Open AccessCommemoration as reconciliation: Indigenous history and Canada’s heritage designation system
Author(s) -
CJ Pentland
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the ijournal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2561-7397
DOI - 10.33137/ijournal.v6i2.36456
Subject(s) - honour , indigenous , narrative , silence , collective memory , government (linguistics) , power (physics) , history , historic site , national heritage , political science , public administration , sociology , genealogy , media studies , law , ethnology , archaeology , aesthetics , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
In September 2020, the Canadian federal government designated the residential school system as an event of national historic significance and two former residential school buildings as national historic sites. They joined over 2,150 other places, people, and events that have been certified as part of Canada’s official historical narrative – the majority of which celebrate the nation’s imperialist history and silence Indigenous peoples. However, public representations of historic injustices that honour victims have the power to disrupt laudatory versions of the past and foster reconciliation. This paper will examine the history of Canada’s commemorative efforts and its effect on the nation’s collective memory, before exploring how the heritage designation framework can be decolonized in a way that respects the needs and desires of Indigenous peoples.