​Writer disagrees with decision about Secord Monument, but respects the process

To the Editor:

I urge the reader to try to bracket my thoughts as those of a human being and community member. My opinion is not informed by past roles on council or being employed previously by the taxpayer (including myself).

The name-calling, finger-pointing and demonizing individuals regarding the Secord Monument, is frustrating, upsetting and counter-productive. Like many of you, I believed that preserving the monument and contextualizing it would have been the most educative and create the most awareness.

An additional plaque making the observer aware of the dilemma of Secord’s affiliation with the confederacy would have sparked discussion and education. We might have also included the process we engaged in and felt, as a community.

I thought - what a wonderful way to engage children, tourists, locals, etc., on the Civil War, the plight of slavery, racism and the role of history - how to interpret history. To be keenly aware of the proverb: “Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.” Maybe it still can be done.

I feel it is our responsibility, as a community, to share stories in an effort to learn from them, to do better and to be better. We cannot definitively know by all historical accounts Dr. Solomon Secord’s ideas or actions regarding slavery and abolition, whether he was steadfast in whatever he thought or if it changed either way or why. We do know, as a white, professional man, he was allowed to have an opinion and act accordingly – that I am sure we can all agree upon.

Being a hobby historian and genealogist, I spent many hours researching his career, along with six other local doctors who served Kincardine in the 1800s. Dr. Secord was adored by these accounts and had far too many chickens taken in lieu of payment. Yet, I constantly remind myself of the fact behind every history – the lion and the hunter.

I did learn that in 1898 and surrounding years, he attended and cared for over 50 per cent of the local population in our surrounding communities. I read his reports of those who passed in our community. I theorized, along with other historians, that he was most likely afflicted with tuberculosis. He was called out to almost all cases of tuberculosis in our community, even if another doctor was closer. Again, only a story, a piece of information that seemed to reproduce in history.

I shared my research, as well as my opinion on what to do with the monument, in community presentations and to some councillors as well as the facilitator in a process provided to us to have a voice. We are fortunate.

So, yes, I don’t agree with the decision that was made but respect the process. I am sure I speak for many and to repeat, the name-calling, pointing fingers and demonizing individuals over the Secord Monument is frustrating, upsetting and counter-productive. We can do better as a community to educate, celebrate and respect each other as human beings. Maybe it can still be done.

Jacqueline Faubert
Kincardine