Report Douglas Week
March 12, 2008
Dan Peters
As a (not so) fresh faced 23-year-old, thoughts of wearing high socks and performing feats of strength still appeal to me in a big way. However, with Fort Douglas week fast approaching, I felt torn; I’ll be darned if those “ethics” and “convictions” weren’t sneaking up on me again. But let’s zoom out a little bit first.
In this case, it wasn’t until the Mayor of Langley spoke to my leadership class, announcing the celebration of British Columbia’s 150th anniversary (a.k.a. 150 years of colonialism), that I was forced to employ a dangerous practice I like to call “thinking for myself.”
Upon hearing about the upcoming festivities surrounding the 150th anniversary of the pioneers’ “achievement” – more specifically the actions of Governor James Douglas, who claimed British Columbia as a Crown Colony in 1858 – I felt that it was time to dust off a few dots and reconnect them.
First of all, who is this James Douglas and what did he do to prompt us to name a dormitory and a four-day funfest after him?
Historically, Douglas is known as the “father of British Columbia.” He held authoritative posts throughout Britain’s “vast new North American Empire” and along the way earned himself a negative reputation among the local First Nations populations, as did most of the figures presiding over the blatant theft of land and the attempted extermination of a people group. It’s become quite clear that our acquisition of land from the First Nations was much less than stellar, and various accounts claim that Douglas was no exception to the rule.
One account – which is by no means uncommon – reports that while Douglas’ wife was Cree and he had close relationships with indigenous peoples, he also supplied arms to assist the American government’s conflict with North American tribes. His treaties also provided Native Americans with inadequate compensation for large areas of land.
The resulting impacts of this type of founding fatherly conduct are still pervasive in First Nations culture as their numbers were estimated to be as high as three million in pre-contact Canada, and have just recently risen back above one million. First Nations youth currently have suicide rates five times that of the national average, along with other appalling effects of assimilation, all which speak to the foundations laid by men like Douglas.
In celebrating under the name Fort Douglas week, not to mention naming a dormitory after the man, we’re essentially promoting the time we said, “We’re officially taking this land from you,” and everything that action represents.
We can’t change the past, but we’re responsible for today’s choices. Trinity Western University promotes biblical truths, but our predecessors’s actions are in direct opposition to the spirit of Jesus’ teachings. Provided these are not our sentiments, yet why should we endorse them? I propose we change Douglas’ name to something that will honour, not humiliate First Nations citizens. Unless you have the name Douglas tattooed on you, changing the name to something we can all be proud of shouldn’t be a problem.
Now you go...
One Response to “Report Douglas Week”
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Hey Dan, I’m working on a little research paper and I came across some accounts of James Douglas’ relations with the native peoples. Turns out he was a pretty nice guy by repute. He gave out reserves based on the wishes of the Native groups and their traditional locations, gave them equality with whites under the law (which, you know, no one else did), made sure his officials respected native wishes, all that stuff. I’m not saying that colonialism is justifiable, just saying that as far as others that wroked as Native agents at the time, he was the nice one, and went to great lengths to prevent interethnic war. After reading about Calhoun, Custer, Chivington, Pope and all those others in the States, Douglas sounds like an angel. Natives being pursued by Americans in Washington territory fled over the border for protection. Anyway, after Douglas died it is a bit of a different story, and his successors were not so keen, from what I hear. They were downright mean.
Anyhow, something to chew on.