It’s not history at all

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

Canada’s museums have transformed themselves in the last decade, adopting identity-driven makeovers under pressure from the Trudeau-led Liberals. National Post visited institutions from coast to coast to survey the damage and consider its implications.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

The Canadian Museum of History promises an excruciatingly woke experience, including the website accosting you with bright red “traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg. This land has held, and continues to hold, great historical, spiritual and sacred significance.” Instead, as with MAID generally, Canadian history is anaesthetized and sedated before being dispatched.

The physical museum, in vibrant Gatineau, née Hull, begins with vibrant Aboriginal lifestyles and art. But soon you discover that the “Canadian History Hall” is far less important than, say, the “Indian Residential School Memorial Monument” pinned to the welcome screen. And central aspects of our history like, “Reclaiming Leisure: Black Life As Celebration,” complete with QR code prompting visitors to “Learn more about Black history in Canada by visiting our Teachers’ Zone!” crowd out the silly old Magna Carta.

This newsletter tackles hot topics with boldness, verve and wit. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Platformed will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.

Sure, you eventually get to the usual stuff, from the Bluenose to Terry Fox, Aboriginals, the conscription crisis, Tommy Douglas, the Plains of Abraham, Wayne Gretzky, filles du roi, the October Crisis, a huge lurid residential schools trigger warning, the War of 1812, curling, René Lévesque, Vimy Ridge, Nancy Greene, the 1982 Constitution, the Acadian deportation, the Group of Seven, Expo ’67 and more Aboriginals.

I’ve been there before, of course, including to film for documentaries. But I went back this Oct. 29 to ponder, in this era of “Elbows up!” reborn patriotism, exactly what it is that our elite government institutions are telling citizens and visitors about our nation and its history. And it’s not something to be proud of.

To some degree it’s like a Wayne’s World satirical Canadian museum visit by, and to, Bob and Doug McKenzie, complete with the modern curatorial sensibility that replaced Victorian massed artifacts with “interpretation” as thin on logic as on fact. But it’s something more sinister too, in what it assumes or omits rather than asserts.

Instead of discussing the nature and reliability of historical sources, it juxtaposes as equally authoritative a........

© National Post