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In a society riven by religious and cultural differences, a few bold leaders reach across traditional divides to fashion a bold new vision of a truly democratic country in which diversity will be respected and the monopoly of power held by the entrenched ruling class will be broken.
The response from the establishment to this challenge is immediate and violent. The seat of the reform legislature is set ablaze, and a mob of thousands, mobilized by the economic, religious and political elite, descend upon the homes of the leaders of the reform movement with murderous intent, only to be driven back by foreign troops sent in to maintain the peace. Although severely outnumbered, the troops are disciplined, well-armed and could decimate the rioters. But they are repeatedly ordered to hold fire, even when their commander is stoned by the mob, narrowly escaping with his life. The country is at the brink of momentous change, but no one can know what the outcome will be.
Are these the events that took place over the last few weeks in Tunisia or Egypt? Or are they taken from breaking reports originating in Libya, Syria, Yemen or Bahrain? Actually no—these events happened in our own country 162 years ago, and they ultimately led to the creation of democratic and responsible government in the United Province of Canada and eventually in Canada itself.
The history is compelling; Reformers Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin led a movement challenging the dominance of the Family Compact and Chateau Clique, a small, well-connected group of wealthy merchants, clergy and officials who exploited the British colonies for their own gain. The Reformers’ goals included ending systemic discrimination against the French and Catholic populations, ensuring free and fair elections with a broad franchise and, finally, rendering the governor and executive accountable and responsible to the freely elected legislature. With the courageous support of Governor General Lord Elgin, they eventually accomplished all three without resorting to violence. Despite the Reformers’ shortcomings and imperfections, they succeeded in establishing the government of the United Province of Canada as the world’s first stable, modern, liberal democracy.
As I was reading
Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin, John Ralston Saul’s book about the events that took place in Montreal in April 1849, I was struck by the extraordinary parallels to events happening today in North Africa, the Levant and the Middle East. And I was reminded of the crucial role that teachers must play in ensuring that students leave school with an understanding of how our government operates and how it came to take the form it has. Such understanding provides us with a shared national narrative and a better appreciation of our own history. It is the very foundation of active and informed citizenship.
And in these first few weeks of the federal election campaign, the need for active and informed citizenship is abundantly clear. An election should be an opportunity for public discussion of critical issues confronting our country; instead we are treated to cynical and specious diatribes about the imagined threat posed by a coalition government, as if coalition government was something alien to parliamentary democracy. Instead of comparing alternative visions for Canada, we are subjected to bilious attack ads. And it’s a telling comment on the erosion of democracy when some Canadians bemoan the fact that they might have to take a few minutes to cast their vote—a privilege that people in other countries are literally dying for.
While fostering citizenship is the first duty of public education to the public and the first duty of teachers to their students, it’s also a responsibility shared by the community, media and our political leaders. We all must do better, much better.
Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin, by John Ralston Saul, is available from the ATA library.
I welcome your comments—contact me at dennis.theobald@ata.ab.ca.
