Login / RegisterJoseph Trutch was a racist bigot—but don't expect Vancouver city council to do anything about it
How do you think Jewish people would feel if Vancouver city council decided to name a road after notorious neo-Nazi Ernst Zundel?
How would Sikhs respond if there was a boulevard named in honour of General Reginald Dyer, the so-called Butcher of Amritsar, who ordered troops to fire on unarmed civilians commemorating Vaisakhi in 1919?
Yet somehow, it's okay to insult aboriginal people in Vancouver with a street named after Joseph Trutch. He was B.C.'s land commissioner in the 1860s who reversed a previous policy to negotiate treaties with aboriginal people in accordance with the 1763 Royal Proclamation.
Trutch, a smooth-talking leading capitalist of his era, strongly advocated rounding up aboriginal people and putting them on reserves. But he had a problem with the federal government's approach. Even though the Native people were in the majority in B.C. at the time, he felt that these piddling reserves were too large.
He was B.C.'s first lieutenant-governor and had streets named after him in Victoria and Vancouver.
This week, an enterprising activist slapped stickers on the Kitsilano street signs declaring that Trutch was a racist bigot.
That prompted Geoff Meggs to tell the Vancouver Sun that there won't be any move to rename the street.
The names of streets, parks, and schools can play a positive role in making people feel connected to the place where they live. These place names also inspire youth and educate us about our history.
By retaining Trutch's name on a street in Vancouver, city council is sending a dreadful message to every aboriginal person in the city, including the kids.
Vision Vancouver piled up massive majorities in the last two elections, but it's not willing to spend an ounce of its political capital to address this situation. In light of this, it's going to be hard to take Vision politicians seriously when they offer pious pronouncements in the future about trying to foster a more equal society.
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
I disagree. Trutch was a special case. He changed the policy, which led to many deaths of aboriginal people. Under Douglas, treaties were being negotiated. As a result of Trutch's influence, Natives ended up living in poverty on reserves, stripped of any legal rights, for a very long time.
It's easy to say everyone was a racist in those days. But it ignores the active role that Trutch took in a horrible legacy. There's a reason why most of B.C. is still unceded aboriginal territory. It's because Trutch played the leading role in the theft of the land.
Charlie Smith
I personally like what living in what Vancouver, BC is today. And whether you like or not Trutch played a role in that.
Illustration: I've lived in the Vancouver area for about 40 years, and I didn't know about the Trutch history until the past few days when the sticker campaign started. So, what if the street had been renamed 10 years ago? How would I ever have learned that he was such an odious character?
(By the way, maybe we should take a serious look at Dunsmuir Street too? James Dunsmuir's coal mines and other industrial projects killed hundreds and hundreds of "slaves" (white and Chinese). Trutch and Dunsmuir probably saw eye-to-eye on "non-humans" ... creatures to be exploited and worked.)
I agree with you on Dunsmuir Street. That's the other one I would rename. The rest could be left alone.
Charlie
Do we rename the city and island as well ?
If we revert to traditional First Nations names, do we then vet those names to ensure that nothing unacceptable to the present is allowed through ?
After all, you dont have to look to hard to find a lot of First Nations that we enslaved, massacred, and exploited at the hands of other First Nations.
How do you think people who were enslaved by the Huron feel about Lake Huron ? Should we rename that too ?
Sorry, couldn't resist ... :)
By the way, birds were here way before any humans, therefor all the streets should be named after various bird species.
Change was coming. Yes there was racist attitude and misunderstanding best relegated to the past. But the historical fact need not be erased or whitewashed to accomodate modern attitudes.
It simply "is what it is." Was what it was. We evolve. We move forward. We look after each other.
Given that until now, only a scant few knew of Trutch, this hypotheis seems flawed.
I am unsure what all this remembering is supposed to change.
Plus who is supposed to do this remembering?