Val Ross reports in a Globe & Mail story on the rivalry among Historica, Canada's National History Society, and the Dominion Institute -- mostly over who gets first grab at the taxpayers' money.
What a shame. Historica got $50 million from the philanthropy of the Bronfmans and Red Wilson. CHNS has the Hudson's Bay Foundation behind it. The Dominion Institute is much more an independent start-up, but it still has some substantial private supporters.
By-law #1 at these places should be "We are independent and private. We will never take one dollar from governments."
Problem seems to be, too often these organizations think they are not really about history, they are really about Saving The Country. And their strategy for saving the country is mostly about ramming history down the throats of young people via the education system.
But the education system is simply too big to be changed by private philanthropy. Give the education system $50 million one morning and it will say: "Thanks, and how much have you got for this afternoon?" That's why the schools have to be a public responsibility. When these private foundations march in to re-order the schools, the first thing they learn is they need a government-sized budget.
Historica above all really needs to rethink its priorities. It's about history, not politics. It's about appreciating culture, not saving the country. It's for Canadians, not children. It's private, not public.
And I say this as a friend and admirer of these organizations, someone who thinks the arrival of Historical NGOs has been a real boon to Canada and Canadian history. Seeing them become tied hand-and-foot to the Ottawa bureaucrats is sad.
