Yeah, the guy was somewhat of an ass, to be honest (though not too bad, if you avoided politics). It’s weird he ended up working in an archive among some pretty progressive folks. I think the archivist I worked for had an often contentious working relationship with the guy.
He vaguely remembers a little history, but not enough.
“The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching; & will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, & the final expulsion of England from the American continent.”
My bet is that he doesn’t even vaguely remember it, and that this was actually a talking point that came out of communications people. That this is the quality of staff he’s surrounding himself with. (It has a vague whiff of Stephen “that plaque was added later” Miller petulance to it)
Afterwards, the British and the Americans hit the History Reset Button, so it doesn’t count, except for the part where Indigenous people were killed and pushed off their land.