SIR JOHN: (les pieds sure les Métis et le drapeau français): Allons, messieurs les sauvages, Voue êtes rendus au bout de mon territoire. Vous allez sauter dans l'eau du Pacifique ou travailler avec le reste des colons. Choississez.
Looking at what happened to the Métis and First Nations people in the settlement of Canada is not simply an exercise in historical revisionism. Not simply putting our current values and expectations and sense of justice on people of the past and blowing things out of proportion. Obviously someone (at the very least the author of this cartoon) realized that some injustice was transpiring in 1885.
The people of Québec sympathized with the Métis, as people who shared a common language and religion. (religion was likely the stronger of the two binds) The cartoon seems to indicate that the Métis got a worse shake than First Nations. They were trampled on, while the First Nations were simply displaced. But then asks the question of how far they can continue to be displaced before they are also eliminated...
Looking at political cartoons is valuable exercise in class. It allows you to discuss
- caricature and stereotype (in this case, John A MacDonald's nose)
- inferencing (in this case, the French flag and CPR in background)
- political events (in this case, National Policy)
- authorship and bias (this one was published in Québec)
- what people were thinking at the time (some people realized injustice was occurring at some level)
- French review (I get to practice my French accent)
etc.
Many of the cartoons that I use in class were taken from this book by Charles Hou (former Socials 10 teacher in BC):
Great Canadian political cartoons, 1820 to 1914
