Controversy Ebbs, Canada Falls in Love with Vice-Regal Couple
"Je suis monarchiste" Clarkson
The Queen's representative in Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, and her consort John Ralston Saul, have taken the country by storm in the first five months after the Governor General's Installation. Their Excellencies have cris-crossed the Dominion, "bringing a flamboyance to constitutional monarchy," observed the Times of London, and have been outspoken in support of the Crown as well as of more controversial points of view all in line with Her Excellency's pre-Installation reflection that being above partisan politics would not preclude sharing ideas and provoking the national conversation. They have also already several times visited La Citadelle, their Residence in Quebec City, from where Her Excellency observed to RDI (the French CBC network), "Je suis monarchiste; j'l'ai toujours ete."
The Dominion Chairman of the Monarchist League attended the Official Ontario Welcome to Their Excellencies on December 10. Afterwards, at an informal Luncheon hosted by Mr Speaker Garry Carr, Mr Aimers had the honour of being presented to both Mme Clarkson and Mr Saul and of enjoying some moments' conversation with each.
November 16th brought controversy of a more substantive nature due to Her Excellency's remarks at the Louis Riel Day ceremony at Confederation Park, Ottawa, which some commentators attacked for a "revisionist" point of view of history, while others defended as a generous laying to rest of old wounds that still have resonance today.
Observing that it was logical to wonder why Canadians were gathering to honour a man who had been hanged for treason, Mme Clarkson observed how he "was a founder of the province of Manitoba, and played a key typical role in opening up Canada's west... And Louis Riel, in the process of working for western rights and the rights of his people, helped to lay the framework for minority rights and as a result for cultural cooperation in this country."
Citing the linguistic and cultural tensions of the frontier, Mme Clarkson continued by interpreting the Red River Rebellion: "When Riel was only 25, he and his supporters seized Fort Garry and established a provisional government. They drew up a list of rights, which they sent to Sir John A. Macdonald. It is important to emphasize that these rights protected not only the Métis members of the community, but all the settlers in the Northwest Territory. Their demands included an elected legislature, representation in the federal Parliament, official status for both English and French and an economic plan for the Métis. These became the basis for the Manitoba Act of 1870, which brought that province into Confederation, and provided language, religious and schooling rights. Historian G.F.G. Stanley called this 'a national achievement of the new nation and the personal victory of Louis Riel.' As so often happens, Louis Riel's role in building this country was not recognized during his lifetime. And so it is only recently that we have begun to recognize his contributions, and to come together, as we are doing today, to pay tribute to Riel, and to the Métis people, who learned to live together in a bilingual, multicultural society and to take inspiration from this diversity."
Her Excellency then quoted Sir Wilfred Laurier's defence of Riel, "What is hateful is not rebellion but the despotism which induces that rebellion... If the Government had been loyal to the Métis, no such trouble would have occurred. But the Government has not been loyal to the laws. If only the Government had taken as much pain to do right, as they have taken to punish wrong..." She concluded by observing that "We have taken a lot of steps since Louis Riel's time, to ensure that everyone in this country Métis, Native, English, French, Chinese, German, Polish I could go on is treated fairly and equally. But and this is the importance of marking Louis Riel Day and Louis Riel himself we are not entirely there yet. So we all have a responsibility to remember the legacy of Louis Riel, and to continue to strive towards a nation that is built on tolerance, fairness, cooperation, sharing and generosity to all peoples."
In a November 22nd editorial, The National Post took the Governor General to task for her speech. It ridiculed her assertion that Riel was an early proponent of multiculturalism: "Riel would have knocked down a multiculturalist with a low curse if there had been any around at the time." It continued, "...he arranged for a loud-mouthed Orangeman to be shot after a kangaroo court hearing not much generosity there... Endorsing a rebel (and symbol of rebellion) in a country in which constitutional crises still occur is a strong political statement one that mocks the very basis of her own office. After all, could anything be more absurd than the official representative of the head of state who goes dewy-eyed over a failed revolutionary against the Crown? Next time, Adrienne, stick to Fidel."
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