City could have celebrated reconciliation

Re: “City family panel expected outcry over removal,” Aug. 16. I can appreciate the concern of “city family” member Janice Simcoe, director at the Centre for Indigenous Education and Community Connections at Camosun College, that there would be “opposition, uproar” to the removal of the Sir John A. Macdonald statue.

What I’m disappointed in is the lack of faith in Victorians exhibited by our three council representatives, who, according to Simcoe, merely listened and acceded to the request for a swift removal.

I suggest that if Victorians had been made aware of the request by First Nations to be able to walk into city hall “without being confronted by Macdonald, a painful reminder of the man who oversaw the introduction of the residential school system,” the overwhelming majority would have agreed to a quick removal. Indeed, with a little imagination, our council representatives could have suggested that the whole event be turned into a celebration of reconciliation rather than a mostly secretive act driven exclusively by fear of opposition. What an incredible lost opportunity.

For sure, those not particularly sensitive to the harm done to First Nations by the residential-school system would have turned out in opposition. But they would have been swamped by the numbers who would have come to be part of the celebration. John Farquharson Victoria