By Kelsie Walker
May 24, 2024
Executive Summary
Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, used to be regarded as one of Canada’s greatest statesmen. Looked upon with high reverence, his name adorned public institutions and his image was crafted in bronze monuments that towered over city streets. However, today the disgraced politician is facing the wrath of cancel culture and woke ideology that seeks to thrust the stains of Canada’s history onto one singular person.
In 2018 the City of Victoria removed its Macdonald statue, built in 1982 following public donations. In 2020 Macdonald’s Wilmot Township statue in Ontario was removed, despite being part of a publicly funded project that sought to commemorate every Canadian prime minister. In April 2021 the Regina memorial to Macdonald, built following intense public lobbying over 75 years, was removed in secret. In May 2021, the Charlottetown statue of Macdonald was removed following a unanimous vote by Charlottetown City Council. The removal came after consulting a local Charlottetown First Nations community who did not call for the statue’s removal, but rather, provided recommendations on how to update the statue to better reflect their historic experiences. In June 2021 Macdonald’s statue located in City Park, Kingston, Ontario – built in 1895 following public desire – was forcefully toppled. Toronto’s Macdonald statue is currently encased in a wooden and burlap tomb where it has been in hiding for nearly four years. As of 2024, there is only one Macdonald statue left standing and uncovered, located on Parliament Hill.
Few figures, if any, in Canadian history have seen as drastic and unforgiving of a decline as Macdonald. Fuelled by growing trends of revisionism, presentism, and “wokeism,” Macdonald’s legacy is being destroyed as Canadian history is increasingly studied through the lens of morality, condemning imperfections and ignoring historical context. As a result, the grievances of contemporary Canada are heaped upon Macdonald as a way to help Canadians come to terms with the elements of Canada’s foundation that do not fit into the narratives of “progressivism,” “tolerance,” and “multiculturalism.” Macdonald’s image is inaccurately distorted, questioned, and actively diminished, unfairly rendering him guilty of past injustices. Today’s Macdonald is often viewed as a racist, genocidal tyrant, reduced to a caricature of his shortcomings and diminished as a drunk. However, movements to reclaim the accurate image of Macdonald are underway.
This paper explores the current debate surrounding Macdonald’s legacy and examines how his image has changed throughout Canada’s history. To properly understand Macdonald, the two images that dominate contemporary historiography – one of him as a heroic nation builder and the other of him as a genocidal tyrant – must be examined in historical context and in tandem with one another. While a new, distorted image of Macdonald is loudly and viciously proclaimed, it is certainly is not welcomed by many.
Read the full paper here:
