Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Five things about the Charter 4: Peter Greyson


They signed two copies of the proclamation of the amended constitution. Out on Parliament Hill one got rain-splattered and has permanent little blotches.  Inside they all signed a second copy, the clean, archival copy -- which did indeed go to Library and Archives Canada.

And a year later a guy with a grievance about something came to the archives impersonating a historian, was permitted to consult the document as a student should be able to -- and threw a mixture of red paint and glue over the face of it.  The red blotch is still there.

It's been said the individual rights the Charter protects somehow inspired Greyson to the idea that he had the right to vandalism whenever he got in a snit.  Ah, no, actually. What the charter protects is the rule of law.

The charter is a piece of law, not a piece of paper.  The paper is fine with the red mark on it, anyway.  But if you have gone to an archives lately and been fobbed off with scans or photocopies or digital access when you believe you ought to be putting eyeballs on the document itself, then spit in Peter Greyson's general direction today.

Update: Stuart Manson comments.
The direction in which to spit: Temiskaming.  Peter Greyson is the curator of its art gallery. (!)
 Okay, but let's keep the spitting only in the general direction.  And it looks from the website like a fine gallery.
 
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