Scots founder of Canada no longer of note
● Accused of cultural genocide, he will be ‘wiped’ from $10 note
He has been lauded for centuries as the founder of modern Canada and is remembered throughout the land by rivers, schools and statues which bear his name.
Now the face of Glasgowborn Sir John A Macdonald, the country’s first prime minister, whose dealings with the indigenous people of Canada have been labelled as “cultural genocide”, is to be wiped from the country’s $10 note – to be replaced by civil rights activist Viola Desmond.
The decision comes amid a growing movement to rename structures which honour controversial historical figures – in both Canada and the US – with Macdonald already in the firing line for campaigners. The union representing primary school teachers in Ontario last month passed a resolution that supports renaming all Ontario schools honouring Macdonald, who they called “the architect of genocide against indigenous peoples”.
The politician and lawyer, who emigrated as a child, was recently accused of “cultural genocide” by Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley Mclachlin as well as a national commission, due to his creation of controversial residential schools for Canada’s indigenous people, which forced children to leave their homes to try to remove all traces of their heritage. Ms Desmond, who went down in the history of the civil rights movement after sitting in a whites-only area of a cinema in New Glasgow in 1946, is to be the first woman to feature on a Canadian note. “The legal challenge sparked by Desmond touched a nerve within the black community and added to the growing consciousness regarding racial discrimination in Nova Scotia,” the Bank of Canada said. “Her case was an inspiration for change and part of a wider set of efforts toward racial equality across the country.
“Though the events at the Roseland Theatre are now 70 years behind us, Desmond’s struggle for social justice and her singular act of courage continue to resonate with Canadians.”
The bank added that Macdonald would be honoured on new versions of the higher-value bank notes.
Macdonald was elected prime minister six times after bringing together groups of feuding colonies divided by religion, language and ethnicity to create Canada.
The news comes days after The Scotsman revealed that Scottish ex-pat Isobel Hamilton in Nova Scotia is leading a campaign to have the name of Edward Cornwallis, the former governor of Nova Scotia who played a brutal role at the Battle of Culloden, removed from the name of a river in the region.