In early 2012, Museum of History curator Jean-Francois Lozier got a special assignment, his very first big exhibition.
He was asked to plan and produce a show that would interest Canadians in … Confederation. It’s a show that a Canadian Museum of History has to do, one would expect, in the years leading up to the 150th birthday of the nation, in 2017.
And yes Virginia, there is drama in Canadian history — but how does one convince the public of that? That was Lozier’s problem.
“The head of my department said we are doing this exhibition on Confederation,” says Lozier. “So it was a bit of a scramble (as to) what story we would tell and how we would tell it. In the end we decided to tell the story of 30 years leading up to Confederation.” Hence the exhibition’s name: 1867 — Rebellion and Confederation.
These were three chaotic and critical decades for the future of British North America since they include the rebellions of 1837-8, the Durham report, reform and responsible government for the united province of Canada and, finally, the manoeuvring that ultimately led to the Dominion of Canada. It was a time of strong personalities, such as John A. Macdonald, William Lyon Mackenzie, Louis Joseph Papineau, Robert Baldwin and Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine.
The next step proved to be the hard part for Lozier: gathering up the artifacts that would be on display.
“I spent a lot of time in our collections. What often happens is curators will find things that had been thought to be lost a long time ago. It was also a matter of finding things elsewhere, because the roots of this institution are as an ethnology museum and our collections are strongest in ethnology and in social history. They are not so strong in what we might call history with a big H or political history.”
He began contacting other institutions and private collectors asking if they knew of anything in their catalogues.
“This being my first exhibition, I did not realize that we were not in the habit of dealing with so many lenders for a single exhibition. I found Alexander Tilloch Galt’s shoe buckles in one museum (in Lethbridge) and Georges-Étienne Cartier’s hat in another.”
In all, he dealt with about 50 museums, most of them in Eastern Canada. Some had foolproof provenance, such as the so-called Confederation inkwell, which is in photographs of the Fathers of Confederation.
“It took me months to find that inkwell,” says Lozier. “I knew it had been given to Étienne-Paschal Taché, the premier (of the united province of Canada), who had presided over the Quebec Conference. I knew that it had been given to the Canadian people. I knew it had been used for the terms of union with Newfoundland — there is a photo of Joey Smallwood with it in front of him. But then I discovered it was just across the river all along (in the Library of Parliament).”
Being a historian is being a detective, Lozier says. “You have to follow leads and pursue wild goose chases.”
There are objects that are important, he says, and there are objects that, when paired together, are more than the sum of their parts. “So, for example, we have a copy of the first throne speech by Lord Monck, first governor general of the new dominion. Not only do we have the speech (which is one page of beautiful, clear penmanship), we have the throne upon which he sat.”
Lozier is particularly touched by a small jacket that belonged to a six-year-old Irish orphan named Patrick Quinn, who came with his family to Canada after the famine in Ireland. His parents died on the journey; young Patrick was adopted by a Quebec family and grew up to be a much beloved priest.
“It’s one of the very rare pieces of clothing from the period for which we have a good story with it.” The jacket came from the archives of a seminary in Nicolet, Que.
The exhibit includes boxes handmade by political prisoners after the Rebellions of 1837 and 38. While awaiting trial or even hanging, prisoners carved these boxes as gifts for friends and supporters.
And there are even two stones that most people would pass by, without the story behind them. These were cobblestones that were thrown at Lord Elgin, the governor general in 1849, by conservative anglophones who were angry about Responsible Government and a bill compensating French Canadians who lost property during the Rebellions. These same angry anglos also burned down the parliament in Montreal.
“Lady Elgin (the governor general’s wife) had the presence of mind to collect a few of stones from the carriage and label them ‘stones thrown at Lord Elgin’s carriage 30 April, 1849.’ If they had not been labelled they would have been thrown out a long time ago.”
Lozier has nightmares about things that have been thrown out.
The curator also pieced together things. For example, cabinet members would wear a military-style uniform at major events. To illustrate that, he has Macdonald’s coat, Cartier’s bicorn hat and a sword from another father of Confederation.
One thing a visitor could have done without are the noisy videos delivered by some well-known Canadian historians including Ottawa’s Charlotte Gray. The sound tends to distract as much as the videos inform.
Still there is much to take in here. The exhibition will run until Jan. 4, 2016, so there is plenty of time to see it, but at some point, Lozier knows, all the artifacts will have to be returned.
Some key figures:
Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786–1871): Politician, lawyer, leader of the reformist Patriote movement that opposed the unelected colonial government in Lower Canada, and one of the authors of the 92 Resolutions demanding political reform.
William Lyon Mackenzie (1795–1861): Scottish-born journalist, member of Upper Canada’s Legislative Assembly, first mayor of Toronto and leader of the 1837 Upper Canada rebellion.
Joseph Howe (1804–1873): Publisher, free press advocate, politician and public servant in Nova Scotia. Howe was elected premier of Nova Scotia (1860–1863) and led the unsuccessful fight against Confederation. He joined John A. Macdonald’s Cabinet in 1869 and played a key role in bringing Manitoba into the union in 1870.
Lord Durham (1792–1840): Politician, diplomat, colonial administrator and author of the Durham Report on the Canadian rebellions of 1837–1838. “Radical Jack” was appointed governor general and high commissioner to British North America to appease reform-minded radicals. His recommendations to unite Upper and Lower Canada and to assimilate French Canadians came into effect in 1840.
Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine (1807–1864): Leader of the reformers in Canada East and, with Robert Baldwin, the first head of a responsible government in Canada.
Robert Baldwin (1804–1858): Lawyer, leader of the reformers in Canada West and, with La Fontaine, the first head of a responsible government in Canada. The La Fontaine-Baldwin government carried out important reforms, including the Amnesty Act, which offered pardons to those involved in the rebellions of 1837–1838.
Lord Elgin (1811–1863): British colonial administrator and governor general of the Province of Canada (1847-1854). Elgin was sent to the Province of Canada in 1847 with instructions to establish responsible government, which he did in 1848.
John A. Macdonald (1815–1891): First prime minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891). Macdonald was elected to the legislature of the Province of Canada in 1844 and became co-premier in 1857. In 1864, he formed the Great Coalition with his rival George Brown, to seek federation and political reform. Macdonald was the dominant creative mind behind the British North America Act and the union of the provinces that became Canada.
George-Étienne Cartier (1814–1873): Father of Confederation and co-premier, with John A. Macdonald, of the Province of Canada. Cartier was a member of the Société des Fils de la Liberté, or Sons of Liberty, and spent a year in exile for his role in the Lower Canada rebellion of 1837.
George Brown (1818–1880): Scottish-born Canadian journalist, anti-slavery crusader and Father of Confederation. As a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada starting in 1851, Brown advocated for representation by population, small government and separation of church and state.
Lord Monck (1819–1894): Last governor general of British North America and governor of the Province of Canada, and first governor general of Canada following Confederation. Monck worked closely with John A. Macdonald, George Brown, George-Étienne Cartier and Étienne-Paschal Taché, who formed the Great Coalition that brought Upper and Lower Canada together in 1864. Monck established Rideau Hall as the residence of the governor general in Ottawa.
1. The original British North America Act, signed by Queen Victoria, will be on display from July 1, 2015, until January 4, 2016. Until then, the exhibition features a ceremonial copy.
2. A fitted coat belonging to John A. Macdonald and a bicorn hat belonging to George-Étienne Cartier, both likely worn during their audiences with Queen Victoria in 1867.
3. The inkstand presented to Étienne-Paschal Taché after he presided over the Québec City Conference in 1864. The inkstand was used again during the Québec Conference of 1943 and for the signing of the Terms of Union with Newfoundland in 1949.
4. The one-page handwritten throne speech delivered by Lord Monck on Nov. 7, 1867.
5. The ship’s bell and a tea service from the SS Queen Victoria, which carried Macdonald, Cartier, Brown and the rest of the Canadian delegation to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864.
6. Two cobblestones thrown at Lord Elgin during the 1849 Montreal riots.
7. Louis-Joseph Papineau’s chair when he was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, as well as the throne from which Governor General Lord Monck delivered the first Speech from the Throne on Nov. 7, 1867. The chair had previously been used by Lord Elgin and other governors in Quebec City and Toronto.
8. An arrow sash (ceinture fléchée) worn by Jean-Olivier Chénier, a Patriote leader who died during the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion.
9. The intricately carved and painted wooden mace presented to the Newfoundland House of Assembly when it was established in 1833. The mace was used until 1950, when British Columbia presented a new one to commemorate Newfoundland joining Confederation.
10. The full-scale preparatory sketch of Robert Harris’s iconic painting of the Fathers of Confederation. The painting, completed in 1883, was hung in the Centre Block of the Parliament buildings. It was destroyed in the 1916 fire.