Old battle wounds never healed

Re-enacting historic battles is an honourable and educational activity, but we’re not talking about Bunker Hill here — the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was a confrontation that has resonated in our collective consciousness for centuries, lurking in the background of every civil or uncivil discussion of Quebec politics and the dreaded language debate.

It has been a symbol of defeat and oppression; the battlefield itself a consecrated ground where even last summer’s concert by Paul McCartney — arguably the world’s foremost goodwill ambassador of apolitical musical fun — was first met with hostile opposition.

Many Quebecers — separatists in particular — are fond of using the Plains of Abraham as a metaphor to illustrate their plight of the past 250 years. Old wounds have never fully healed; much of that bitterness may never go away, and it is wrong to provoke more animosity by having a group of non-Quebecers run at each other with muskets and bayonets.

Some have jokingly suggested that all fears would be assuaged if this time the French were allowed to win, but that serves only to poke fun at Quebec's tendency to bend history to serve its own ends.

Those two iconic heroes, Montcalm and Wolfe, can probably rest easy. The National Battlefields Commission was expected to make a final decision on the re-enactment this week, but with such strong arguments against the idea, it seems destined to become just another well-intentioned yet ill-advised idea that fell through. Maybe by the battle’s 300th anniversary our political climate will allow for an accurate re-enactment on the Plains — but don’t hold your breath.

The Quebecois do not have to be reminded that they lost that brief battle way back in 1759. Instead, they can look around the province and take comfort in the fact that they certainly won the war — for aside from a few lingering features of local toponymy, evidence of their British foes has been all but eradicated from this region.