Sir John A. revered, reviled at ceremony
Car belonging to event organizer vandalized
KINGSTON, ONT .• Canada’s first prime minister was both celebrated and burned in effigy during competing events in front of his statue Monday as this city marked his 201st birthday.
Speakers standing just metres apart either extolled Sir John A. Macdonald’s virtues as an admittedly flawed visionary, or vilified him as a genocidal monster.
On the pro- Macdonald side were former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen and Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson.
A short distance away were Idle No More supporters who want Macdonald stripped of any celebrations, the removal of his statues and his place in history revised because of his policies toward indigenous people.
The protesters gathered around one of the two cannons that guard Macdonald’s statue. Under the watchful eyes of a half- dozen police officers, they held signs that read “Shame,” “Macdonald is a murderer” and “Don’t celebrate genocide.”
Beth Newell mounted the cannon’s base and called for a minute of silence to remember “Macdonald’s victims.”
Speaking to about 50 supporters, she accused him of genocide, racism and hatred and called him “the father of apartheid” in Canada. “John A.’s actions were genocide, racism and apartheid. … You cannot celebrate the father of Canadian hatred … and hold dinners in his honour while reconciling with those who suffered at the hands of his own policies ever since.”
She then stuck a knife through the paper f rom which she was reading and plunged it into the chest of a Sir John A. Macdonald figure that was hanging in effigy, a noose around its neck. It was later set on fire. The singing of O Canada drew jeers and heckled protests from the Idle No More crowd.
Paterson noted Macdonald “has always been a man that evoked great debate” and welcomed the protesters. “I am very proud of the fact that as a community we have never shied away from a debate and discussion about the legacy of Macdonald, both the good and the bad.”
Gerretsen echoed Paterson that Canada is a country where open expression is encouraged. “I know we have a challenging past, but it is about celebrating the benefits and it’s about learning from the mistakes that will make us a stronger country.”
Event organizer Arthur Milnes woke up Monday morning to find his car’s tires slashed, red paint poured over it, and a burned Canadian flag underneath it. Someone also vandalized cars belonging to Gerretsen.
Mil nessa id he was “100-per-cent confident that it wasn’t anybody from Idle No More” that vandalized his car. “It was just some ... sh-- head. I didn’t like it, but if I had any thoughts of not coming today they ended at quarter to five when I discovered (it).”