Rebellion: A Tour of Toronto and Nearby Places

Chris Raible is the author of Muddy York Mud: Scandal and Scurrility in
Upper Canada.

Mark Frank is an enthusiast. Like many—but certainly not
all—Canadian history buffs, he is especially enamored with William
Lyon Mackenzie and the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. He produced this
pocket-sized book to encourage visiting places important to that
ill-fated period. It outlines six Toronto walking tours (and one Ontario
auto tour) of locations significant to Mackenzie’s life and the
Rebellion linked to him.

Frank is no unbiased reporter—nor, in fairness, does he pretend to
be. To him the Rebellion was no bizarre episode in Canadian history, nor
was it simply a necessary albeit unfortunate step in the march toward
responsible government. It was a war of “economic liberation from
feudal revolution.” This view of Marxist historian Stanley Ryerson and
polemical playwright Rick Salutin, to name but two, has been spoken
rather softly in recent years—Frank shouts it to the countryside.

Few would argue with most of his site choices —Montgomery’s Tavern,
the “Types Riot” destruction of Mackenzie’s press, Navy Island,
and many more—but almost every accompanying description prompts an
argument. His book might have included other sites—Upper Canada
College, which two Mackenzie sons attended; or the Rochester federal
office, where the rebel applied for U.S. citizenship, for example—but
such additions would be clearly beyond its scope or its ideology. And
anyone reading the dozen pages summarizing the causes, events, and
aftermath of the Rebellion is advised to read much further (a helpful
but limited bibliography is included).

This work adds little new evidence to the continuing Rebellion debate,
nor does it claim to. As a simple guide with clear maps, it is a useful
tool for tourists as well as other enthusiasts. Anyone following it
should remember, however, that it is impossible to write about that era
without being controversial.