The controversial statue of the fake aboriginal Ahuntsic, in the sector of the same name, is still being talked about. This time, the parish that owns it has decided to hide two inscriptions deemed racist and misleading in order to prevent vandalism: a decision that has caused discord in the sector.
Remember that last spring vandals attacked the monument to the glory of Ahuntsic, on which the character who gives his name to the neighborhood is wrongly represented as an Aboriginal. The sign on which one can read that Ahuntsic was killed by “wicked Hurons”, had also been targeted.
In order to prevent this from happening again, the parish of the church of La Visitation decided a few days ago to hide the text in question. The sign under the nearby statue of missionary Nicolas Viel has also been concealed behind a slab of faux marble because it describes the Hurons as “barbarians”. Both monuments were erected in 1903 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
“Before, people may have had an easier time understanding that it was a different time, but in 2022 sensibilities have changed. The statue has already been vandalized and we don’t want the next time to be the church. We must be of our time. The most important thing is to maintain social peace, not to stubbornly explain the intricacies of history,” explains Patrick Goulet, one of the parish churchwardens.
A divisive approach
The factory had already tried last year to camouflage the two inscriptions deemed racist at the foot of the statues. But she had ended up backtracking because some citizens of the neighborhood complained that we were trying to erase a piece of history. Mentalities have since evolved and there is a certain consensus in the sector, observes Mr. Goulet.
However, on Tuesday The duty was able to see on the spot that the plaques had been torn off and that the words considered insulting to the Hurons had thereby become legible again. According to Patrick Goulet, it could be a voluntary gesture. The two texts will be covered again shortly, he promises.
The Ahuntsic-Cartierville Historical Society would prefer that the two signs be preserved as they are, even if the expressions that can be read there are those of another time. They reflect the way Aboriginal people were still treated at the beginning of the 20th century, and it is important to remember this, argues the Historical Society. The latter is rather campaigning for a new panel to be installed nearby in order to contextualize the whole thing.
“We can’t bury under the rug the things in history that don’t suit us and keep only those with which we are comfortable. By hiding the inscriptions, we send the message that there are things we are trying to hide. I’m not sure it reflects a better image of the Church,” added the president, Yvon Gagnon.
The parish of the church of La Visitation assures that this recontextualization panel will come. In the meantime, the two controversial signs must remain hidden.
Wrong story
The statues remain in place, even if we know today that they do not correspond to historical reality. When the two monuments were inaugurated, it was believed that Ahuntsic was a young Huron convert who accompanied the Récollet Nicolas Viel in his mission to evangelize the Aboriginal peoples. According to legend, they perished in a canoe in the Rivière des Prairies in 1625, betrayed by the Hurons who were traveling to Quebec with them.
However, there has been a consensus since the 1940s that Ahuntsic was not an Aboriginal, but a Frenchman. The theory according to which the Hurons would be responsible for the death of Brother Viel and his disciple has also been called into question. Some historians have argued that the Iroquois could be the cause of the tragedy, others have favored the thesis of the accident.
Despite everything, it is out of the question for the factory to go further by removing the statues. “It’s like the statues of ancient Greece and Rome. We know very well that Apollo or Venus did not exist, but it is still part of history. We must not wipe the slate clean either of our myths here,” illustrates Patrick Goulet.