Statue removal won’t fix problems
Don’t be quick to dismiss the voices calling for the removal of statues of John A. Macdonald — some of those voices are crying out in pain, much of it the result of Macdonald’s policies.
On the other hand, don’t be too quick to see the removal of these statues and other artifacts of our colonial history as a remedy for the ills of the past. It’s a tempting road to take, but it could be a never-ending road, and a dangerous distraction from today’s urgent problems faced by Canada’s First Nations.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario recently passed a motion calling for a debate on renaming of schools named after Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, “in recognition of his central role as the architect of genocide against Indigenous peoples.”
That has resurrected discussion in Victoria, for example, about the fate of a Macdonald statue that stands in front of city hall. Council decided, for the moment, to leave the statue where it is.
Macdonald’s comments and actions concerning Canada’s Aboriginal people make us squirm — and so they should. We shouldn’t minimize them with the observation that we’re looking at the past through a modern lens.
That modern lens shows us clearly Macdonald was wrong. He and others who strove to “take the Indian out of the child,” who saw Indigenous people as impediments rather than fellow citizens, inflicted great damage that persists today.
But Macdonald also achieved great things in shaping Canada into the country that it is today. It’s not perfect, but it is a magnificent country worth celebrating and well worth improving.
If you start taking away statues of our first prime minister and removing his name from schools, where will it end?
Do we change that name of B.C.’s capital city? After all, it was during that queen’s reign that British colonialism neared its apex. The name Vancouver would have to be erased from the maps, as would other names from the colonial era.
Apart from philosophical concerns, a logistical nightmare looms, one that would take resources away from much more pressing concerns.
Robert Jago, a member of B.C.’s Kwantlen First Nation who now lives in Montreal, writes in the Globe and Mail: “Indigenous people don’t need the (Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario) to tell us that Sir John A. Macdon-ald was a villain. He charged Louis Riel with high treason; he starved First Nations people to make way for the railroad; he started the residentialschool system.”
But the Macdonald issue is taking attention away from more urgent First Nations problems, Jago writes. “Indigenous people are tired of seeing our politics knocked off track by these flavour-of-the-month intrusions by nonnatives,” he says. “Far from decolonizing the public schools, the ETFO motion is an example of Ontario’s teachers colonizing the public debate over Indigenous policy.”
Removing a Macdonald statue would be empty symbolism as long as First Nations communities go without adequate drinking water, when First Nations children get a substandard education and are over-represented in the foster-care system, when a hugely disproportionate number of Indigenous people are in Canadian prisons.
Yes, the country Macdonald started is a great place, and his achievements should be remembered. But we should also remember his mistakes and strengthen our efforts to correct them, in consultation with those most affected.
Let his statue be a reminder of how far we have come, but also be a reminder of how far we have yet to go.