the tommy douglas story: history or fiction

7/31/2019 The Tommy Douglas Story: History or Fiction

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PRAIRIE GIANT: THE TOMMY

DOUGLAS STORY:

WHY TRUTH IS IMPORTANTIN HISTORICAL FILM.

.The legacy of Tommy Douglas to Canada and its history is more than just what

he did. It is the universal social principles that he stood and worked for such as

Universal Health Care, Old Age Pension, Canada Pension, and Child Allowance

to name a few and what they mean to Canadians understanding of what we areas a country. There are many written records of his time both as Premier of

Saskatchewan and as leader of the CCF (later the NDP) including his struggles

to benefit the marginalized in our society. These are narratives based on

empirical facts. In 2006 CBC Television aired a two part miniseries on his life

entitled Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story. Unfortunately the historical

importance of the film to the telling of the Tommy Douglas story was lost in the

firestorm of criticism it caused over the alleged inaccurate portrayal of Jimmie

Gardiner, a political opponent of Douglas, both Federally and Provincially.

Gardiners family and supporters claimed that the films errors about Gardiner

amounted to a misappropriation of his persona to serve the interests of

others. Such controversies lead to the continuing question: Can film portray

history accurately and still entertain our senses and convey emotion to its

viewers? I believe that it can and must to be fully accepted as a teaching

medium for history.

John Alan Sutherland, BA. LLb. Student # 82203

3/29/2012

History 593 Dr. H. Devine


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The subject of this biofilm, Tommy Douglas, was a larger than life figure in Canadian and

Saskatchewan politics (Houston and Waiser 2010) from the early 1930s until his death in 1986

(Stewart 2003). In 2004 he was chosen as the Greatest Canadian on a CBC television show. The

shows contest had pitted him against such Canadian icons as Sir John A. Macdonald, Wayne

Gretsky and Pierre Trudeau. Given that Douglas principal public achievement was the

introduction of a publicly supported and funded universal healthcare plan in Saskatchewan in the

1960s (which ultimately forced the federal Liberal government to institute such a plan

nationally in the late 1960s) his selection was credited by many to be that of the baby boomers

and their parents rather than younger viewers. In fact Michael Therriault, age 32, who ended up

playing Tommy in the movie, had never heard of Douglas. Most of my friends didnt know who

he was either (Johnson). What is interesting is that Douglas won the vote for Greatest Canadian

over second place Terry Fox, a young man, who despite insurmountable odds, crossed half of the

country on one leg and a prosthesis before he was forced to quit because of spreading cancer

(which ultimately took his life). To have won over such a symbol of selfless sacrifice of ones

life in order to raise monies to conquer cancer shows the level of admiration nationwide for

Douglas (Margoshes 1999). Of course the issue of the preservation of medicare has been a

central issue in many of the Federal election campaigns during the twenty-first century and

Douglas memory is constantly invoked to save the system from privatization .

Who was Tommy Douglas, the man, and what did he stand for that resonates years after his

death to stir the hearts and emotions of Canadians to vote him the title as the countrys greatest

Canadian (Douglas 1982)? He is to many Canadians the epitome of what is best in Canada

(Lovick 1979). He personified to many Canadians that simple quality which can be described as

concern for ones fellow man and a desire to do what is best for the country as a whole without


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concern for political labels or for personal gain or prestige (Barron 1997). It is the same quality

that was expressed by the actions of young men and women in the two great wars when they

volunteered to fight abroad for what they believed were just causes to protect those less fortunate

than themselves (McNaught 1959). It was evident in the acts by a federal government and by

various religious denominations led by the United Church of Canada in recognizing injustices

done to First Nation children and making compensation to them. It is a principle of our country

that those who have been dealt less in this life have to be helped by society (Steeves 1960).

Tommy Douglas was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He recognized at an early age that

privilege and class were against the welfare of the general populace. It was part of his enduring

belief that no system would be just and equitable unless it provided equal treatment to every

citizen (Harrop 1984). Douglas was raised in a Christian home in which the Social Gospel was

the guiding principle. Because of this he grew up believing in the need to provide medical

services to every person regardless of their ability to pay. To him there was no higher law than

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (13b-15 n.d.).

Given such a national icon status of Tommy Douglas it was to be expected that any film on

his life would be scrutinized closely by both his supporters and detractors. A further factor to

draw attention to the film was that his daughter, Shirley Douglas had been married to the famous

Hollywood actor, Donald Sutherland, and was the mother of an even more famous actor son,

Kiefer Sutherland. Shirley had been the prime mover behind the production of the film; hoping

in fact that her father could be played by her famous son but he got too busy torturing terrorists

on 24(his current television show) (Johnson). It was Shirley who recruited John N. Smith, a

veteran Montreal filmmaker, best known for depicting pedophile priests in The Boys of St.

Vincent and makingDangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer, to direct the film on her father . In


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turn he hired his son, Bruce M. Smith, as screenwriter to write the screen play. Both later agreed

that Shirley was fantastic as a research source. Perhaps as later developments showed the only

historical source! According to Bruce his view of what a biopic should be is that he believes

in telling the truth when writing an historical screenplay but that telling the truth is not the same

as reciting facts(Smith 2012).This concept of how to portray history on film is definitely not

the standard stuff em and mount em mould of historical drama (Johnson) traditionally aired

by the CBC. However it was a view that could and in fact did lead to controversy that the CBC

did not expect nor want to handle.

The result of this collaboration between the Smiths and Shirley Douglas produced a film

which has been described as a passionate piece of socialist realism (Johnson) which wears its

socialist sympathies on its sleeve (Johnson). It begins with Douglas call to the ministry in a

Baptist church in Weyburn, Saskatchewan during the Great Depression. He arrives in town with

his new wife fresh from graduation from a religious run college. There are newsreel clips of

prairie scenes during the Depression interspersed throughout the early stages of the film. Their

purpose is to add credibility to the central theme which is the suffering of the rural poor

especially in the West. Bad times have come to Western Canada and Douglas is portrayed as an

openly religious Christian leftist (Johnson) who is driven to take up the cause of the suffering of

his parishioners.

The film does not deal with the causes of the Great Depression but the screenwriter feels

obliged to turn it into a class struggle between capitalist exploiters on one hand and the poor and

working class championed by Douglas on the other. The scene switches from his pulpit and

distributing food and clothes to the poor to his involvement in the Saskatchewan miners strike

(Endicott 2002). To demonstrate Douglas social compassion he and his wife are placed at the


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scene of the bloody aftermath of police brutality against the miners for daring to march in

Estevan. While Douglas had spoken to the miners at the mining community of Bienfait

(Endicott)before the riot or march depending on ones politics, he and his wife were not in

Estevan (Macdonald 2004). However the scene showing Douglas challenging the RCMP on

behalf of the fallen miners and his wife cradling a dying miner in her arms focuses on this event

as the cause of Tommys decision to abandon the church pulpit for the political arena. It also

represents a scene of high drama with Douglas standing up to police portrayed as thugs working

for the mine bosses. But who are supporting this brutality against the poor working man? The

answer by the screenwriter is that the existing government of Saskatchewan is controlled by

capitalist exploiters who have no compassion for the working man. The Smiths take the film a

step further by creating the needed bad guy in the personage of James Jimmie Gardiner, a

well known Liberal Saskatchewan politician , who controlled a well organized political machine

in the province during this period (Ward 1990). Gardiner is shown delivering an anti-worker

anti-immigrant speech on behalf of a united Saskatchewan government from the foyer of the

Provincial Legislature. In the film he describes the miners as Communists who have started the

riot and need to be stopped. After this red-baiting speech he then says to the reporters lets

have a drink as the scene switches back to Estevan to show the police beating three miners to

death for allegedly marching to protest their working conditions. The impression left with

viewers is that Gardiner is totally without compassion for the poor and the working man.

Throughout the film Gardiner is portrayed as the heavy /bad guy, a scheming politician , who is a

foil to the good guy Douglas. Whether it is in the legislature, out on the hustings during

subsequent election campaigns or in private confrontations, Gardiner is portrayed as the

champion of the capitalist system which is determined to crush the socialist Douglas regardless


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of the cost in terms of human suffering to the people of Saskatchewan. Smith, the screen writer,

admits that such scenes as the miners strike, Douglas involvement and Gardiners red bashing

speech are the most extreme nudging of the facts. But its not a documentary. Its a drama.

These riots were formative events. But the facts have been remoulded into something that I

consider essentiallytrue (Johnson). Whatever the reasons for nudging the facts Bruce Smith

overlooked some basic errors: Gardiner was a teetotaler and a strong prohibitionist; he was not

premier at the time of the miners strike and would not be giving an address to the province on

behalf of the legislature; in fact he never made the speech; and Gardiner had shown concerns for

minorities in such acts as chasing the Ku Klux Klan out of the province and the fact nowhere is

there evidence that he was openly anti-immigrant (Ward 1990).

When the miniseries aired on March 12, 2006 these obvious distortions of the truth caused

a firestorm of protest from Gardiners family and friends and even from the more objective of

Douglas own supporters. Former CCF MP and well-known journalist Douglas Fisher described

the film as A Shoddy Portrait of another Prairie Giant. The Saskatoon star Phoenix described

the film as wonderful television but abysmal history (Burton 2007). The fact that Gardiner had

still continued to control a well organized Liberal machine in Saskatchewan in 1931 although not

premier (Ward) did not excuse the obvious untruths about him portrayed in the film. Gardiner

was a farmer, teacher, family man and unquestionably a teetotaler (Ward). Gardiners family

were not prepared to sit back and accept this film portrayal of their beloved Jimmie as a bad

guy. On the other hand the films producerTalking Dog Studios had distributed ten thousand

DVDs of the film to schools, libraries, video stores and homes and were not prepared to admit

what were glaring errors in the movie. Jimmys granddaughter Marg claimed that the persona of


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her grandfather was misappropriated for the purpose of feeding egos and for financial gain and

she hated to see Canadian children fed historical pap and lies (Gardiner 2006).

The screenwriter Smith stood by the films characterization of Gardiner by stating that

Gardiner is not shown doing or saying anything he wouldnt have done at the time

(Anonymous 2006). He was a tough, ruthless opponent to Tommy Douglas, Smith said, And

if youre doing a movie about Tommy Douglas, Jimmy Gardiner is going to come off badly

(Controversy continues over CBC's Tommy Douglas miniseries 2006). Obviously his meaning

was that if St. Tommy is to slay dragons the movie has to have dragons. As well Smith referred

to the disclaimer at the beginning of the film which stated that some characters were condensed

or composited and certain events were fictionalized (2006). However this disclaimer cannot

hide the fact that Gardiner was a real person and described by name in the movie as opposed to

the creation of a fictional character.

The libel and slander of Gardiner in the movie could have moved into the courts in an

action for defamation given there was no basis for these scenes (Defamation Act ). The CBC

moved quickly to stop that by drafting a new disclaimer which said that this film is a

dramatization based on true events. Some names have been changed and locations, events and

characters, including James G. Gardiner, have been composited, condensed or fictionalized for

dramatic purposes and do not necessarily reflect the generally accepted historical record

(Anonymous 2006). Naturally this satisfied no one as Gardiner was not a fictional character. The

CBC in the end chose the wise course by deciding not to rebroadcast the series, recalling the

copies and acknowledging errors in the film. This was only done after the CBC had retained the

services of a third party historian to review the movie (Wood 2006). In announcing its decision

the CBC stated it was based on the conclusions that the independent historian came to on how


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Mr. Gardiner was portrayed.His portrayal in the dramatization was sort of inconsistent with the

historical record(Wood 2006). A concession perhaps that the portrayal was untrue? It is clear

that no one connected with the production including the screenwriter had ever done a historical

review before the script for the film was written or perhaps Bruce Smith as he said was applying

a different sort of truth to the facts.

As a result of the negligent, perhaps even reckless, manipulation of the character of James

Gardiner as relentless blackguard who exhibited not a single positive trait (Burton 2007) by

the screen writer there were many losers in addition to the reputation of Gardiner. The

screenwriter and director lost face and reputation for their production. The CBC lost $7.9 million

in the production of a film which was only broadcast once in this country. Tommy Douglas

memory was sullied by the connection to such a controversy despite the many positive sides to

his life and work. The lack of objectivity given to one side of the political spectrum as

personified by Gardiner rendered the film to most viewers as a form of propaganda for leftist and

progressive views.

The truth was the greatest loser in this controversy. Film in Canada as a medium that can

be used as a tool for teaching history has as a result of this controversy become more suspect by

the viewing public. Can we not expect films on historical subjects to be historically accurate

(Cuddington 2006)? Of course we should.

It has been shown that we now live in a post literate society in which the majority of

people gain historical information from movies and television (Weston 2010). It must be clear

to even the most academic of historians that the visual media have become(perhaps) the chief

conveyor of public history (R.A.Rosenstone 2002). To this end it is important to understand that


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historically valid facts can be derived from a film the primary objective of which is

entertainment rather than historical accuracy (Weston, 93). But in order to do this and maintain

narrative flow, events and characters have to be omitted, compressed, altered, or even invented

(Weston, 93). To that extent there are similarities between filmmakers of historical films and

writers of history. History as written cannot claim accuracy because it is as much informed by

narrative conventions and current tropes as by research and subject matter (Nadel 2009).

Although film will never be able to do precisely what a book can do, and vice versa history

presented in these two different media would ultimately have to be judged by different criteria

(R. A. Rosenstone 2006)Both actively construct and shape the story of the past from materials or

evidence available to them. Both engage in preparing a narrative based on historical facts and

where no facts exist to project a story on presumed facts. However unlike the screenwriter and

director of Prairie Giant this does not include distorting known facts to provide a better film.

All narrative histories, which means most histories, have a few themes or theses or arguments

that the author wants readers to take away with them. The book or essay is about an overall

interpretation of historical phenomena which the details of the book or essay support (Weston,

96). Themes that are evident in all histories, whether filmic or written histories, are really stories

or narratives themselves. Popular historical films offer unique and accessible means of

introducing viewers to key theoretical and historiographical concepts; constructivism,

narrativism, structure and agency (Weston, 102). It has often been said that detecting factual

mistakes is less important than teaching viewers to discern ways in which historical films often

manipulate and trivialize historical issues (Metzger 2007). History movies contain numerous

details about the past as well as fictionalized elements that are used to build the narrative story.

There are three broad ways to represent history; dramatic film, documentary and innovative film.


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The dramatic film aims directly at the emotions while the documentary tells a linear and

moral story and the innovative historical film constitutes a baggy category (R. A. Rosenstone

2006).

The difficulties of producing the biographical film (R. Rosenstone 2007).

Strategies of Representation (R. A. Rosenstone 1995)

All films to some degree convey accurate facts, portray settings and practices, question

extant interpretations, expose controversies and stimulate interest (Smyth 2006). Perhaps they

all condense, highlight, and focus as well as reflect the privileged assumptions and

metanarratives that surrounded their production. But some films perform more of these tasks,

some fewer, some films perform these tasks well, some very poorly (Nadel 2009).

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Burton, Randy. "Taking Prairie Giant to Task." Star-Phoenix. Saskatoon: Star-Phoenix, September 25,

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