PLATFORM is pleased to present ACTIVE RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES 2. Our third speaker of the year, Matthew McRae, will present on Tuesday 21 October @ 7PM in the Cinematheque Theatre. A small reception will follow in PLATFORM’s gallery.

Scrapbooks, Medals and Monuments: Soldiers’ memories of the Northwest campaign of 1885. 

1885’s North-West campaign was Canada’s first war, but in the present day it is rarely remembered as such. Louis Riel, the Métis leader who was hanged for treason, now has heroic status among many Canadians. Less pronounced but perhaps more telling is the absence in Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies of any reference to the veterans of the 1885 North-West Field Force. But it was not always this way. Not so long ago, there were living veterans of the Riel Rebellions, and they were a proud lot.

Using a series of sources – civic, provincial and federal records, newspapers, novels and monuments as well as the personal letters and scrapbooks of soldiers, I will demonstrate that the soldiers of 1885 played a pivotal role in English-Canadians’ collective memory of Canada’s first war until the end of their days. While many factors ultimately led to the change in how English-Canadian society has come to view 1885, it seems likely that this shift could not have happened until after the last veteran of these campaigns had passed away. With no one left to defend the veterans’ version of events, a new set of heroes could finally emerge, while the old heroes would quickly fade from public discourse, obscured by the shifting mists of historical memory.

 

Matthew is a PhD. candidate in history at the University of Western Ontario, under the supervision of Professor Jonathan Vance. He achieved his M.A. in history at Carleton University in Ottawa and his B.A. Honours at the University of Prince Edward Island. His dissertation topic focuses on violent rebellion and social memory in Canada. Matthew is currently living in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is a Communications advisor at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where he has also worked as a Research Assistant and a Researcher-Curator.

 

Image: Unveiling of the Volunteer Monument at Winnipeg’s City Hall, September 28, 1886.

Source: City of Winnipeg Archives.