Sir John A’s name, legacy, must remain

It was perhaps inevitable that the wave of historical re-analysis sweeping the United States, driven by protests over Confederate memorials, would come to Canada. Canada’s history, of course, is different, unburdened by anything like America’s legacy of slavery and civil conflict.

It is true that many acts of early Canadian governments, particularly as regarded Indigenous peoples, were, by the standards of today, appalling (and dragged on much closer to our present than many Canadians realize). The first prime minister of this country, Sir John A. Macdonald, held (and expressed) many odious views about Indigenous peoples. This has led many to call for the stripping of his name from places of honour across the land, including schools, roads and other monuments that bear his name.

The impulse is understandable, but wrong. Canada is not a country blessed with a population that can claim much historical literacy. It is all too typically Canadian that this time of reflection is being seized upon by some, from Indigenous activists to teachers’ unions, to call for us to actively scrub what rare notes of historical commemoration we have. Stripping Macdonald’s name from edifices might provide some emotional satisfaction, but it would squander a tremendous opportunity — why use this moment to scrub away historical visibility when we can seize the chance to teach it?

Macdonald’s views on Indigenous peoples are offensive. Macdonald was also an unusually gifted statesman, a fascinating personality and a progressive man, in many ways, for his era. All these things are true at once. A population with a better knowledge of its own history would not find it difficult to reconcile these parts of his (and our) past. Their reconciliation is in fact indispensable. Understanding Macdonald, the good and the bad, is key to understanding modern Canada, in all its greatness and its many failures, too. Our history shouldn’t be sanitized, it should be embraced and taught.

Our 150th birthday, and the political debates reaching our land from the south, are a once-in-a-generation chance to do better by our past. Nuance is not something to be feared in history. Give citizens enough knowledge of our origins to foster debate and, from that, understanding. Don’t rip our history from our freeways and schools. Grab onto it, teach it, understand it. Future Canadians would be better served by seeing Macdonald’s name and understanding his full legacy than they will by never seeing it outside a soon-forgotten textbook.