Ghost of a flea

A new survey paints a dismal picture of Canadians' ability to identify key national icons by photograph, revealing that only four out of every 10 people could name Sir John A. Macdonald.

The online survey conducted by Ipsos Reid for the Dominion Institute was released in time for Canada's 142nd birthday. But there's little in the findings to celebrate. Most Canadians -- 88 per cent -- could name international pop star Celine Dion from a photograph, and 77 per cent correctly named Wayne Gretzky.

But a paltry 19 per cent could identify the father of Medicare Tommy Douglas, sometimes considered the greatest Canadian, and only 27 per cent could name Metis leader Louis Riel.

In its quiz, selecting from a pool of thirty Canadian icons, the Institute gives us a group from which fully half are politicians, four are athletes, three are career soldiers, two are writers, and there is one each of performers, artists, industrialists, doctors, journalists and activists. (I realise many of the people on its quiz span several professional fields, but I have tried to boil them down to their "most famous" attribute.)

One wonders, if we were to make a similar quiz for Americans, would the professions be weighted with such a heavy slant to politics? Which solitary American performer would make the cut—Elvis Presley, Clara Bow, Nat 'King' Cole or Scarlett Johansson? And who would be the lone civil rights activist? Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony or Martin Luther King? Would the single captain of industry be Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, Juan Trippe, or Bill Gates? And the sole artist should be Frederic Remington, Norman Rockwell, Louis Comfort Tiffany or Man Ray?
Canadian history also has a similar galaxy of notable stars, but we don't get taught about them at all. In this country, they are invisible to educators and historians alike.

To be blunt the Dominion Institute's icons list are heavily weighted in favour of history nerds who idolize politicians. Being a history nerd, naturally I got 10/10, but I am not a big fan of politicians. Politicians may get the glory, but it is the blood sweat and tears of ordinary Joes that makes a country run. And I fully understand that regular civilians who spend most of their waking hours focusing on things other than history and politics are naturally not going to give a damn. Whole sectors of achivement get left out of Canadian social studies education. Successful Canadian businessmen? Ha. Sure, we hear about businessmen when they are fitted into the narrative of political initiative (like the transcontinental railroad) or social change (like the Winnipeg General Strike). But ordinary joes climbing out of obscurity to become titans in their fields? Never. Did anybody ever hear the names Edward Robert Peacock, Ezra Butler Eddy, K.C. Irving or Grant McConachie in high school history? Of course not. They didn't devote themselves to serving a political purpose, nor become an object lesson on how not to treat the proletariat. They are outside the narrative.

I have some respect for the Dominion Institute since they periodically remind the public of the existence of Canadian history, but their time would be more profitably spent widening the scope of Canadian history education, and not bemoaning the fact that everyone forgets the boring, heavily distorted narrative that we all get crammed into our heads at younger ages. If anything, that's a bit of a blessing. We'd all be NDP voters otherwise.