Trump targets Smithsonian while Canada’s museums spark debate over historical narratives

Donald Trump issued an order to curb perceived ideological bias at the Smithsonian, citing Canada’s museum reforms as a warning of what he calls left-wing historical rewriting.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on July 24 ordering changes at the Smithsonian Institution after a White House review accused the museum of abandoning its traditional role in favor of “social justice” programming. The directive calls for federal officials to use their authority to modify exhibits and to post temporary signs alerting visitors to the review’s findings. The piece points to Canada’s flagship museums, which have embraced equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility policies that shape collections and narratives around marginalized groups.

Examples include the Glenbow Museum’s Indigenous land acknowledgment and the Royal BC Museum’s removal of colonial-era galleries, described by a columnist as turning the space “profoundly evil.” The article also revisits the disputed 2021 Kamloops residential-school grave announcement, noting that no exhumations have confirmed human remains and that similar radar-detected sites elsewhere yielded no bodies. Meanwhile, Canada’s Assembly of First Nations is pushing legislation to criminalize “residential school denialism,” a proposal that has faced Senate rejection and remains pending as a private member’s bill. The author warns that politicized museum practices could reshape public understanding of history and suppress dissenting viewpoints.