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colonial

Saturday July 17, 2021

July 24, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 17, 2021

Is the former town of Dundas next to be renamed?

Dundas Street West and Dundas, Ont., both named after Henry Dundas, who delayed British abolition of slavery

July 10, 2021

Toronto will rename Dundas Street West because of its ties to a racist from centuries past, but what about Hamilton’s suburb with the same name?

Toronto City Council voted in favour of a motion of changing the name of the west-east traffic artery. While there are no public calls to have the town of Dundas renamed, the downtown Toronto street and community in Hamilton have the same namesake.

Both were named in honour of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville — an 18th-century politician from Scotland who used his power to delay the freedom of slaves in Britain. He entered politics in the late 1700s, gaining status and influence as home secretary and secretary at war.

He later became known as “The Great Tyrant” for tweaking an anti-slavery bill that would delay the abolition of the slave trade by roughly 15 years. His actions froze the freedom of roughly 630,000 slaves. He still has a monument in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital and it has been the target of vandalism and a source of controversy.

September 1, 1999

Dundas no longer formally exists as a town, since Hamilton, its surrounding suburbs and the region of Hamilton Wentworth were amalgamated in 2000, so it’s not clear what a campaign to remove the name would mean.

But signs are still up identifying it as Dundas, the name is still in common everday use, it exists as a postal address and is still part of the riding name for the area – Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.

Ontario’s NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who grew up in Hamilton, supported the idea of renaming the Toronto street on Twitter.

“Henry Dundas blocked the abolition of slavery in the UK by years, a delay that cost tens of thousands of lives. Removing his name to reflect our values isn’t about rewriting shameful history — we can’t do that,” she wrote.

“It’s about rewriting our present day. Rename Dundas Street.”

It’s unclear if she supports renaming Dundas, as her office did not respond for comment.

August 15, 2015

Ward 13 Councillor, Arlene VanderBeek, who represents the Dundas area, did not return calls for comment.

Ameil Joseph, a McMaster University associate professor who studies critical race theory, told CBC News it’s important to think about the “how” and “why” of naming and renaming.

“If we’re thinking of Dundas, you would have to think about what it was before — Cootes Paradise. Thomas Coote was a British officer, also involved in a colonial project. Are we going to rename Bathurst, Jarvis — Jarvis who is a slave trader? Yonge? It’s all around us,” he said.

“When we think about removing statues and street signs, we have to think about how we do it differently, how we can tell the story in a way that’s more comprehensive rather than more erasure.”

Joseph said it is important to remove monuments that only tell one side of the various ethnic atrocities in Canada’s history, but the emphasis needs to be on replacing them with full context of past events, instead of only portraying the view of powerful.

You Might Be From Hamilton If…

“We’re in a historical moment where we can unpractice that, but it’s all about how. If we’re talking about our histories of Hamilton and Dundas, what’s beneath that? Beneath that is what’s always been here, these are traditional nations of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations,” Joseph explained.

“A renaming would have to be something that speaks to Black communities who have been here since before Hamilton was Hamilton … these things are deeply implicated all around us. I don’t think pulling things down is just the answer.” (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: 2021-26, colonial, dundas, Flambasterdas, Henry Dundas, history, Ontario, sign, slavery, valley town

Thursday January 11, 2018

January 10, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 11, 2018

Sen. Lynn Beyak’s views might be ‘typical’ but that doesn’t make them right

It’s sad to note that newly independent Senator Lynn Beyak is pretty much your typical Canadian. She comes off as well-intentioned and hard-working — the type of person you expect to see cheering in bleachers at small-town hockey rinks while holding a Tim Hortons coffee cup. I think of her when I think of the people Prime Minister Stephen Harper referred to with his “old-stock Canadians” quip last election campaign. 

But I say “sadly” of her typical-ness because Beyak, who Conservative leader Andrew Scheer removed from the Conservative caucus last week after she refused to take down offensive letters from her Senate website, is just like a great number of Canadians who are genuinely unable to see how their views are harmful. (For the record, in a statement Monday, Beyak said no one from Scheer’s office spoke with her or her staff about taking down the letters.) Instead, these Canadians still seem to believe in that mythical free pass to which many white people — and I am a white settler myself — try to clutch: that of good intentions.

As long as we have good intentions, many of us believe, there is no need to apologize, and no need to grapple with the weight of ugly words such as “prejudice” and “racism.”

But just because a view is typical doesn’t make it right.

The Beyak saga might have only reached a breaking point now, but it has been brewing for many months, starting way back in March of last year, when Beyak said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings of systemic racism against Indigenous peoples in Canada ignored the “well-intentioned” actions of instructors at residential schools.

“Mistakes were made at residential schools,” she said at the time, “in many instances, horrible mistakes that overshadowed some good things that also happened at those schools.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: colonial, colonialisn, Editorial Cartoon, imperialism, indigenous, Lynn Beyak, residential schools, Senator

Monday September 25, 2012

September 25, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday September 25, 2012

Canada pours tea for United Kingdom in joint embassy

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: "no text", austerity, British, Canada, colonial, commission, Commonwealth, embassy, High, joint, servant, tea, UK

Sunday April 23, 2006

April 23, 2006 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Sunday April 23, 2006

Minister hopeful about ending Caledonia dispute

Talks to end a native land dispute near Hamilton recessed Sunday after almost 24 hours of negotiations over two days and Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay said he is “very optimistic” about reaching an agreement.

Native leaders and provincial and federal officials met for about five hours Saturday night following a 19-hour marathon Friday in a bid to end the seven-week standoff.

“We’re having very constructive dialogue, the atmosphere is very positive, and I think there’s good will on all sides,” Ramsay he said, but added there’s still much more work to be done.

“It’s step by step. I would characterize it as `we’re on our way’ but I wouldn’t say (a deal is) close at the moment.”

Native spokeswoman Hazel Hill said no talks were held Sunday because the aboriginals’ confederacy council was holding its own meetings.

She characterized the negotiations as productive but agreed the two sides are far apart.

But Henco Industries — which is developing a subdivision known as Douglas Creek Estates on the contested 40-hectares — said it is on the verge of bankruptcy and needs a resolution soon. (Ottawa Citizen) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: band, Canada, chiefs, colonial, council, federal, First Nations, governance, government, Hereditary, indigenous, long house, Municipality, natives, Province

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Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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