On August 17, 1972, 50 years ago, the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau declared Dr. Norman Bethune a “Canadian citizen of national importance”. At that moment, at last we could say, he became fit to be commemorated. Finally, because for a long time he remained in the purgatory of history, forgotten by poets and historians. It was because Norman Bethune had been a fervent communist.
A few years after his death in 1939, the most intense period of the Cold War began. It was not good to embrace the radical left at this time. Nothing yet predestined Dr. Bethune to become anything other than a footnote in the history of Canadian medicine. But the historical context changed.
In 1958, the Diefenbaker government defied the American embargo on Red China and authorized the sale of surplus wheat in the country of Mao. It was then that Canadians began to realize how important Bethune was in the Middle Kingdom.
The Chinese have had a new regime since 1949, a communist regime; and in the great work of redefining the Chinese nation, Chinese leaders want to sweep away old myths to establish new ones, more in line with the new ideology in power. In this context, Chairman Mao Zedong saw fit to put Norman Bethune forward so that the Chinese take him as an example. Quickly, the doctor becomes a huge personality, known and respected by hundreds of millions of people.
Thus, it is essentially through the development of Sino-Canadian relations that Bethune emerges from the shadows, although he has sported the scalpel in the manner of the sickle. When relations were officially established in 1970, Canadian authorities began to question his status in Canada. Several events lead them to ponder, perhaps scratching their heads in surprise.
Since the Chinese inevitably associated Canada with their hero, the subject inevitably came up during meetings. In 1960, the Beijing Opera came to Montreal to give a show. After the show, given at the Royal Victoria Hospital, where Bethune practiced medicine, the Chinese ask where his statue is. They are amazed to find that there is none of that.
This is without counting all the times when, on an official visit or not, the Chinese seek to pay homage to the memory of the doctor by visiting his birthplace, a small house in Gravenhurst, in northern Ontario, from where they generally come out disappointed given the lack of consideration with which his memory was maintained there.
Symbol
The doctor had unofficially become the symbol of Sino-Canadian friendship, something had to be done to honor his memory so as to harmonize Chinese and Canadian representations somewhat. In the world of diplomacy, that sort of thing matters.
His name therefore arises at the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, the federal body responsible for determining who or what deserves national recognition. In 1967, the Commission deferred its decision. The question returned to the Commission four years later, in 1971, and this time a report was commissioned leading to a decision which seemed definitive: “Norman Bethune is not of national historic significance”, is it written in the verbal.
The situation did not stop there. The protagonist in the development of this story is Mitchell Sharp. Given his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he must ensure good Sino-Canadian relations, among other things, and under the Trudeau government, this relationship is high on the list of priorities. He sends letters to the Minister of the Commission, Jean Chrétien, asking him to review the case of Norman Bethune.
The situation was becoming urgent. Minister Sharp was to travel to China in August 1972 at the head of a large delegation, at the same time as a Chinese Minister would be in Canada. Sharp hoped to sign successful agreements there. For the occasion, the Canadian government wanted to show that it would finally pay tribute to the doctor.
The Commission therefore organized a meeting on August 10, 1972, during which the status of Norman Bethune was again raised. By consulting the minutes, we quickly notice that it is not ordinary. First of all, it’s an emergency meeting. Then, there is a new character who takes the chair, for the time of a meeting: a certain Jean Chrétien, who represents Minister Sharp. The scenario was drawn up in advance.
Following the adoption of a new criterion allowing a Canadian who has made a significant contribution outside of Canada to be honoured, the Commission decided: “Norman Bethune must be recognized as a figure of historical importance on the national scheme”.
This is how Bethune could officially join the pantheon of great Canadians. He is being honored, Sharp says, in the grounds of the People’s Assembly Hall, for his “outstanding humanitarian achievements.” In the newspapers, the news is greeted, and would even have been applauded, had it not been for the unsubtle maneuver with which the government honored a communist to facilitate trade with, as Trudeau the father said, “a formidable reservoir of consumption and of production “.