# Research Briefs ### Key The following are my compiled research briefs for each project focus, they will each include the following components: - Brief biography of the subject - Description of accomplishments - Description of controversy - Format - Relation to Project - Reseach links --- ### Famous Five - Brief Biography - Irene Parlby (1868-1965) - farm women's leader, political activist and first female Cabinet minister in Alberta, still serving in that capacity at the time of the court case - Emily Murphy (1868-1933) - the British Empire's first female judge - Nellie McClung (1873-1951) - a suffragist and author, member of the Alberta Legislature 1921–1926 - Henrietta Edwards (1849-1931) - an advocate for working women, author and a founding member of the Victorian Order of Nurses - Louise McKinney (1868-1931) - the first woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, or any legislature in Canada or the rest of the British Empire, but no longer MLA at the time of the court case - Description of Accomplishments - The Famous Five were five women key to the women's suffrage movement in Canada - They fought to have women legally recognized as people so their rights and opportunities would be protected under law, specifically the BNA - "The Person's Case" - Posthumously made honourary Senators - Description of Controversy - Eugenics Controversy - Parlby, Murphy, and McClung specifically advocated for eugenics/sterilization as a cure for specific social issues such as mental disability, alcoholism, - Eugenics as a solution for overpopulation - They successfully introduced eugenics legislation in Canadian provinces resulting in sterilization - Supposed opposition to non-white immigration - Format - Mocked up speeches showing the hypocrisy that "women are people, but the mentally disabled clearly are not"? - Overheard conversation between the women revealing the "women vs. disabled/social issues" hyposcrisy - Dramaticized of their writings on the subject of eugenics and sterilization - That's really nice because it gives a very clear juxtaposition - you expect a narrative of female empowerment and get something very dark - Relation to Project - The goal is to reveal the hypocrisy inherent in lauding these figures for fighting for the rights of women, but clearly not "all" women, and definitely not all people - These people are not mythic figures of justice -> they are also complicated proponents of hate and ignorance - Monuments cannot reconcile complicated truths, but those truths must be internalized - Research Links - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_(Canada)#Emily_Murphy - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/to-some-its-the-infamous-five/article746377/ - https://wayback.archive-it.org/2217/20101208161436/http://www.abheritage.ca/famous5/achievements/reading/sterilization_insane.html ### Sir John A MacDonald - Brief biography of the subject - SJAM (1815-1891) was PM 1867-1873, and 1878-1891 - Prominent lawyer, then became premiere in politics, then PM on and off till he died - Description of accomplishments - Leading figure in the discussions to unify Canada which resulted in the BNA of 1867 - Description of controversy - Canadian Pacific Railway scandal - To do w taking bribes re: Pacific Railroad - Resulted in him resigning from PM - Chinese Head Tax - A fixed fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada - First levied after Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885, meant to discourage Chiense immigration after the competed of the Canadian Pacific Railway - Execution of Louis Riel - As PM approved the execution of Louis Riel - Indigenous Issues - Residential Schools - Was PM when federal govt instituted Residential Schools - Post North-West Rebellion of 1885 SJAM implemented restrictions on movemebts of indigenous groups, requiring govt permission in order to go off reserve - Format - Dramatization of a hearing condemning MacDonald? that sounds too dramatic - A reading of his crimes, either one sided or like a court proceeding - Dramaticised conversation between MacDonald and 1-2 other people on how they are "building" Canada - Chinese immigrants and Head Tax - Starving Indigenous people - Residential Schools - This is dark and potentially really harmful to play out in this format - Maybe a drama is not the way to go for this - Maybe just a reading of SJAM quotes on Indigenous affairs/residential schools, Chinese Head Tax, etc. - Link out to T&R report, indigenous writings on issues, etc. - Relation to Project - MacDonald is a central figure in the formation of Canada as its first Prime Minister - Complicating his history thus necessarily complicates Canadian history - “It’s often the argument that Macdonald did a lot of good things,” Daschuk said in an interview. “He built the country. But he built the country on the backs of the Indigenous people.” - Canadians cannot argue that their country is a haven from racism and a source of multiculturalism unless it is first understood that it was built on the backs of Chinese Immigrants and excluded Indigenous peoples - Just because its a complicated hsitory doesn't mean it isn't important to know - A figure can do great things, that does not mean they cannot also do terrible things - Reseach links - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Macdonald - https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/a-key-player-in-indigenous-cultural-genocide-historians-erase-sir-john-a-macdonalds-name-from-book-prize - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_head_tax_in_Canada - https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/here-is-what-sir-john-a-macdonald-did-to-indigenous-people - https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/10-quotes-john-a.-macdonald-made-about-first-nations ### Sir Robert Borden - Brief biography of the subject - Borden (1854-1937) was first a lawyer and then became PM from 1911-1920 - Description of accomplishments - PM during WW1 - In many regards heralded as the PM that launched Canada on to the world stage - Responsible for Canada's role in Treaty of Versailles - Key figure in establishment of the Commonwealth of British Nations - Introduced women's suffrage on the federal level - Description of controversy - Approved conscription for WW1 - Approved use of troops to put down Winnipeg General Strike - Strike of 30,000 workers in Winnipeg that greatly contributed to the labour movement of Canada - Bloody Saturday - about 30 casualties - Strike was branded as a communist turn to socialism rather than a result of growing unrest re: labour inequality across Canada/NA - Strike leaders were sued/arrested - "His policy of arresting the leaders of the Winnipeg General Strike (1919) and of charging them under a revised definition of sedition that was rushed through Parliament in the form of an amendment to the criminal code won him the enmity of labour." - Format - Radio play of Bloody Saturday and the Winnipeg General Strike? The Winnipeg General strike as a soundscape - People might think of WW1 but instead find it is the sounds of violence within their own country, approved by their own PM - Relation to Project - Borden is an almost universally loved figure in Canadian politics due to his association w Canada's performance in WW1 - In this way, his problems are overlooked and he is just lauded for his accomplishments - To do so does him a disservice as an imperfect human being, and does Canada a disservice as well - Reseach links - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Borden - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_general_strike - https://www.britannica.com/print/article/73920 ### Lester B. Pearson - Brief biography of the subject - Lester Pearson (1897-1972) - Canadian scholar and statesman, PM from 1963-1968, Canadian ambassador to the US, President of the UN General Assembly - Description of accomplishments - Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for resolving the Suez Canal Crisis thru the UN in 1957 - Signed Auto-Pact that brought unemployment to a record low - United the branches into the singular CAF - Our current Canadian flag adopted under him - Description of controversy - LBP led Canadian air bombings during the Korean War - Took a clear anti-Palestinian position during the UN ratified committees regarding the formation of Israel/Palestine post WWII - "the UN partition of British Mandate Palestine contributed to the displacement of at least 700,000 Palestinians" - "Israel's creation lessened the pressure on a widely anti-Semitic Ottawa to accept post-war Jewish refugees" - Format - A Nobel Peace prize "introduction" except instead of mentioning LPB's accomplishments it just mentions his failings _as if_ they were accomplishments - Can't believe I settled on that so easily and quickly - Relation to Project - LBP is clearly a two-headed figure - On the one hand he is remembered as Canada's great peacekeeper, who created an internationally renowned reputation for being peacekeepers - On the other hand, he implicitly and explicitly supported policies that lead to great violence and death in many parts of the world, particularly Korea and Israel/Palestine - Looking at _why_ he is such a complicated figure is important to understand Canada's reputation as a whole, how we got here, and whether it is deserved - Reseach links - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_B._Pearson#First_World_War - http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/2017-03-03t000000/drop-myth-lester-pearson-was-no-friend-palestine - http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2012/02/lester-pearson%E2%80%99s-peacekeeping - http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2012/06/lester-pearson-on-trial/ - https://yvesengler.com/2017/09/03/remembering-the-truth-about-lester-pearson/ - https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1957/ceremony-speech/