Following the severe criticism of the future National Museum of Quebec History by the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (APNQL) and its leader, Ghislain Picard, members of the Legault government defended the project.
Starting with the Prime Minister himself.
“The idea is to show the history of the nation which was French-Canadian, which is now Quebecois, which began with the arrival of Champlain and perhaps a little with Jacques Cartier,” explained M . Legault, Wednesday, in a press scrum at the National Assembly.
The status of “national museum” will be awarded for the fourth time to Quebec, after the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec and the Museum of Civilization, in Quebec, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal.
But in this case, should we change the name of the future museum to Musée de l’histoire nationale du Québec, instead of Musée national de l’histoire du Québec?
“No, it’s intentional,” assures Mr. Legault. There are 11 indigenous nations [au Québec] and we are open to working with them so that there are ways to make their nations known. […] Obviously, we are going to talk about the natives who were there before we arrived.”
The AFNQL wanted to “remind the government of Quebec that the history of Quebec begins well before the arrival of Europeans on the territory.”
“Interconnected” stories
The first in his government to affirm Tuesday that the history of the Quebec nation is distinct from that of the First Nations, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, also repeats that “our histories are interrelated. There will definitely be mentions.”
“Indigenous nations have museums that talk about their history and I encourage them to continue. Moreover, we often contribute financially to initiatives to highlight the different histories of different indigenous nations. As Quebecers, we can also have a national museum that will talk about our history as a nation, a history to which indigenous nations have also contributed,” summarized Minister Lacombe on Wednesday.
So far, the Legault government has budgeted an amount of $92 million for the creation of its future National Museum of the History of Quebec, built on the ashes of the Blue Spaces project.
The Minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit, Ian Lafrenière, emphasizes for his part that in this National Museum of the History of Quebec, “we are talking about a museum where we will tell the history of the Quebec nation , not the history of Quebec.
Minister Lafrenière agrees that “it was confusing, “we thought we were talking about the history of Quebec”.
But even in a museum where we talk about the history of the Quebec nation, can we do it without talking about the First Nations? No! The First Nations were there before us, they are there today and will still be there tomorrow,” said Mr. Lafrenière.
He adds that certain indigenous nations have a museum dedicated to their history, such as the Huron-Wendat in Wendake and the Abenaki in Odanak.
Minister Kateri Champagne Jourdain, the first indigenous person appointed minister in Quebec and first indigenous woman elected to the National Assembly, declared that “the history of the First Nations is intimately linked to that of Quebec.”
“The indigenous people have a millennia-old presence. Indigenous cultures have certainly influenced the history of Quebec and Quebec culture. It’s part of the history of Quebec,” indicated Ms. Champagne Jourdain, Minister of Employment, in the corridors of Parliament.
