This is an edited transcript of an interview I did with Bianca Gendreau from the Canadian Museum of History on the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. As the Director of Research at the museum she offers a unique insight into the Magna Carta’s legacy in Canada and explains how a copy of Magna Carta from 1300 ended up on tour in Canada this year.
You can also listen to my complete interview with Bianca below.
High Commissioner Howard Drake (HD): So, tell us a little bit about the exhibition, Bianca, and then perhaps also a little about what it means to Canada to have this remarkable document here.
Bianca Gendreau (BG): We are very pleased to welcome the first presentation of the Magna Carta exhibition. This conversation started 4 years ago when a couple from Toronto started the conversation about having this wonderful document here in Canada. They contacted Durham Cathedral about borrowing these documents and we were very pleased to have the opportunity to show these documents. This is the first time that these documents have been shown in Canada, but also they were never shown before; they were saved in a vault at Durham Cathedral.
HD: What does it mean to Canada and to Canadians; here we are in the nation’s capital across the river from Canada’s parliament, which is of course a Westminster style parliament, what does it mean to Canadians and in particular, younger Canadians?
BG: Well, the Magna Carta is more than just a medieval document, because if it was just that, we would be celebrating 800 years of a medieval text. But this is more than that because the principles that were issued in the Magna Carta are still very important today. The concept for trial by jury or that nobody is above the law. In those days, when we’re thinking about 1215, those ideas were revolutionary. So, to have these ideas, you know, they are still important today, still present in our own charter of freedom from 1982. So they are still important and we are still living with these concepts.
HD: Absolutely. And as I understand it, education is a part of what this exhibition is about.
BG: Absolutely. What we’re doing here is showing what the Magna Carta is, how it came to be. But also the importance of the Magna Carta, the legacy it left. So we hope that visitors will say “ah, yes” that’s why we have these concepts, such as trial by jury came from.
HD: And the other great thing of course is that this exhibit is going elsewhere across the country during the rest of the year.
BG: After the presentation here at the Museum of History until July 26, it’s going to travel to the Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. Then it will travel to Toronto and Edmonton. We are really happy that there will be a few venues, it’s a unique opportunity.
HD: Absolutely, it’s fantastic. This remarkable document means so much in your country and in ours. The fact that it’s going across this huge country for more people to get a chance to see it… I think it’s wonderful. Thank you so much for working with us here, it’s our pleasure to be working with you, it’s such a great exhibit. We look forward to see it. Thank you.
BG: Thank you.