Medicine Hat Historical Society AGM to include discussion on residential schools, slavery
By James Tubb on September 26, 2023.
Medicine Hat News How historians and today’s public view and interpret the residential school system in Canada and slavery in the United States will be discussed Wednesday at the annual general meeting of the Medicine Hat Historical Society.Bruce Sheppard, the retired curator of the Esplanade archives, will lead the presentation that is part of the group’s annual general meeting.
He said the highly emotional topics have sparked intense debate and show how modern understanding of the past in itself shapes “history.”
“For some, (the discovery of gravesites at former residential schools) has been a sorrowful confirmation of family and community stories of lost loved ones,” reads an introduction for the discussion. “Others have seen it as a vengeful attack on the very foundations of the country.”
“Tragically, far too many of these claims and counter-claims misuse the word history as a synonym for the past apparently not realizing that history is not, and cannot be, the past,” it continues.
In Canada, public opinion ranges from calls to renaming roads, schools and other public infrastructure that honours key figures in Western settlement and the Indian Act. backlash from some who argue
In the United States, calls for reparations to the Black community for are countered by some American states restricting what can be discussed in classes about race or slavery to apparently lessen the scope of injustice.
The general public is invited to join members of the Historical Society in the discussion that will take place as part of the group’s AGM on Wednesday, September 25 beginning at 7 p.m. in the Studio Theatre of the Esplanade.
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