Canada Letter: Debating the Legacy of Sir John A. and a Remote Town Stranded

The Times’s recent Canada-related coverage with back stories and analysis from our reporters along with opinions from our readers. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, September 1, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Canada »]( [Debating the Legacy of Sir John A. and a Remote Town Stranded]( By IAN AUSTEN The legacy of [Sir John A. Macdonald,]( the first prime minister of [Canada]( has become the subject of debate in light of his attitudes and policies toward indigenous people. Kingston, Ontario, seemed like the obvious place to go to explore the issue. Macdonald grew up there, represented it in Parliament until his death in 1891 and is buried there. [Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, depicted in a statue in Kingston, Ontario. His racial views have become the subject of hot debate.] Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, depicted in a statue in Kingston, Ontario. His racial views have become the subject of hot debate. Ian Austen/The New York Times No other place in Canada has as many roads and buildings bearing his name or otherwise commemorating his life. Fifty years ago, Parks Canada added [Bellevue House]( to the list, making it a national historic site and the only museum devoted to Macdonald in the country. It is one of the 10 places the founding prime minister called home in Kingston, and its smooth white exterior is a striking contrast in a place so closely linked to limestone construction that it is nicknamed Stone City. With the approach of the 150th anniversary of the creation of modern Canada — in a deal Macdonald largely brokered — Parks Canada became more concerned with how the adjacent visitors center depicted Macdonald’s life and legacy. As I[reported in my article,]( even many of Macdonald’s admirers acknowledge his overt racism, and the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission]( report was scathing about many of his policies, particularly the forcing of indigenous children into boarding schools. When we met in Kingston, Hugh Ostrom, the manager responsible for Bellevue House, said the commission’s report influenced how the site now tells Macdonald’s story. He and another Parks Canada official went to Washington to see how historic sites and museums there deal with issues like George Washington’s slave ownership. [One of the many commemorations of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, in Kingston, Ontario, the city he represented in Parliament.] One of the many commemorations of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, in Kingston, Ontario, the city he represented in Parliament. Ian Austen/The New York Times “Sir John A. Macdonald is a well-known character, but we really needed to have a more interesting conversation about his legacy,” Mr. Ostrom said. “We were given an opportunity to share a more meaningful story for all Canadians and not just the old high-school history lesson.” The most obvious results are two timelines in different colors that zigzag around three walls of the visitor center. One offers a history of Macdonald and the system of government he helped create. The other band designates the times Canada fell terribly short of its ideals, like the internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II. An adjacent room presents a small but impressive display of contemporary indigenous art, including Kent Monkman’s study for [“The Scream,”]( a kinetic portrayal of Mounties, priests and nuns snatching children from their parents on a reserve to be taken to the government’s residential schools. Read: [Canada, Too, Faces a Reckoning With History and Racism]( Stuck in the Station Churchill, Manitoba, is to polar bears as Kingston is to Macdonald. [The train tracks leading to the remote northern town of Churchill, Manitoba, were washed out by flooding in May — effectively isolating the community from the rest of the country.] The train tracks leading to the remote northern town of Churchill, Manitoba, were washed out by flooding in May — effectively isolating the community from the rest of the country. Ian Willms for The New York Times But the 1,056 miles of railway that are its only land link to the south washed out in several places in May, and there is no obvious sign it will be repaired. Our Toronto bureau chief, Catherine Porter, and the photographer Ian Willms took a plane to Churchill to assess the effects of the cutoff, which has driven up prices in the community and had other unwelcome effects. I asked her about the trip: [A polar bear on display at the Itsanitaq Museum in Churchill, the self-declared “polar bear capital of the world.”] A polar bear on display at the Itsanitaq Museum in Churchill, the self-declared “polar bear capital of the world.” Ian Willms for The New York Times A huge sign greets you at the airport: “Welcome to Churchill, Manitoba: Polar Bear Country.” It lists the dos and don’ts: always be alert, and never walk after 10 p.m., for example. Polar-bear warning signs dot the town’s edges and flash from most store windows. An eerie siren sounds every night as a reminder that it is time to get out of claw’s way. Almost every discussion I had with residents included bears. “Polar bears are why the town is here,” said Paul Ratson, a local nature guide. While Churchill was once a Hudson Bay post, a port and a military town, it now largely relies on tourism to survive. And most of the tourists come during polar bear season: six weeks, starting in the middle of October, when polar bears are most likely to be seen around town, waiting for the sea ice to bump against the shore so they can rush off in search of seals. The town’s population, normally 900, grows, with tour operators moving in to work seven days a week. Mr. Ratson said he makes 60 percent of his income during those six weeks. So the big question on most minds was: Would the broken train line affect polar bear season? If Churchill was hobbling now, that would sound its death knell. Most tour operators I spoke to remained confident it would not. Merv Gunter, the founder of Frontiers North Adventures, said tourists paid up to 11,000 Canadian dollars ($8,744) for a four-day polar bear package and booked a year and a half in advance. A bump in [food prices]( would not deter those tourists. The Tundra Inn owner Belinda Fitzpatrick agreed. While she had lost 30 percent of her summer bookings, she was not expecting any cancellations in October. “There are no independent tourists in bear season,” she said. “They all fly in.” Be sure to join Ms. Porter on a dog-sled ride near Churchill through her 360 Video. A link is embedded in her article. Read: [Canadian Town, Isolated After Losing Rail Link, ‘Feels Held Hostage’]( View: [Suddenly Isolated, a Canadian Town Struggles]( Read It The Times Book Review sat down with Louise Penny, author of the crime novels featuring Armand Gamache, a police inspector in a fictional town in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. The interview produced some surprises, at least for me. Ms. Penny, it seems, is a proud fan of “Star Trek” fan fiction. Read: [Louise Penny: By the Book]( Watch It Watching, The Times’s guide to screen life, has published its September recommendations for Netflix users in Canada. It is United States trauma month: parental separation in Brooklyn in “The Squid and the Whale,” suburban Connecticut families facing societal upheaval in “The Ice Storm” and the Vietnam War in “The Deer Hunter.” Read: [The Best Movies and TV Shows New on Netflix Canada in September]( Creatures Big and Small Mountain caribou are endangered in southern British Columbia. Wolves are their main predator. A study led by Robert Serrouya, a biologist with the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has found an unexpected way to keep the two species in balance: moose hunting. Solutions are less obvious for a threat to pine forests in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Warmer winters are allowing the southern pine beetle to move north and flourish. Scientists warn that the effects of its arrival may be as devastating as the ravaging of forests in British Columbia and Alberta by [mountain pine beetles](. Read: [Hunting Moose in Canada to Save Caribou From Wolves]( Read: [Tree-Eating Beetles March Northward, Lured by Milder Winters]( The Deluge [Gerald Sam embraced his 1-year-old son, Gavir, as they tried to sleep at the convention center in downtown Houston. They were among the thousands displaced by the flooding in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey.] Gerald Sam embraced his 1-year-old son, Gavir, as they tried to sleep at the convention center in downtown Houston. They were among the thousands displaced by the flooding in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey. Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times More than a decade ago, I worked with Clifford Krauss when he was The Times’s Toronto bureau chief. He moved from there to Houston to report on the energy industry, a topic which we still collaborate on. But this week during Hurricane Harvey, Mr. Krauss[found himself writing]( about how he and his family salvaged what they could as water poured into their house and over their cars before they took shelter on the second floor. On Friday, Mr. Krauss said that he and his family were well and staying with friends in Houston. The ground floor of their house will need to be gutted and renovated. The Times is devoting extensive resources to covering Harvey and its aftermath. Particularly stunning to me is this [photo gallery](. Read: [A Reporter’s Tale in Houston: When a Story Becomes Your Own Disaster]( View: [Harvey in Pictures]( Trans Canada [To Play Transgender, Sandra Caldwell Had to Open Up About Who She Is]( During the decade or so Sandra Caldwell lived in Toronto, she found success on the stage. But she also had a secret that put her life into turmoil. Now 65, Ms. Caldwell has revealed that she is transgender, in connection with taking on a role in New York based on the real life story of a transgender teacher. [Canada Introduces ‘X’ as a Third Sex Category for Passport Holders]( Starting this week Canadians who do not identify as male or female are permitted to identify their sex on their passports as “X.” Editorial [The Rush to Exploit the Arctic]( The passage of a Russian tanker holding liquefied natural gas through Arctic waters without an icebreaker escort led the editorial board of The Times to warn Arctic nations, including Canada, about the dangers of increased economic activity in that delicate environment. A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for more than a decade. Follow him on Twitter at [@ianrausten](. HOW ARE WE DOING? We hope you enjoyed our Canada Letter. Tell us what you think and what you’d like to see, at [nytcanada@nytimes.com](mailto:nytcanada@nytimes.com? subject=Canada%20Letter%20Newsletter%20Feedback). Last week those of you who responded were split on the subject of whether the end of summer is the true start of the new year in Canada. Regardless of your position, happy Labor Day. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTIMES [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Canada Letter newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018