when it was over it was over. When we re-enacted the battle of the British against the Americans, there was no reaction.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I do not want to judge, but it seems to me that we might have thought of this before. You now admit that it was perhaps not the idea of the century, as my colleague said earlier.
Mr. Juneau, I imagine that the decision to hold this event—and I am referring here to the re-enactment and not to the masked ball—comes from the board of directors. You must not have taken it alone.
4:10 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
No, nor was the decision taken overnight. We were working on several events at the same time. Among other things, there was the conference and the exhibition. The re-enactment was only one component. At one point, sitting around the table, historians had proposed that the re-enactment be done more respectfully and that several components be added, possibly a giant screen upon which the names of the French who died that appeared in Jean-Yves Bronze's book would be projected, and so on. There were choices to be made and they were made. We felt that in order to attract the greatest number of people to inform them about these events, this was the best way to proceed.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I do not have much time left and I have several questions to ask. Tell me briefly about the mascarade ball. What was the intention behind this idea?
4:10 p.m.
Chair, National Battlefields Commission
The historians suggested the idea of the mascarade ball. We were preparing and we had to respect the logical sequence of events. We wanted to invoke life in Quebec City in 1759. We were told that it was an aristocratic era. Then the military authorities arrived, in this instance Montcalm, and the people were neglected, left in poverty. It was despicable. The symbol of this opulence was that, during the winter, the intendant gave two or three balls per week. Montcalm wrote to Vaudreuil several times—I read this text the other day, and I have it here and could read it for you—to ask him to stop having balls that no one wanted. This slowly set Vaudreuil and Montcalm against one another, which had significant consequences during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Vaudreuil meddled in Montcalm's military strategy to prevent him from sending a battalion onto the plains.
This is what we wanted to demonstrate.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I would like to come back to modern times.
Talk to me about the threat issue. I found it tiresome and upsetting to realize that in 2008 and 2009 some groups are still able to make threats. I imagine that some of them were directed to the commission and others to individuals. I know that some threats were repeated by the press.
You received e-mail threats addressed to the commission or to you personally. Approximately how many did you receive, Mr. Juneau?
