A statue isn’t history, it’s a symbol.
And a symbol can, and usually does, convey different meanings depending on your perspective.
Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue, for many, symbolizes his role as a founder of our country — it’s an important role and one that shouldn’t be downplayed.
But to other Canadians, including many who are no less proud of the country we are continually creating together, it’s a symbol of colonization that took away their traditional lands.
To others, it glorifies a man under whose watch as Minister of Indian Affairs, the residential school system was introduced.
Removing a statue, like Victoria is doing with the one of Sir John A. on their City Hall steps, isn’t rewriting history, it’s removing an ambiguous symbol.
History is found in books and museums. That’s where we learn about the people that created this country. It’s also the place that Macdonald’s history should be updated to better reflect the positives and negatives.
Where history isn’t found, though, is in a statue. Statues only exist to glorify a person. The one being removed in Victoria doesn’t even have much inherent historical value; it’s less than 40 years old, commissioned in 1981 by the Sir John A. Macdonald Society of Vancouver.
Even leaving aside that his views were extreme for his times, that’s not a good excuse to brush off the less than glorious aspects of his history.
It doesn’t excuse continuing to present Indigenous members of our country with representations of the man who advised taking their children away and stripping them of their culture and language. Understanding the times helps to understand the man, as does remembering that he was a reported to be a heavy drinker — something that also gets glossed over when we talk about Sir John A.
It’s time we stopped worrying about statues and acknowledge that even our leaders are just as flawed as the rest of us. A truly just and fully inclusive society that values all our cultures and traditions may be an impossible dream, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for it.
It’s a long slow process, to be sure, but recognizing that a statue of Sir John A. doesn’t mean the same thing for all of us is a big step in the right direction, as was the federal government adding Viola Desmond as the new face of the $10 bill.
We could continue to expand the definition of a Canadian leader beyond old white men to include First Nations, Métis and Inuit leaders, honouring all the nations that founded what we know as Canada.
Someone like Pîhtokahanapiwiyin, the Plains Cree leader known as Chief Poundmaker, for example. A peacemaker and staunch defender of his people, with ties to the Stoney, Blackfoot and Métis. His conviction for treason in the North-West rebellion is well-known, but it’s his words at trial that show the qualities of a great leader.
“Had I wanted war, I would not be here now. I should be on the prairie. You did not catch me. I gave myself up. You have got me because I wanted justice,” he is reported to have said.