Evidence of meeting #14 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was museum.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Jim Hillyer Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My first question is about genealogy. You talked about not knowing until you were an adult about your ancestry.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Jim Hillyer Conservative Lethbridge, AB
The Roots movie and the Roots books are a pretty famous story about Alex Haley researching his roots and finding out he has a pretty sweet history, and I think every person will be able to find some pretty inspiring things.
My question is how can we help people—I would say for this context especially African Canadians or black people—to care about genealogy or family history? Secondly, how can we help them find out their history?
10:20 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
I think that black people do care about their genealogy. I think they do care about their history.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
10:20 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
I think it's easier for some people to be able to trace their ancestry than it is for others. I have encountered people coming from different parts of the world, and they don't even know what their exact birth date is. Clearly they are challenged further in just trying to identify other aspects of their own story.
My story was removed from me in part because I didn't know to ask. I didn't know that it was there. My father had left New Brunswick early in his life and didn't really go back for a very long time. So it wasn't until I made contact with relatives in that area that I was inspired by some of that information. The Canadian government has also published some material on the No. 2 Construction Battalion and veterans, which includes material that I can identify. A black senator, Calvin Ruck, did a phenomenal job of creating a book on the No. 2 Construction Battalion. Once I had some of the clues about my own family tree to go through, without having to do a whole lot of more research, I could verify that 60% of all the people from New Brunswick were related to me, and that was really mind-blowing.
There is just one other point I should make. While I was very lucky to have that opportunity for myself, not everybody has that opportunity. I think that where there are those opportunities to trace it, it's wonderful and it's inspiring to know and to affirm that there are roots in this country. But black history isn't just about saying, “Hey, my ancestors were a part of the No. 2 Construction Battalion in a significant way”, or that the Carty brothers, who are related to me, could have been wiped out had something tragic happened during World War II. All of them, the whole family, a whole generation, could have been wiped out, but they all managed to come back. That isn't the story. That is part of the story. I think to hyper-focus on a family is one part, but the other part is the bigger story: that we have been here; that we have contributed; that we have brought wealth; that we have defended this country; and that we will continue to do so. That is a really big part of the story.
10:25 a.m.
Director, Anthony Sherwood Productions Inc.
I have a similar story.
I wasn't aware of my relatives in Nova Scotia and what they accomplished. I refer to the No. 2 Construction Battalion, and the book that Rosemary talks about, written by Calvin Ruck, who helped bring me into the world. I was born in Halifax, and Calvin Ruck was a good friend of my mom. I was born at home, and they helped to deliver me, bring me into the world. I grew up knowing about the No. 2 Construction Battalion, but I had no idea that the chaplain for the battalion was my great-uncle. I didn't know that he had left a diary. When I read his diary, which had been given to me by his son, my cousin, it blew me away, because there was no other handwritten account of what happened to those black soldiers when they were serving in France. This was the only existing account of what happened. He wrote everything he saw and everything that happened to these soldiers. So when I read the diary, it just blew me away, and it was the inspiration for me to do the film.
Reverend William White, who was the chaplain of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, was the only commissioned black officer in the entire British armed forces during the First World War. His daughter, Portia White, became Canada's first international black opera star.
So I was amazed with my own family history. I didn't realize it until I started investigating the story of the book written by Calvin Ruck.
One of the things that the centre could do—and we see all these ads about ancestry.com and ancestry.ca.—is offer a section, asking “What is your story?” This is where you should go. “What have you done? What have your ancestors done?”
One of the things we do when we go to schools for Black History Month is inspire kids to look into their own family history, to discover their history.
A few years ago, I did a series for OMNI Television. About 18 different ethnic communities in Canada have made contributions to Canada: Portuguese, Italian, Chinese.... It was an eye-opener for me hosting and producing this show, because I was never aware of the contributions. I didn't know that the Italians were part of building the railroad for this country. Of course, we all know about the Chinese sacrifices, but I didn't know the Italians were involved, and all the other community ethnic groups.
It's important to know the contributions that your own particular cultural group has made to this country. So possibly the museum could offer a little section, asking “What is your story? Where do you come from?”
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
10:25 a.m.
NDP
Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet NDP Hochelaga, QC
Good morning, and thank you for being here.
Ms. Sadlier, earlier, you mentioned that a program called the “Mathieu Da Costa Challenge“ had been abolished. I suppose that you would be in favour of bringing programs like that back, even, as Mr. Armstrong suggested, as part of a scholarship program, which might be interesting.
Would you have any ideas for updating programs like that? Maybe kids would be more interested in making animations or videos than writing. How could you or your people support a program like that?
10:30 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
The Mathieu Da Costa challenge was a national essay and art contest. It relied on traditional media for students to prepare a tight hard-copy document and/or actual artwork that would be submitted.
With the advent of social media, and it being easy to work with, with desktop publishing, and just the ability.... With the digital cameras that may be available in most schools, or may even be in the personal possession of many students, it's certainly possible that it could be.... Well, they ended it. But it's something that could have continued, but perhaps using more contemporary media in order to produce a result.
It remains important to affirm Mathieu Da Costa, because he's the earliest named African we know about in Canada. That doesn't mean he's the first African in Canada or the first black person in the west.
I'm not sure if the name needed to be changed. Maybe it's the format, the media, and the nature of the technology that could have been adjusted.
10:30 a.m.
NDP
Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet NDP Hochelaga, QC
Let me repeat the second part of my question. How could you or your people be part of a program like that?
10:30 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
Do you mean now or in the past?
10:30 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
In the future, okay.
Well, right now we already use social media to let people know about a number of things. It's a way of providing information or promoting things, such as a scholarship we're offering in cooperation with a corporate sponsor. Again, social media could be that way of saying, “Hey, this is something we could do, this is something you can do, this is something you can participate in”, and it would reach a number of people.
10:30 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
Yes, that would be the way to advertise, because otherwise there's a cost.
10:30 a.m.
NDP
Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet NDP Hochelaga, QC
My second question is about women. As you can see, we are in the minority here.
10:30 a.m.
Voices
Ha, ha!
10:30 a.m.
NDP
Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet NDP Hochelaga, QC
You are right, there is a lack of knowledge about African-Canadian history. There are also mistakes in the history. Let's not kid ourselves: history is all about interpretation, meaning that it comes from one particular point of view.
Let me give you a very specific example. In the days of New France, Marie-Josèphe Angélique was accused of setting fire to the city of Montreal. She confessed to doing so, but only after being tortured for several days. Then she was put to death. But recently, books have been written in an attempt to provide other information, perhaps bringing in facts that put her story in a better light.
Both of you have groups that do research. You produce educational material, promotional videos. What role could your groups play in the kind of project that would shine a better light on people's stories?
10:30 a.m.
President, Ontario Black History Society
If I'm understanding you correctly, we help promote particular personalities in a number of ways.
First of all, we have a website, which has a series of themes to work with information and photographs that are already posted on our website.
We also use Facebook; I'm the webmaster for our Facebook page. If there is something that comes up in terms of any subject, not just particularly about women, although that's a particular interest of mine..... My books have been about women: I've written about Mary Ann Shadd and Harriet Tubman, and I wrote a book called Leading the Way: Black Women in Canada. Black women, of course, are very close to my heart—perhaps the diametric opposite of who and what the Fathers of Confederation were. There are ways of posting that information.
We've also created some travelling exhibits in the past, which have helped focus not just on the contributions and achievements of women, but on those of other African Canadians as well. I think those are some of the things that can continue.
The OBHS also created the first African Canadian film, which was called A Proud Past, A Promising Future. While it's dated, perhaps it's time for it to be updated. Maybe there will be support through the recommendations of this particular committee to see more educational film and more alternative media produced.
