Ottawa's Library and Archives Building
It leaves an unpleasant echo, but the matter has now been dealt with. Mayor Jim Watson has withdrawn his nomination of Charlotte Whitton's name to be transferred from the old archives building to the new one. There was an outcry of protest from the community at large.
The most vigorous protest came from the Jewish community which found it hugely offensive that a woman of influence would use her time and energy for the purpose of denying Jewish children the opportunity to escape their fated death. She may well have been a firebrand and a trail-blazer for women's place in society, but she was also a racial bigot.
Jewish orphans whom she was instrumental in having the government of the day deny haven were denied the opportunity to become adults, to see a future, to become what they could have been. Charlotte Whitton was wholly invested in her view of Canada as an anglophone, British-majority-sphered community whom the presence of visible minorities, and most particularly people of Jewish origin would interfere unforgivably with.
The nobility of character of individuals from Britain simply did not at all mesh well with the lesser characteristics of Jews. The refugee children fit snugly into the category of 'unwanted', lest they diminish the greater presence of people of a finer heritage.
So the new library and city archives building will not bear the name of Charlotte Whitton after all, as the Mayor of Ottawa relented, in recognition of how disturbing this move proved to be from the viewpoint of the city's Jewish community.
That the building itself is located in a largely Jewish community - and that the memory of the Holocaust from which these refugee Jewish children were attempting to escape only to be denied refuge, infuriated those who understand that the anti-Semitism of the day was not shared by everyone in society, leaving little excuse for allowing this woman's name to grace a public building - it is fit that Mayor Watson withdrew his proposal.
But his serene insensitivity to such a blatant example of overlooking the obvious for the expediency of the moment gives good cause to think twice about his suitability for the position he now holds as the chief municipal representative of all the people of the City of Ottawa.
Name the building far more appropriately after the proudly responsive figure of Cairine Wilson.
The most vigorous protest came from the Jewish community which found it hugely offensive that a woman of influence would use her time and energy for the purpose of denying Jewish children the opportunity to escape their fated death. She may well have been a firebrand and a trail-blazer for women's place in society, but she was also a racial bigot.
Jewish orphans whom she was instrumental in having the government of the day deny haven were denied the opportunity to become adults, to see a future, to become what they could have been. Charlotte Whitton was wholly invested in her view of Canada as an anglophone, British-majority-sphered community whom the presence of visible minorities, and most particularly people of Jewish origin would interfere unforgivably with.
The nobility of character of individuals from Britain simply did not at all mesh well with the lesser characteristics of Jews. The refugee children fit snugly into the category of 'unwanted', lest they diminish the greater presence of people of a finer heritage.
So the new library and city archives building will not bear the name of Charlotte Whitton after all, as the Mayor of Ottawa relented, in recognition of how disturbing this move proved to be from the viewpoint of the city's Jewish community.
That the building itself is located in a largely Jewish community - and that the memory of the Holocaust from which these refugee Jewish children were attempting to escape only to be denied refuge, infuriated those who understand that the anti-Semitism of the day was not shared by everyone in society, leaving little excuse for allowing this woman's name to grace a public building - it is fit that Mayor Watson withdrew his proposal.
But his serene insensitivity to such a blatant example of overlooking the obvious for the expediency of the moment gives good cause to think twice about his suitability for the position he now holds as the chief municipal representative of all the people of the City of Ottawa.
Name the building far more appropriately after the proudly responsive figure of Cairine Wilson.
Labels: Holocaust, Human Relations, Ontario, Ottawa, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ 6:51 PM
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