Ruminations

Politically Correct : Chiefly in Magnitudes of Utter Stupidity

A plan has been put forward to have the York Region District School Board remove this totem pole from in front of Summitview Public School in Whitchurch-Stouffville. The totem has stood there since 1974. - Mike Barrett/Metroland

"While initially constructed with positive intentions, our understanding of how cultural appropriation affects our leaning environments has developed significantly."
"The totem pole was created without consultation or involvement of members of Indigenous Nations, including members of the Indigenous Nations of the West Coast for which the totem pole is unique."
York Region District School Board

"At that time, there was less awareness to what appropriation was."
"The First Nation felt it was probably not done with any ill-intent. That's why we're not jumping up and down with our arms in the air."
"Everybody's just trying to do the right thing here."
Lauri Hoeg, Chippewas of Georgina Island, Band councillor

"Listen, I think we've engaged in some significant learning since the totem pole went up."
"The one big thing for me is around the spaces that we're creating in our schools."
"We're looking to engage in some learning, as a starting point."
Drew McNaughton, Summitview Public School Superintendent, Stouffville, Ontario

"It may not have originated as an Indigenous word, but the fact is that it [the word "chief"] is used as a slur in some cases, or in a negative way to describe Indigenous people."
"With that in mind, as it has become a slur in some cases, that's the decision the administration has made to be proactive on that [to henceforth disallow the use of the word chief in any context]."
Ryan Bird, spokesman, Toronto District School Board

"If that usage is going to genuinely hurt a group of people, then I would say yes, by all means, let's see if we can find an alternative."
"On the other hand, the word originated outside of the context of First Nations cultures ... and the First Nations associations that it has, I don't think are negative."
Mark Morton, University of Waterloo's Centre for Teaching Excellence

We are canting at a galloping pace toward the very last gap in touchy-feelly empathy and rejection of anything that might possibly be construed as cultural appropriation -- heaven forfend -- or (gasp!) perceptions of bigoted expressions aimed at Indigenous people or their culture. An elementary school in Ontario has decided in a righteous fit of sanctimony that a totem pole erected decades ago as an exercise in children understanding and respecting historical culture, was to be summarily removed from its place adjacent the school's front entrance.

In 1973 former teacher Bernadine Mumford began a project as part of a focus on Canadian history, in the process enthusing her grade 6 students and the project was begun, everyone happily contributing to the carving and erection of a distinct and complimentary facsimile of a traditional West Coast totem pole, in sympathetic recognition of the "great harm" done in the past to Indigenous peoples. "It bothered me that there was an implication it was racist", she latterly said, to a local newspaper.

However, the spectral reality of victimhood, real or perceived, raised its accusing head. She was informed that a complaint had been broached to the school board about the structure, that the York Region District School Board identified as "community-based concerns"; one individual lodging an impassioned complaint to demonstrate her/his commitment to upholding the human rights and dignity of First Nations by taking the initiative to demand the removal of a disrespectful object mocking tradition is all it would take.

People in positions of authority have raised their antennae over such complaints of purported racism and no one wants to defend themselves by pleading not guilty and in so doing proving to the skeptical ultra-sensitive that no harm was intended, rather a project was meant to convey empathy and recognition of past wrongs. The merest whiff of controversy serves to light a firecracker under the seat of anyone held to be publicly accountable, and they move with righteous indignation blazing firmly in their culpable breasts.

When the board consulted with representatives from the Chippewas of Georgina Island, a local First Nation, though the totem pole does not reflect their own traditions, the Chippewas gravely agreed: the totem pole must be removed as an affront to First Nation dignity. In the matter of removing the offensive word "chief" from usage in any context whatever to assuage the perception that it is a word recognized as an epithet-arrow aimed at aboriginal hearts, there is nothing to discuss; the deed is done.

What is most harrowing about all of this is the simple fact that these intellectual simpletons have the last word on the kind of education Canadian children are exposed to, manipulating and avoiding any measure of discomfort through controversy that might be experienced when totally absurd notions arise implicating normal interactions of language and intention for fear that something, somewhere will be certain to offend someone at some time.