One of the problems with writing episodes for the first history of Canada
for the television age is that you don't have a lot to build on.
With no predecessors to reference, you really have to start at the beginning.
You must assume that this is the first time your television audience is seeing
anything about this topic.
Such is the problem, at least, for Peter Ingles who directed and co-authored
the script for Rebellion and Reform -- episode 7 of Canada: A People's History
-- which will air Sunday, January 14th on CBC-Radio Canada Television.
With only two hours to provide an introduction to a complex historical
topic in a way that entertains a television audience, there is not a lot of
extra room for analysis.
The approach taken to the narrative in this episode, therefore,
is pretty straight forward. The first half of the 19th century is a
period of great international upheaval as a new class of citizen, the
middle class, is born and begins to demand a bigger share of the political
power pie.
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When ruling elites refuse and attempt to maintain
their monopoly on political power, there is trouble. Sometimes, as in Nova
Scotia, the trouble is confined to the political arena of local parliaments.
At other times and in other places, as in Upper and Lower Canada, the trouble
is taken out of the parliamentary sphere and into the streets.
This is precisely what happened in Canada, says episode 7. First there were
efforts to reform the constitution by legal political means. When this failed,
frustrated leaders like Louis-Joseph Papineau and William Lyon Mackenzie
opted for open rebellion. When this too failed and it was clear that the
government could not be overthrown, violence was renounced and the parliamentary
struggle resumed -- and was eventually successful.
This is good history. It is a good introduction to the events and the
basic concepts for a television audience that is new to the topic. It is
also perfect fare for the high school classroom.
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What is lacking in this episode for history geeks like me,
however, is analysis. The question of why mass armed resistance appears only
in a substantial way in Lower Canada is not really addressed. Nor is the
issue of why the reprisals dealt out by British troops were so brutal in Lower
Canada compared to Upper Canada.
The Rebellions of 1837-38 in Lower Canada, the reprisals which followed and
the memories of both did much to shape the attitudes of French-speaking
leaders in the years leading to Confederation. Let's hope that this point,
at least, is made in episode 8.
If not, maybe someone should talk Mark Starowicz into doing a sequel to
A People's History dealing with the Rebellions alone. If Internet
traffic can be taken as any indication of popular interest, a television
history of the Rebellions would be a sure-fire hit.
© Brent Johner. Originally published on Canadian History
on About.com, March 2001. Reprint rights available.
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