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Heroes and Identity: Two-Hundred Years in the Making The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History Volume 1 Issue 1 Article 6 10-1-2013 Heroes and Identity: Two-Hundred Years in the Making Heather MacDonald University of Waterloo, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/gljuh Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation MacDonald, Heather (2013) "Heroes and Identity: Two-Hundred Years in the Making," The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History: Vol. 1 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/gljuh/vol1/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate History Collections at Scholarship at UWindsor. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History by an authorized editor of Scholarship at UWindsor. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Heroes and Identity: Two-Hundred Years in the Making Cover Page Footnote Heather MacDonald is a fourth year history major at the University of Waterloo, specializing in Canadian Social History. Heather plans on continuing in History at the graduate level in the Waterloo area at either Laurier University or the University of Waterloo. This article is available in The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/gljuh/vol1/ iss1/6 HEATHER MACDONALD 103 Heroes and Identity: Two- Hundred Years in the Making Heather MacDonald University of Waterloo The year 2012 marked the two-hundredth anniversary of the War of 1812. The Canadian Federal Government is using this anniversary to illustrate the importance of this conflict in creating modern Canada. The Federal Government through the retelling and commemorating the historical stories of Laura Secord, Tecumseh, Sir Isaac Brock, and Charles de Salaberry is endorsing the claim that “[Canadians] stood side by side and won the fight for Canada.”1 One of the major productions highlighting the stories of these four War of 1812 ‘heroes’ was the Canada: Forged in Fire series, dramatizing the lives and heroic actions of Secord, Tecumseh, de Salaberry and Brock. Through these vignettes the government is emphasising the importance of these figures, justifying their role as the main figures 104 HEROES AND IDENTITY: 200 YEARS IN THE MAKING of the bicentennial commemorations and legitimizing the significance of the War of 1812 in establishing Canadian Identity. Even the title of the series leaves little room for ambiguity in relation to its overall message. The Federal Government, to encourage national participation in this commemoration allocated $28 million for War of 1812 related initiatives to be carried out until 2015.2 Federal organizations, such as Canadian Heritage, Parks Canada, and the Canadian War Mu- seum, in addition to commemorative ceremonies and re-enactments, have produced educational films, pamphlets, posters, stamps, coins, and exhibits in order to bring the War of 1812 to the doorstep of all Canadians.3 The purpose of this paper is twofold. It will, first, explore the origins of the main subsets of heroes: Women, First Na- tions, English, and French Canadians, and explain how these groups became the federal government’s War of 1812’s ‘go to’ heroes. This paper, secondly, will explore the problems and contradictions with the Canada: Forged in Fire approach to national identity and argue that the Canadian Government’s War of 1812 celebration cannot unite all Canadians, which is its originally intent, because the traditional heroes and imperialist rhetoric presented in the bicentennial commemora- tions fails to represent the diversity of Canada’s population today.4 This process, in the end, alienates more than it unites, and in a time when regional identity has trumped national identity a few badges and plaques cannot erase the past. Shortly after Canada’s Confederation four distinct groups of ‘heroes’ will emerge in the nation’s War of 1812 histories and com- memorations. English- and French-Canadians, First Nations, and Women each presented their own respective heroes and argued for their legitimate place within the 1812 narrative. English-Canadians HEATHER MACDONALD 105 used Major General Sir Isaac Brock as the sole embodiment of loyalty and bravery, he is the archetypical Canadian soldier. Brock began his elevation to mythical status before his death at the Battle of Queenston Heights on 13 October 1812. Historian Cecilia Morgan in Public Men and Virtuous Women writes that Brock shortly after his death was seen by English-Canadians Loyalist, such as John Strachan, as the perfect Christian soldier and his actions saved Upper Canada from the immoral and unjust actions of the American aggressors.5 Despite his death within the first few minutes of the battle he became the known as the hero of Queenston Heights. Brock’s actions inspired many English Canadians (non-Francophones, in particular) to claim him as their hero and thus began two hundred years of commemora- tion. The historical commemoration of General Brock as a Cana- dian hero began in the 1820s with the construction of a commemo- rative column. Brock’s Column, first erected in 1824 and replaced in 1856, was part of local and provincial initiatives to memorialize his sacrifice and the victory of the War of 1812.6 This victory helped proved Canada’s loyalty to the English Crown. Brock was seen as the “brother-hero” of all Canadian soldiers in the conflict.7 Brock, in ad- dition, is immortalized through local, provincial, and federal funded initiatives such as stamps, coins, building dedications, and written and film biographies. Brock became the most-known and celebrated hero of the War before the beginning of the twenty-century. His hero status helps shaped how the average Canadian understands the legacy of the War of 1812. Many popular and academic historians with the bicentenary approaching took this opportunity to revitalize Brock’s story of the 21st century. Academic histories such as Wesley Turner’s The Astonish- 106 HEROES AND IDENTITY: 200 YEARS IN THE MAKING ing General directly challenge the myth of Brock’s heroism and shed an alternative motive for Brock’s “heroic” actions at the Heights. Turner agrees that Brock’s actions were brave, and his military vic- tories and defensive strategies helped Canada’s chances for victory. Turner argues, however, that Brock was acting on bravado and a quest for fame and glory when he charged the hill, and he questions why a Major-General was killed doing a Captain’s job.8 If he was after fame the Canadian and British elites certainly obliged. Historian Donald Hickey takes a more international approach to understanding Brock’s victory at Queenston. Hickey in his article “Heights of Victory” writes that victory was not guaranteed, and that there were many other factors, aside from Brock’s bravery, that tipped the odds in Britain’s favour.9 To Hickey the fact that many of the American troops refused to cross the border into Upper Canada, a reoccurring theme, out of fear of First Nations’ troops meant a quicker victory at the Heights.10 Wesley Turner and other historians have also critiqued Brook’s attitudes towards the Canadian population for which he is meant to be a symbol of. Turner argues that Brooke was not fond of the militia he was in charge of, and he questioned their loyalty and ability to fight.11 Brook, as a member of the privileged elite in Up- per Canada, did not understand the lives and loyalties of the mostly American (by birth) farming population that composed his militia. His distrust of allies is also seen in his feelings towards the First Nations. Cecilia Morgan writes that Brock felt his soldiers needed to be “‘restrained’ [to prevent] ‘acts of outrage [on] women, children and unarmed men’” and where their loyalty to the British was not as much of a concern as was their loyalty to fighting in a civilized (white) way.12 As for Brook’s attitudes towards the French-Canadian’s HEATHER MACDONALD 107 there is not much evidence to suggest, but one can speculate that base on his upbringing, his position in Upper Canada, and the cultur- al prejudices of the time that he lived Brook probably would not have considered the French-Canadians to be equals. Brock, however, with all of these faults continues to be celebrated as the ‘Saviour of Upper Canada’ and in more recent literature he has become the man who paved the way for independent Canada. In Graeme Garrard’s article “The Saviour of Canada” Brock is portrayed as the rallying force of the Upper Canadian militia, and he awards Brock so much credit for his defensive manoeuvres that he earned the title of “Saviour of Canada”.13 His account, nevertheless, fails to account for the American invasion of the Niagara Peninsula, the burning of the Upper Canada’s capital York (present-day Toron- to,) and any of the other officers or soldiers involved in the rest of the War’s hard-fought battles. With the federal government’s goal to include other heroes in the bicentennial commemorations there is hope insight for a rewrite of the Brock-centric view of the War of 1812. Brock is still coined as the ‘Hero of Upper Canada,’ but now first nations’ troops, Canadian militia, and British regulars are included for their role in Brock’s vic- tories. Brook’s Canada 1812: Forged in Fire episode reference his quest for glory and fame as a possible reason for his charge up the Heights, or this could just be the present foundation for critical thinking about Brock’s heroism. While Brock was said to have inspired Upper Canada’s troops, Charles-Michel de Salaberry was a Canadian troop by birth. Fight- ing for the British forces in Montréal, de Salaberry led his Canadian troop of Voltigeurs to victory at the Battle of Châteauguay on 26 October 1813.
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