The True Canadians, both the podcast and book, relies on Métis people to tell their own stories. But educating Canadians and advancing recognition and reconciliation won’t be complete until those stories are shared much more widely. Which is where Historica Canada can plays a big role. To find out how this national charitable organization, which uses rigorous research to explain “what it means to be Canadian,” approaches its responsibility to tell the story of the Métis, who better to ask than Anthony Wilson-Smith?
A former journalist whose column appeared for years in Maclean’s magazine, Wilson-Smith is the CEO and president of Historica Canada. In this episode, Wilson-Smith talks with host David Wylynko about how successive prime ministers interacted with the Métis, First Nations, and Inuit, and how Canada’s attitude has evolved from dismissive, to paternalistic, to an acceptance of the need for the real changes represented by Bill C-53, which recognizes Métis self-government. He describes the impact of the organization’s vast and growing library that is The Canadian Encyclopedia, and touches on the highly lauded Heritage Minutes that appear on television. Wilson-Smith stresses the importance of changing the request often made of Indigenous peoples to just forget about the past to one in which everyone else is asked to just remember it.
Notes
Bill C-53: An Act respecting the recognition of certain Métis governments
The True Canadians website
Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks
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