By Paul W. Bennett, April 8, 2025
Fifteen years ago, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald was a much-loved historical figure with a revived profile elevated by the late Richard Gwyn’s intensely engaging two-volume biography (Gwyn 2008 and 2011). His name and likeness were much in evidence in public squares and on school buildings from coast to coast. Today, our most-widely recognized Father of Confederation is being “steadily obliterated” and facing the wrath of cancel culture in the country he played a crucial role in creating. Sir John A. suffered another indignity when Parks Canada chose the 2024 Victoria Day long weekend to reopen his Kingston residence, Bellevue House, after six years of renovation, and turned the exhibit honouring our founding prime minister into a set of rooms featuring “indigenous perspectives” with little or no connection to the building. It was only the latest and most flagrant attempt to behead our national historic tradition.
Parks Canada’s call for a “timely conversation” simply backfired. Toronto historian Patrice Dutil, author of a widely acclaimed 2024 book Sir John A. Macdonald and The Apocalyptic Year 1885, called it out as “yet another embarrassing display of national flagellation” and a thinly veiled attempt to “demonize Canada’s past and those who (mostly volunteered) to preserve it.” Even popular history author Christopher Moore, a former Parks Canada researcher and friend of the agency, conceded that the exhibit was “heavy-handed” in its depiction of Macdonald’s legacy.
The crude attempt from 2019 to 2024 to reinterpret Macdonald’s memorial at Bellevue House may well contribute to the rising tide of popular opinion. It also provided a dramatic illustration of why we need a broad and comprehensive “Strategy for Heritage Restoration” to not only arrest, but reverse the trend and reclaim Canada’s neglected, ignored, or discarded national historic persons. That has all taken on real urgency in the immediate wake of President Donald Trump’s “Tariff War” and threat to make Canada the 51st state in the union.
The origins of the historical purge
The ongoing historical purge is doing incalculable damage to our sense of nationhood. Stirred-up by the truly alarming 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings about our Indigenous residential schools and ignited by the late May 2021 claims of as-of-yet undiscovered remains of children at a former Kamloops residential school site, outraged citizens and community organizations across defaced monuments, vandalized churches, toppled statues and banished many of our nation’s founders from the public square. Erasing names and burying historical memories ultimately satisfied few. It also punctured holes in our national story and sullied the reputations of the dead, casting into dishonour historic figures who laid the foundations for the Canadian nation.
The current outbreak of historical revisionism can be traced in part to the rise of “presentism” in the corporate management sector and in academic circles. Presentism refers to interpretations of the past dominated by contemporary attitudes and assumptions, without regard for context or associated historical perspectives. It has become what former Canadian heritage executive officer Larry Ostola aptly terms “a malign influence.” That was amply demonstrated when, back in 2022, James Sweet, president of the American Historical Association, dared to challenge the orthodoxy, only to be forced to retreat and post an apology, after finding himself as the mercy of, in his own phrase, “all manner of political hacks.” In Canadian academic circles, the presentist mindset finds its fullest expression in the widespread tendency to view our past through a “settler-colonial” lens, especially during the recent period of reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples of Canada.
Recovering a sense of nationhood
In December 2024, Canadian-born American political expert David Frum spoke to the Canadian Institute for Historical Education about the so-called “’settler-colonialism’ mentality” and why it posed a real danger to Canada and Canadians. “This mentality has a tighter grip on the Canadian mind than it does on the American mind, and it does seem to be doing more damage.”
Taking down monuments to Canada’s founding prime minister is about far more than righting a wrong or seeking social justice. Such public actions, especially when minimized, ignored, or tacitly approved by prime ministers, premiers, and mayors, is a sign of much deeper problems. Cancelling historical figures is often the simplest action a government can take, as it avoids addressing the real social injustices faced by Indigenous communities. Removing statues may be seen as a form of “reconciliation,” but it serves as a superficial gesture that shifts accountability for present-day issues onto historical figures who cannot defend themselves. Sometimes it takes an American resident like Frum to alert us with a gentle pinch or a more robust slap on the cheek. “Canada has long suffered from a problem of weak self-concept,” he told the sympathetic Toronto CIHE audience. “Our sense of nationhood,” he added, is “a fragile construction, much more fragile than the American counterpart. So, the impact of such [settler-colonial mentality] ideas does much more damage to Canada’s sense of a nation worth believing-in and worth defending.”
How it happened
Canada’s national identity markers and monuments have gradually been neglected, discarded, or erased – and it’s time to erase this destructive trend in Canadian cultural policy. In 1993, the Progressive Conservative led by Prime Minister Kim Campbell established the federal Department of Canadian Heritage to promote and support “Canadian identity and values, cultural development and heritage.” Over the past few decades, it has been slowly dismembered – carved up into separate ministries, directorates and secretariates, mostly reporting to different departments. If we are to reverse the cycle, our heritage preservation institutions need to be aggregated and placed under an expanded Canadian Heritage department; in particular, Parks Canada’s cultural activities, including the Historic Sites and Monuments Board, must be shifted back to Canadian Heritage.
Rebuilding our national heritage will begin with aggregating most, if not all, of Canada’s cultural institutions under one federal department with a clearer mandate to restore our national heritage, recover unifying symbols and traditions, and promote our places, persons, and events of national historical significance. The guiding principle should be that “Canada is more than the sum of its parts” and it’s time to reverse the damage done in disassembling our shared cultural traditions and public commemorations.
A reconstituted Canadian Heritage department would encompass areas of legislative responsibility needed to reclaim, safeguard, and enhance Canada’s foundational historical traditions, including national celebrations, public commemoration, citizenship programs, national museums and libraries, and the historic sites and monuments program. Setting it right will also involve suspending consideration of Bill C-23 (2022) to revise the Historic Sites and Monuments Act until the reorganization of roles and functions is complete. You can expect a new edition of the Canadian Citizenship Guide to incorporate a philosophy demonstrating respect for nation-building.
Reversing the historical purge – subtraction leads to less
Today Parks Canada and its cultural appendage, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board, answers to the federal minister of the Environment and Climate Change, and that’s the nub of the problem. Back in 2019, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced a new federal framework for historical commemoration that included a systematic review of all existing designations, with an explicit agenda to “advance reconciliation and … confront the legacy of colonialism.” It has not only advanced the process of historical revisionism, but also produced what veteran Heritage Canada official Larry Ostola accurately dubbed the “naughty list” of historical persons.
Over a three-year period, the federal agency reviewed its 2,192 historic sites and identified some 225 plaques that were found to be “high priorities for change.’” Seasoned observers and heritage experts reacted quickly, citing it as a manifestation of the 2019 Parks Canada initiative. Department bureaucrats reviewed plaques honouring John A. Macdonald, Mi’kmaw Grand Chief Membertou (or Anli-Maopeltoog), Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec, and public school system Reverend Egerton Ryerson, the founder of Ontario’s public school system, for “colonial assumptions” and “absence of a significant layer of history.” They reviewed the designations of inventor Alexander Graham Bell for his “controversial beliefs and behaviours,” along with those of pioneering Canadian feminists Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, and Nellie McClung. A few holding similar contentious views, such as Mohawk leader Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) and Quebec politician and newspaper editor Henri Bourassa, were missed in the sweep. It looked very much like political considerations factored into those notable omissions. A few notables worthy of recognition such as Louis Riel and Terry Fox are even being repackaged to “represent” minority rights and identities.
The current and ongoing “culture war” over historical commemoration has evolved into something else – a destructive process. Changes in Canadian bank notes during Canada’s 150th Year proposed to bump two of Canada’s outstanding historical figures, Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, to higher and more limited circulation bills, but hit a snag when officials realized that Laurier was the only French Canadian on our paper currency. Tearing down of civic monuments to Macdonald and the toppling of the statue of Egerton Ryerson , during 2021 and 2022, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be seen as critical turning points. So will the degrading of Canada’s “Famous Five” pioneers in women’s rights, most notably Nellie McClung, who deserve recognition along with leading champion of racial equality Viola Desmond.
Restoring the Building Blocks of Nationhood
Addressing the degradation of Canada’s national persons will require a few structural changes, cultural policy reforms, and effective implementation in our communities and schools. When the current identity politics social justice wave subsides, policy-makers will be looking to “build back” what’s been devalued or lost and searching for sound, measured and effective responses, addressing the problem at all levels from the bureaucratic level to teaching in the classroom.
Given the scale and urgency of the challenge, the most effective Strategy of Historical Restoration would be to:
- Establish a national commission to revamp the mandate of the Department of Canadian Heritage and solidify its role in shoring-up our foundational cultural institutions, such as Parks Canada, Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and provincial heritage agencies entrusted with safeguarding our time-honoured traditions, focusing on pivotal nation-building persons, places, and events.
- Initiate a nation-wide educational program, in co-operation with the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education and enlisting the support of a reconstituted and emboldened Historica Canada, to educate students about the origins, purposes and foundations of Canada, expanding history education training in our faculties of education and requiring all Canadian students, in every province, to complete a minimum of one high school course in the history of Canada or Canadian studies.
- Engage the Canadian Institute for Historical Education (CIHE), national policy institutes, heritage foundations, and local history societies in revitalizing heritage commemoration and school-wide events focusing more visible recognition of significant historical figures and milestones affecting Canada and Canadians.
Building a bigger tent – anchored by our nation builders
Building-up our shared heritage is not about turning back the clock but moving forward with a more comprehensive and grounded approach to recognizing our national historic persons. Historical modernization since 1999 has succeeded in broadening the canvas to include the missing voices and experiences of Indigenous people, women, Black Canadians and a diverse range of ethnocultural minorities. Confronting skeletons in the closet is also a healthy process if it leads to a more balanced and coherent appreciation of our past. The diversity has added breadth, texture and nuance and deepened everyone’s perception of our shared past.
The more recent Canadian wave inspired by the “settler-colonialism” social justice movement is undermining that progress. It’s time to reverse the diminution of our nation-builders, put an end to “ideological purity tests,” and stop subtracting from our historical tradition. Rebuilding our sense of nationhood will happen one block at a time.
Paul W. Bennett, EdD, is a leading Canadian policy researcher, education professor, and the author of ten books, including The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada’s Schools. He is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and an adjunct professor and instructor teaching Graduate Education courses at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. His latest MLI research paper is Historical Injustice: Canada’s misguided betrayal of school system founder Egerton Ryerson.
The author of this piece has worked independently and is solely responsible for the views presented here. The opinions are not necessarily those of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, its directors or supporters. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is non-partisan and neither endorses nor supports candidates or political parties. We encourage our senior fellows to comment on public policy issues, including during election campaigns, but the publication of such expert commentary should not be confused with the institute taking a position for or against any party or candidate.
