For
many Canadians, Duncan Campbell Scott was a renowned poet and public
servant — but a new plaque unveiled Sunday at his Ottawa grave site will
also let visitors know about his role creating Canada's residential
school system.
The
revised text on the plaque that now stands beside his Beechwood
Cemetery grave points out Scott's "notorious" 52-year career in what was
then known as the Department of Indian Affairs.
"As
Deputy Superintendent, Scott oversaw the assimilationist Indian
Residential School system for Aboriginal children, stating his goal was
'to get rid of the Indian problem,'" the new plaque reads. "In its 2015
report, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said that the
Indian Residential School system amounted to cultural genocide."
The
previous plaque, erected in 2011, was almost entirely devoted to
lionizing Scott's career as a poet, calling him "one of the outstanding
figures in Canadian poetry." The new plaque also mentions his
recognition of one of Canada's so-called "Confederation poets."
The
new plaque was spearheaded by Cindy Blackstock, executive director of
the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. She said
when she learned about Scott in high school, she was taught nothing
about his residential schools legacy.
"I think when we look at Duncan Campbell Scott, many more of us are impacted by ... his residential schools than by his literary contributions," Blackstock told Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan in an interview on Monday."It was about setting the history right, and about giving all Canadians a better understanding of what we need to do in this country to restore justice. ... If we really want to be a country then we must learn from our past, both the celebratory times and the times of struggle, too."
Born in Ottawa in 1862, Scott joined the Department of Indian Affairs as a 17-year-old.
He
became the department's deputy superintendent in 1913 and his travels
with the department across Canada served as the inspiration for much of
his poetry.
Literary
critics have pointed out the irony that, at the same time Scott's
poetry lamented the decline of First Nations in Canada, his own
department was actively working to eradicate those same cultures.
Scott retired from his position as deputy superintendent in 1932 and died in Ottawa in 1947 at the age of 85.
"We
realize that his resting place here can serve as a teaching tool for
the generations in our midst and the generations to come, that the
plaque ... can serve to tell the more complete history that most of us
grew up not knowing," said Marie Wilson, commissioner of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada, at the plaque unveiling on Sunday.
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