Recently, Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak, would be renamed Pierre Elliott Trudeau Mountain. I am surprised. Is Canada’s natural (geographic) endowment so limited that the government must displace the name of one national hero, from a geographic feature where it has been in use for 110 years, in order to honour another?
I too was saddened by the death of Trudeau, but it is uncivilized to change history and remove honours that were justly earned and well-deserved by another outstanding Canadian.
The name of Montreal-born William Edmond Logan (1798-1875) is not well-known among Canadians, but it should be. On his death in 1875, the Natural History Society of Montreal had this to say: “No man has done so much to bring Canada before the notice of the outside world and no man is more deserving of being held in remembrance by the people. Just as statesmen and generals have risen up at the moment of greatest need to frame laws or fight battles, so Sir William appeared to reveal to us the hidden treasures of nature just at a time when Canada needed to know her wealth in order to appreciate her greatness.”
Logan not only founded the Geological Survey of Canada; starting in 1842, he conducted the pioneering geological surveys of Lower and Upper Canada, on foot and by canoe, under primitive conditions. He worked hard to unravel the resource endowment of Canada. His work, prior to Confederation, raised Canadian’s pride in her geological endowment and brought international recognition. For his many achievements, he was knighted by Queen Victoria, named to the French Legion of Honour by Emperor Napoleon III, and honoured by many international and national bodies, as well as by the cities of Toronto and Montreal, and the governor-general.
Mount Logan has been an outstanding name in the geography of Canada since 1890. In 1992, on Canada’s 125th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Geological Survey of Canada, the Canadian Geographical Society sponsored a scientific expedition to re-measure its height. The Hon. John Fraser, then-speaker of the House of Commons, was the expedition’s patron. The Canadian flag was placed at the summit, and the Society took steps to increase “public awareness of a fascinating part of Canada’s geography and natural heritage” on Mount Logan.
As for Logan himself, as recently as 1998, a panel of 28 historians and other professionals ranked him as Canada’s most important scientist, and sixth among the 100 most important Canadians in history (Maclean’s magazine, July 1/98). To quote the magazine: “He was one of the country’s greatest scientists and a man whose imprint remains on the land.”
Why, then, is the present government so limited in vision that it must honour one Canadian hero at the expense of another? Rather, it should go back to the drawing board.
Charles Smith
Ottawa, Ontario
Editor’s note: On Oct. 17, the National Post reported that the Prime Minister will be reversing his decision and, instead, renaming one of 15 secondary peaks on Mt. Logan after Trudeau.
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