The Brits may have won the first round, way back in 1759, but Quebec separtists are claiming victory in the rematch. A planned reenactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was canceled by the National Battlefields Commission, who quietly surrendered after enduring weeks of bombardment by email, petitions, and flaming rhetoric.
Already opponents of the centrepiece event, a July re-enactment of the battle between the forces of Wolfe and Montcalm, are claiming victory after the commission president distanced himself from the idea of restaging the battle. In weekend interviews, Andre Juneau said the commission had to “take into consideration certain threats” as it scaled back its plans.
Radical separatist groups have threatened to disrupt the re-enactment, with some individuals saying they would come armed with paintball guns. [...]
Pauline Marois, leader of the opposition Parti Quebecois, joined the call for the re-enactment to be scrapped. Yesterday she called the event “a manipulation of public opinion” designed to increase the federal government’s visibility in Quebec. Any event marking the anniversary must be sombre, she added: “It is the Conquest, the beginning of the end of New France in America. There were thousands of deaths, farms were burned. We have a duty to remember these events, but it is not a celebration.” (National Post)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It's not a "rematch" – implying some actual fight is supposed to happen. It's just a re-enactment of events that transpired. The spirit of a re-enactment is an innocent bit of running around, firing some blanks, playin dead (then getting back up again), looking at period attire and items, and essentially just doing a bit of dress-up. There's no maliciousness in re-enacting.
"There's no maliciousness in re-enacting."
Maybe not, but there is selectivity, and that selectivity paints a particular picture – namely, of heroic English coming and defeating the French. Presumably there won't be any English soldiers burning down model French villages or torching farms, for example – the real focus is on English soldiers defeating French soldiers. I'm not a separatist, but I can see where their anger might come from. I think I might agree with Marois.
It's like censorship.