MOOSOMIN — General Andrew McNaughton of Moosomin is being recognized by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as a National Historic Person.
General McNaughton grew up in Moosomin, attended high school, and later fought in the First and Second World Wars. He was a commander, scientist, and innovator.
Saskatchewan Representative on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada Dr Valerie Korinek explains the significance of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and General McNaughton’s incredible career.
“The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada is the national board. We have a representative from each province and territory in the country, and what we do is receive designations from the public for commemoration of historic sites, people, and events.
“I’m the Saskatchewan representative on the board, and we are supported by Parks Canada, which runs the plaque program and does the research for these nominations.”
Korinek explains General McNaughton was nominated by a local community member. “Nominations come in from the public, so if people know of someone in their community, or a building in their community, or an event that took place in their community that they feel is of national significance to the country—we rely on people to make those nominations, and then the team at Parks Canada does research to investigate whether those are likely to prove successful, and the board discusses the nominations.
“General McNaughton was nominated by a person in the community, and given his lengthy career as a scientist and leader and lieutenant-general in the Canadian military, was deemed to be of national interest to the country historically, so part of what we deliberate on is whether people have national significance as opposed to somebody who might have really localized significance to a particular community or to a province or to a region.”
Influential career
Dr Korinek of Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada says McNaughton held many different roles during war time.
“He came to our attention for a couple of reasons, his role during the First World War, his role as a scientist and engineer and inventor of the Cathode Ray direction finder, which is an early forerunner to what would become radar.
“He served as commander of the First Canadian Army and Minister of National Defense during the Second World War. After the war, he held a series of leadership roles, and had a really influential career in a number of key areas, but particularly science, discovery, military contributions, and governmental contributions.”
McNaughton had a wide-ranging career. In 1935, he became president of the National Research Council, where he remained until the second World War drew him into active duty again.
In 1946, he was appointed Canadian representative to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission and President of the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada.
In January of 1948, McNaughton was appointed permanent delegate of Canada to the United Nations and a representative of Canada on the United Nations Security Council. In 1950, McNaughton became a Commissioner of the International Joint Commission (IJC). During his twelve year tenure as chair, the IJC oversaw the development of the St. Lawrence River for power and navigation.
Plaque recognizing McNaughton
Dr Korinek says the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada honours and recognizes National Historic Persons with a plaque.
“A plaque text will be drafted in English and French for him, and the inscriptions committee that approves the draft texts for the plaques will then decide where that plaque will be installed, and eventually a plaque will be installed somewhere that people can read and learn more about him, but the plaque is a very public piece of history that everyone can easily access.
“It’s also intended to encourage people to go to the Parks Canada website and Government of Canada website, and read a more extensive history of General McNaughton’s achievements.”
Recognition in Moosomin
Dr. Korinek says a plaque will be placed in the community to recognize Andrew McNaughton.
“The Historic Sites and Monuments Board have a commemorative activity when these plaques are placed, but right now we don’t know where the plaque will end up, and it’s early days on planning any kind of celebration because we have to get the plaque text drafted right.
“He has just been designated as a person of national historic significance. Now the inscriptions committee goes to work and finalizes the plaque text. There is usually around 150 words so we have to distill people’s achievements down into a very short amount of text.”
“Then the plaque will be cast, and while that’s going on, there will be a discussion about where the plaque should be placed, and once all those pieces are finalized, then there would be conversations with the community where we hope it will go, and discuss what kind of unveiling ceremony would take place.”
Designated as National Historic Person
What does it mean to be recognized as a National Historic Person?
“It means Andrew McNaughton has made a sustained contribution to Canada, and his contributions fall in the area of scientific discovery and expertise,” explained Dr Korinek. “He’s trained as an engineer. They fall in his leadership roles in the First and Second World Wars, his achievement as a gunner during the First World War, and then his leadership roles, both within Canadian government, but also in Canadian and international agencies after the Second World War.
“He was the President of the National Research Council of Canada between the First and the Second World Wars. He held that position for about six years, so that is a position of great importance in Ottawa because—given his scientific background and engineering background—he was able to support some really ground-breaking research that went on at the National Research Council bringing together government, universities, and the military, which ultimately would lead to some innovations during the Second World War. So, it means this is someone who really has made a difference in Canadian history and society, and it’s important for Canadians to learn about some of these individuals, so that we know of contributions that Canadians have made, both within the country and beyond.”
She says the process of receiving a plaque from submitting a nomination can take up to five years.
“From the point a letter comes in, through to a successful designation, and then a plaque ceremony, it can take about three to five years, it takes some time. Once the nomination is in, then a team of historians are assigned to do research on these individuals, or events, or buildings, so on average it takes about three to five years from the receipt of that letter through to the conclusion, if it’s successful, but in this case I don’t really know how long this has been in the works.”
Importance of recognizing historical individuals
Dr Korinek explains the importance of recognizing General McNaughton as a National Historic Person.
“As a professional historian, I think history is important. This public history serves a variety of purposes. First of all, it’s of interest to a large number of people in the country who travel around in the summer or go to various museums or important sites across the country. This is a way to learn about the country’s history, and it’s an accessible format, it’s free, people can take time to read these plaques, they’re not very long, but it’s also important because having a sense of our country’s history gives us a range of perspectives on who we are as people and where some of these people come from.”
She says being a historian is dream work, “I work at the University of Saskatchewan, a historian in the history department there, and the vacancy for Saskatchewan came open, and I applied to be on the board, I was interviewed, and successfully was chosen to be the Saskatchewan representative, and I’ve been there for almost two years.
“It’s really wonderful work. It’s a great opportunity to learn about people and events. As a professional historian, it’s a dream to be discussing Canada’s history and thinking about ways to commemorate our past in a way that is meaningful to us as a country via Parks Canada as a national organization, but also something that we hope will resonate with people who will learn about various aspects of the Canadian past, and so that’s how I became interested as a professional historian, it’s a dream, a dream gig.”
