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Peterson tribute proposal hits sour note
Some want to salute jazz legend by rechristening Montreal subway station already named for a historical figure
INGRID PERITZ
March 6, 2008
MONTREAL -- Jazz great Oscar Peterson and nationalist cleric Lionel Groulx undoubtedly never met during their lifetimes. But now the two men and their legacies are converging - in the most unlikely of places.
A grassroots campaign has taken hold in Montreal to rename a busy subway station after Mr. Peterson, the Montreal-born music legend who died in December.
The problem is that the station, located around the corner from where Mr. Peterson was born and raised, is currently named Station Lionel-Groulx.
For proponents, whose numbers are growing, swapping the names accomplishes two things at once: It honours a local luminary who rose from humble origins to world acclaim, and it erases the name of a polarizing figure who espoused sometimes unsavoury views about minorities.
"Oscar Peterson is important as a symbol of success over adversity," said Michael Citrome, a Montreal graduate law student whose renaming campaign on FaceBook has attracted 5,000 members. "Lionel Groulx has a message that immediately divides Quebeckers. He's the symbol of an era that we need to put behind us."
Still, name changes have a way of igniting fierce passions and exposing dormant fault lines among Montrealers. The decision to rename Dorchester Boulevard after former Parti Québécois premier René Lévesque in 1987 sparked years of acrimony. More recently, Mayor Gérald Tremblay tried to rename Park Avenue after former Liberal premier Robert Bourassa, but was forced to retreat after a groundswell of opposition.
This proposed change promises to be no different.
Comments on the Internet hint at the subject's sensitivity. One writer, Christian De Bellefeuille, says that if they're looking for a spot to honour Mr. Peterson, boosters should aim for Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, and leave Lionel Groulx alone.
"You want to honour Oscar Peterson's memory? Create a monument in his honour instead of trying to erase a name from history. Regardless of what Lionel Groulx might have done, (good or bad), it's part of our history," he wrote.
Yet supporters say rebaptizing the Métro station for Mr. Peterson would not only recognize the pianist, it would give long overdue recognition to the city's black community. None of Montreal's 68 Métro stops is named for minorities.
Lionel-Groulx station, a transfer hub used by 3.9 million passengers a year, is located a stone's throw from the Union United Church, the oldest black congregation in Quebec. The Peterson family used to attend the church, located in the borough of St. Henri; though Mr. Peterson left Montreal for Toronto in 1958, he says he never forgot his roots in Montreal.
"There's something sick about the fact that in one of the oldest historically black neighbourhoods in Canada, there's a subway station named after a terrible racist," Mr. Citrome said.
Montreal City Hall, stung by the uproar over the doomed Park Avenue change, now says it is striking a committee to study ways of paying homage to Mr. Peterson, and insists it doesn't want to rush.
"This man did a lot for our city, and we have to honour him in the most appropriate way," said Councillor Catherine Sévigny, responsible for culture in the mayor's office. "But do we have to un-name something to name it for someone else?"
Montreal's transit corporation has put a moratorium on name changes for its Métro stations, which are generally christened for a nearby street or landmark. Lionel-Groulx station got its tag when it opened in 1978 because Montreal had rebaptized an adjoining street for Abbé Groulx five years earlier, while the Métro stop was in the planning stages.
Meanwhile, a historian says Montreal should proceed with caution before removing Abbé Groulx from place names. For all his controversial views, the priest, who died in 1967, has a firm place among influential Quebec thinkers.
"Yes, there is a disagreeable underside to the man - the anti-Semitism, the fascist sympathies," said Jarrett Rudy, a Quebec historian and director of the Quebec Studies Program at McGill University. "But he also had a significance for a huge part of the population. I feel uncomfortable about erasing his impact from Quebec history."
Prof. Rudy came up with his own subway solution: Paying homage to both men with a joint, hyphenated name such as Station Oscar Peterson-Lionel Groulx. "We could enjoy the pleasure," he said, "of an interesting meeting of two important historical figures."
Some want to salute jazz legend by rechristening Montreal subway station already named for a historical figure
INGRID PERITZ
March 6, 2008
MONTREAL -- Jazz great Oscar Peterson and nationalist cleric Lionel Groulx undoubtedly never met during their lifetimes. But now the two men and their legacies are converging - in the most unlikely of places.
A grassroots campaign has taken hold in Montreal to rename a busy subway station after Mr. Peterson, the Montreal-born music legend who died in December.
The problem is that the station, located around the corner from where Mr. Peterson was born and raised, is currently named Station Lionel-Groulx.
For proponents, whose numbers are growing, swapping the names accomplishes two things at once: It honours a local luminary who rose from humble origins to world acclaim, and it erases the name of a polarizing figure who espoused sometimes unsavoury views about minorities.
"Oscar Peterson is important as a symbol of success over adversity," said Michael Citrome, a Montreal graduate law student whose renaming campaign on FaceBook has attracted 5,000 members. "Lionel Groulx has a message that immediately divides Quebeckers. He's the symbol of an era that we need to put behind us."
Still, name changes have a way of igniting fierce passions and exposing dormant fault lines among Montrealers. The decision to rename Dorchester Boulevard after former Parti Québécois premier René Lévesque in 1987 sparked years of acrimony. More recently, Mayor Gérald Tremblay tried to rename Park Avenue after former Liberal premier Robert Bourassa, but was forced to retreat after a groundswell of opposition.
This proposed change promises to be no different.
Comments on the Internet hint at the subject's sensitivity. One writer, Christian De Bellefeuille, says that if they're looking for a spot to honour Mr. Peterson, boosters should aim for Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, and leave Lionel Groulx alone.
"You want to honour Oscar Peterson's memory? Create a monument in his honour instead of trying to erase a name from history. Regardless of what Lionel Groulx might have done, (good or bad), it's part of our history," he wrote.
Yet supporters say rebaptizing the Métro station for Mr. Peterson would not only recognize the pianist, it would give long overdue recognition to the city's black community. None of Montreal's 68 Métro stops is named for minorities.
Lionel-Groulx station, a transfer hub used by 3.9 million passengers a year, is located a stone's throw from the Union United Church, the oldest black congregation in Quebec. The Peterson family used to attend the church, located in the borough of St. Henri; though Mr. Peterson left Montreal for Toronto in 1958, he says he never forgot his roots in Montreal.
"There's something sick about the fact that in one of the oldest historically black neighbourhoods in Canada, there's a subway station named after a terrible racist," Mr. Citrome said.
Montreal City Hall, stung by the uproar over the doomed Park Avenue change, now says it is striking a committee to study ways of paying homage to Mr. Peterson, and insists it doesn't want to rush.
"This man did a lot for our city, and we have to honour him in the most appropriate way," said Councillor Catherine Sévigny, responsible for culture in the mayor's office. "But do we have to un-name something to name it for someone else?"
Montreal's transit corporation has put a moratorium on name changes for its Métro stations, which are generally christened for a nearby street or landmark. Lionel-Groulx station got its tag when it opened in 1978 because Montreal had rebaptized an adjoining street for Abbé Groulx five years earlier, while the Métro stop was in the planning stages.
Meanwhile, a historian says Montreal should proceed with caution before removing Abbé Groulx from place names. For all his controversial views, the priest, who died in 1967, has a firm place among influential Quebec thinkers.
"Yes, there is a disagreeable underside to the man - the anti-Semitism, the fascist sympathies," said Jarrett Rudy, a Quebec historian and director of the Quebec Studies Program at McGill University. "But he also had a significance for a huge part of the population. I feel uncomfortable about erasing his impact from Quebec history."
Prof. Rudy came up with his own subway solution: Paying homage to both men with a joint, hyphenated name such as Station Oscar Peterson-Lionel Groulx. "We could enjoy the pleasure," he said, "of an interesting meeting of two important historical figures."
