Macdonald’s slow erasure

Re: Victoria to remove ‘painful reminder of colonial violence,’ Aug. 9

Sir John A. Macdonald was the key architect of Confederation, of the Canadian nation-state, and of the transcontinental railway, which brought together Canada from sea to sea. He was also, for a time, the member of Parliament for Victoria.

But according to the mayor of Victoria, none of this matters. His achievements are dismissed and Macdonald is reduced to nothing more than the “key architect” of the residential school system and therefore must be erased.

One does not know whether to laugh or cry at such a simplistic reading of Canadian history.

On his last day in the House of Commons in June 1984, prime minister Pierre Trudeau said: “I do not think it is the purpose of a government to right the past. It cannot rewrite history. It is our purpose to be just in our time.” Being just in our time does not mean rewriting the past to suit the present. Michael Kaczorowski, Ottawa

What’s next? Remove all history books from public schools and libraries until they can be “recontextualized” in order to fit our elitist contemporary superior values?

Give us a break. This “recontextualizing” is no less contemptuous than postwar Japan revising its wartime history because some could not face the truth about their history.

Forget “recontextualize!” Move this statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from Victoria City Hall to a more dignified and appropriate location such as a federal government building, where the first prime minister of Canada rightfully belongs.

No city hall in Canada is worthy of having a statue of the first prime minister, let alone Victoria. Fred Perry, Surrey, B.C.