THE ADVOCATE 455
VOL. 80 PART 3 MAY 2022
Dear Editor,
Re: David Roberts, Q.C., “Legal
Anecdotes and Miscellanea”
(2022) 80 Advocate 131, and
Gordon Hilliker, Q.C., “Letters
to the Editor” (2022) 80 Advocate
286
Two recent contributors offered
conclusions regarding the 1862
smallpox epidemic in Victoria, and
whether the actions of the colonial
government constituted genocide.
For readers who might wish to
make their own assessments, the
University of Victoria provides an
online collection of historical documents
at a site titled “Spirit of Pestilence:
The Smallpox Epidemic in
Victoria in 1862”, online: <https:
//web.uvic.ca/vv/student/small
pox.index.html>.
Rather than highlight any of
those historical documents as
being of particular relevance, may
I instead offer a quote from the
recent book, The Bright Ages by
David M. Perry and Matthew
Gabriele?
Simplistic comparisons to
the past do violence not
just to their time but to
ours. By pretending that
this is just like that, we
excuse ourselves from trying
to really understand
the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the
things we lament or the
thing we adore. The historical
analogy becomes a
simple explanation for
what inevitably is a complex
phenomenon. And as
historians, it’s always our
job to remind people that
anyone who offers that
type of simplistic narrative
is selling something.
It’s always the historian’s
job to say ‘it's more complicated
than that.’ Indeed,
it is always more
complicated than that.
Regards,
Michael Doherty
Victoria
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