Mr. Speaker, the Heritage Minutes paid for by the federal government trace an idyllic portrait of Canada's history. But this history has known less glorious moments, such as the burning of the parliament of the united province of Canada in 1849 by a horde of English-speaking Montrealers, the very ones who claimed to be so attached to democratic institutions.
As Normand Lester reports in Le livre noir du Canada anglais , these fanatics did not approve of the duly elected government compensating the Quebec victims of the destruction wrought by the army when it put down the rebellions of 1837 and 1838. Yet the people of Ontario were compensated for this same destruction.
The fact that this crime went unpunished has been interpreted by author John Ralston Saul as evidence of the restraint shown by the Canadian government. When the army fired on Acadian deportees, on patriotes, on Metis, on those who opposed conscription, it showed no restraint.
The Heritage Minutes presented one side of the coin only.