Adrien-Gabriel Morice (1859-1938) O. M. I. National Historic Person
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Adrien-Gabriel Morice was designated as a national historic person in 1948.
The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada reviewed this designation in 2024.
Reasons for designation
As an Oblate missionary among the Dakelh (Carrier), Tsek’ehne (Sekani), Lake Babine Nation, and Witsuwit’en (Wet’suwet’en) of northern British Columbia from 1885 to 1903, Morice used his position to exploit First Nations labour and expertise to achieve his own goals as a scholar, developing a syllabic writing system and writing a history of the region. Using knowledge of Indigenous guides, he produced a detailed map of Northern British Columbia, naming landscape features after himself and others in a process of systemic cultural erasure. Known for being autocratic, he was transferred out of the region in 1903 due to conflicts with his order and the perception that his academic work distracted from his role as a missionary. He later wrote many scholarly works on ethnography and Catholicism in Canada’s Northwest.
Morice supported colonialism in British Columbia by suppressing First Nations’ cultural practices and spirituality when they adopted Catholicism. Like some other Oblate missionaries in British Columbia, Morice tried to control and convert First Nations through self-surveillance and punishments for transgressions including whipping and public humiliation (a practice known as the Durieu system). To suppress the potlatch, outlawed by the federal government in 1884, Morice advocated the burning of First Nations regalia, also removing regalia from communities for museums.
Review of designation
The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada is reviewing designated national historic persons, events and sites for their connection to the history and legacy of the residential school system. This review responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 79, which calls on the federal government to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools.
Reviews are undertaken on an ongoing basis to ensure that designations reflect current scholarship, shifts in historical understandings, and a range of voices, perspectives and experiences in Canadian society.
In 2024, this designation was reviewed due to colonial assumptions and an absence of a layer of history in the designation. The original designation highlighted Morice’s work as an Oblate missionary and his scholarly works on the ethnology and history of the region. It did not reference that he used his position to exploit First Nations labour and expertise to achieve his own goals as a scholar, including erasing Indigenous placenames in favour of his own. It also did not reference that he actively suppressed First Nations’ cultural practices and spirituality.
New reasons for designation were developed that include Morice’s role in the suppression of Indigenous knowledge and culture. A new plaque will not be prepared as the limited text of a plaque does not allow for adequately communicating this complex history.
Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, December 2023.
The National Program of Historical Commemoration relies on the participation of Canadians in the identification of places, events and persons of national historic significance. Any member of the public can nominate a topic for consideration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
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