SHUNNED BY SCOTLAND

Sir John A. backlash

As statues of Sir John A. Macdonald are vandalized or removed in the country he founded, the late politician is also being disavowed by the country where he was born.

A Monday report in The Times of London wrote that “all references” to the Scottish-born leader are being excised from official Scottish government websites and documents.

“We acknowledge controversy around Sir John A Macdonald’s legacy and the legitimate concerns expressed by Indigenous communities,” an unnamed government spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

Scotland.org, a promotional website run by the Scottish government, has removed a feature entitled “Sir John A. Macdonald: Son of Scotland, Father of Canada.”

First posted last year for the Canadian sesquicentennial, the feature was a standard biography of Macdonald.

“(Macdonald) is revered for his key role in the formation of the country as we know it today, and is heartwarmingly referred to as ‘The Father of Canada,’” reads an archived version of the article. Any attempt to locate the piece on Scotland. org is now met with a 404 message, meaning it can no longer be found.

Last week, The Times also reported that Scottish officials are looking to rebrand Sir John A.’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate, an annual event funded by the Scottish government in which Canadians are invited to take to the ice in a traditional kilt.

Macdonald was born in Glasgow in 1815 and immigrated to colonial British North America with his family when he was five. As an adult, Macdonald would find himself as one of many Victorian-era Scottish émigrés charged with managing far-flung corners of the British Empire.

Scotland has historically been rather lukewarm about celebrating Macdonald as a Scottish hero.

There is only one monument to Macdonald in his native land, and that is a plaque paid for by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario.

SCOTLAND HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN LUKEWARM ABOUT CELEBRATING MACDONALD.