John A. Macdonald

[sanctus]

Canada's First Prime Minister

© Florence Cardinal

John A. Macdonald was Prime Minister of Canada nineteen years making him second only to Mackenzie King as the longest serving Prime Minister of Canada.

JOHN A. MACDONALD - THE EARLY YEARS
John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, January 10, 1815. In 1820, when he was five years old, he emigrated to Canada with his parents.
A bright young man, he articled with a lawyer when he was 15, and had his own legal practice when he was 19 years of age. He developed an interest in politics, and as the first step toward that career, he became a city alderman in 1843. In 1844 he was elected Conservative representative in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.
He was very interested in uniting the provinces and played a leading role in Confederation. In 1867, he saw his dream come true when the British North America Act united the then existing four provinces of Canada. John A. Macdonald became known as the Father of Confederation.
JOHN A. MACDONALD - CANADA'S FIRST PRIME MINISTER
He was elected the first Prime Minister of Canada in 1867 and was knighted by Queen Victoria for his work with Confederation. Now he was Sir John A. Macdonald.
He accomplished many things while in power including:

• The building of the Transcontinental Railroad
• The purchase of Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territories form the Hudson's Bay
• The creation of the Province of Manitoba
• The addition by Britain of British Columbia to the Confederation

JOHN A. MACDONALD - TROUBLES AND STRIFE
Unfortunately, trouble brewed in the country. Hits of bribed during the building of the railroad led to the Pacific Scandal. John A. Macdonald was forced to resign in 1873.
He tried for reelection in 1874 but was defeated. However, in 1878 he regained power. Unfortunately, his actions during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 and the hanging of Louis Riel caused a rift between the French, who championed Riel, and the English who saw Riel as a rebel and a traitor and again he lost power.
He was reelected in 1891 for a final term. Weakened by a life riddled with stress and alcoholism, he died three months later while still in power. His 19 years in power placed him second only to Mackenzie King as the longest serving Prime Minister.

 

[spaminator]

WARMINGTON: Has entombed Sir John A. Macdonald already been cancelled in Ontario?
Strange notice on the box covering the statue of Canada's first PM for months raises more questions than answers

Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Publishing date:Mar 06, 2021 • 11 hours ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble34 Comments
The Sir John A. MacDonald statute has been boarded up since being vandalized during a protest at Queen's Park on Aug. 31 of 2020. It now has three plaques on it explaining why it is boarded and what might be done in the future on Friday, March 5, 2021.
The Sir John A. MacDonald statute has been boarded up since being vandalized during a protest at Queen's Park on Aug. 31 of 2020. It now has three plaques on it explaining why it is boarded and what might be done in the future on Friday, March 5, 2021. PHOTO BY JACK BOLAND /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network
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Has Sir John A. Macdonald been cancelled by the province of Ontario?

Or is about to be?


A new placard displayed on the box containing the statue of Canada’s father of confederation and first prime minister on the south lawn of Queen’s Park is raising not only questions but alarm bells.

Just what is going on here?

Last summer we were told the statue — erected in 1894 to honour the history-making founder — was being protected in construction-like scaffolding while authorities decided how to restore the artifact after it was doused with pink paint by protesters concerned about decisions made in a far different time.


But hidden away from the public for months, a strange notice on the box covering the statue raises more questions than answers:

“The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is a place for debate and deliberation on issues that matter in our province. Though we cannot change the history we have inherited, we can shape the history we wish to leave behind. The speaker of the Legislative Assembly is considering how the depictions of those histories in the monuments and statuary on the Assembly’s grounds can respect all of our diverse cultures and peoples.”

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What does this mean?

We put a request for clarification to the director of the Legislative Assembly and Premier Doug Ford and will report back should they respond.

Are they going to take this statue down? Move it? Add plaques with opposing views?

You would never know Sir John A. Macdonald is memorialized behind this strange wooden tomb. This makeshift sarcophagus certainly makes it look like they are going to restore it back to how it sat for 125 years.

And putting it back to the way it was is exactly what Premier Ford should demand.

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The Sir John A. Macdonald statue remains covered in front of Queen's Park in Toronto, on Tuesday October 20, 2020.
WARMINGTON: Sir John A. Macdonald left alone to be erased
Protesters vandalized a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald at Queens Park on July 18, 2020.
BONOKOSKI: The movement to defend Sir John A. Macdonald's legacy
Prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau at Barracks, on Nov. 11, 1971.
GOLDSTEIN: Cancel culture comes for Pierre Elliott Trudeau

This is especially obvious considering in response to Victoria removing a statue from city hall in 2018, Ford tweeted: “Sir John A. Macdonald played a central role in our national story. As one of the Fathers of Confederation, he founded our nation. That’s why our government wrote to the Mayor of Victoria to say we’d be happy to give Sir John A. a new home here in Ontario.”

His current silence is deafening.

Has he become afraid of the cancel culture bullies tearing down this great province and country by eliminating our great history and leaders who were no more flawed than any of their critics? Or is he just too busy with the pandemic?

The notice talks of debate but there does not seem to be any debate. What happens instead is people duck for cover, afraid of the mob piling on people for the smallest of things that date back to before there was electricity, or cars, let alone social media. Ontario can stand up to this form of censorship by merely taking down those boards, remove the bag from his head and put Macdonald back on display to celebrate the history of this wonderful free country built on the principles he introduced.

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And if he made some mistakes, there’s nothing wrong with addressing them and perhaps offering forgiveness while understanding the context of the day. Macdonald is not around to defend himself, but no one can be judged by 2021 standards on their actions from the 1800s. Cancelling Canada’s first prime minister now is as wrong as those suggesting Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s name be removed from Montreal’s airport.

These men were not supposed to be saints but leaders of their times, doing what they thought would build the country, and in both cases did. Striking their names from history is ironic since freedom and democracy, and a united Canada, are what Macdonald and Trudeau achieved.

They should not be torn down but raised up for all to study.

There would be no Canada if not for Sir John A. Macdonald, and there may not be in the future if people don’t stand up to those trying to erase him from history.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

WARMINGTON: Has entombed Sir John A. Macdonald already been cancelled in Ontario?

Has Sir John A. Macdonald been cancelled by the province of Ontario? Or is about to be?

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

KINSELLA: Slacktivism isn't enough to undue damage done by Macdonald
Author of the article:Warren Kinsella
Publishing date:Jun 03, 2021 • 11 hours ago • 3 minute read • 23 Comments
Numbered hearts are placed on the steps of the Sir John A. MacDonald statue in Kingston, Ont., on Monday, May 31, 2021. The hearts represent the 215 remains of children that were found on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops last week.
Numbered hearts are placed on the steps of the Sir John A. MacDonald statue in Kingston, Ont., on Monday, May 31, 2021. The hearts represent the 215 remains of children that were found on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops last week. PHOTO BY LARS HAGBERG /THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Slacktivism.

They define that as “the practice of supporting a political or social cause by means such as social media or online petitions, characterized as involving very little effort or commitment.”


Slacktivism happens a lot, in the social media age. People tweet a tweet, or post a link on Facebook, or sign a petition.

Or they offer up thoughts and prayers. Or they fly a flag at half-mast. Or they put some kids’ shoes on their front step.

They do those things, and then they think they’ve done something meaningful. They think they’ve done enough.

And sometimes (perhaps) it is enough. Or (at least) it’s better than nothing. Depends on the subject matter.

But when the subject matter is hundreds of dead babies and children, dumped behind a building like they were trash, I’m sorry: A well-meaning tweet or a “215” graphic on Facebook simply isn’t going to cut it. It’s not enough.

Not even close.

Now, I know what you’re going to say: ‘I’m just a regular citizen. I’m just Joe or Jane Frontporch. I have no power like the politicians, or the media do. What can I do?’

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Well, for starters, you shouldn’t do what the politicians are now doing, which is nothing. Which is the same damn thing they always do: Thoughts and prayers, sturm und drang.

Following the discovery of the remains of 215 children found buried on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., shoes are placed at the front entrance of Queen’s Park in Toronto on Monday, May 31, 2021.
Following the discovery of the remains of 215 children found buried on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., shoes are placed at the front entrance of Queen’s Park in Toronto on Monday, May 31, 2021. PHOTO BY ERNEST DOROSZUK /Toronto Sun
Press releases no one reads, promises of more Royal Commissions that accomplish nothing, bilingual tweets no one remembers. In either official language.

That’s slacktivism. That’s giving the illusion of doing something that is really nothing. I detest that, personally. I’ll bet you do, too.

I also detest it when people try to fit their narratives into a larger narrative. But hear me out: I actually come to this story with legitimate connections.

One, my daughter. She’s Indigenous. We adopted her when she was one day old. She changed my life.

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Two, Sir John A. Macdonald. He changed Indigenous lives, too.


He was the monster who came up with the residential school system — the system where it became acceptable to drop babies in unmarked graves. After they had been stolen from their parents, and abused, and destroyed.

And, in some cases, killed. Obviously killed. (Why else hide their deaths from the world?)

“Sir” John A. Macdonald was a young lawyer in Prince Edward County, where I live. I literally live in the area’s old general store and post office, and Macdonald used to come here to get his mail.

And he called people like my daughter “savages,” many times. He called for more “Aryan culture” in Canada. And he acted on those words.

So, what can we do, so long after the fact, you ask? Fair question.

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Just this week, the Americans are dealing with a similar act of evil: One hundred years ago this month, a white mob attacked the predominantly black district of Greenwood, in Tulsa, Okla. The mob killed at least 300 African American men, women and children, and they burned 35 square blocks to the ground.

And they did all that, as with Canada’s residential schools, with official sanction. Some had even been made deputies.

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Thundersky Justin Young, left, and Daryl Laboucan drum and sing healing songs at a makeshift memorial to honour the 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C., on June 2, 2021.
Identifying children's remains at B.C. residential school stalled by lack of records
Children's shoes line the base of the defaced Ryerson University statue of Egerton Ryerson, considered an architect of Canada's residential indigenous school system, in Toronto June 2, 2021.
FATAH: Mourning 215 little lost souls
Flowers and tributes are left at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on May 31, 2021 in Kamloops, B.C., in memory of the 215 children's bodies found on the site.
BONOKOSKI: If there are 215 graves at one school, there will be more

So, what are the Americans doing about that, so long after that fact? Plenty.

There’s a massive lawsuit, for starters, against every level of government. It demands a detailed accounting of what was lost and stolen. It calls for the building of a hospital. It calls for an ongoing fund to compensate victims — survivors and descendants. It calls for a tax break for victims until restitution is paid.

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That’s not a tweet or a Facebook meme: That’s real, meaningful, concrete action. It’s something that you don’t need to be powerful to do — it in fact is specifically designed to empower the powerless.

So I ask you: Someone wants to take your babies and children away from you, never to be seen again. To steal their language, and their culture, and their lives. What would you do?

You’d do a hell of a lot more than some slacktivism. I know that — you know that.

So, let’s do more.

— Warren Kinsella has been a Ministerial Special Representative on Indigenous matters in every region of Canada

twitter.com/kinsellawarren

KINSELLA: Slacktivism isn't enough to undue damage done by Macdonald

Slacktivism.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Charlottetown council votes to remove statue of Sir John A. Macdonald
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Publishing date:May 31, 2021 • 18 hours ago • 2 minute read • 19 Comments
Elder Junior Peter Paul (sitting) points to a Sir John A. MacDonald statue next to 215 pairs of children's shoes placed in remembrance of the bodies discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, during a ceremony in Charlottetown, P.E.I., Monday, May 31, 2021.
Elder Junior Peter Paul (sitting) points to a Sir John A. MacDonald statue next to 215 pairs of children's shoes placed in remembrance of the bodies discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, during a ceremony in Charlottetown, P.E.I., Monday, May 31, 2021. PHOTO BY JOHN MORRIS /THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Charlottetown city council has voted to permanently remove a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from a downtown intersection as a response to recent revelations about Canada’s residential school system.

The decision late Monday followed a vigil earlier in the day where demonstrators placed 215 pairs of shoes next to the statue of Macdonald, whose government introduced the residential school system in 1883.


The shoes were in memory of the 215 children whose remains were recently discovered at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

Charlottetown council had been planning to improve signage and add an Indigenous figure to the Macdonald statue but decided to remove it entirely as a result of the public outcry over the Kamloops discovery. Mayor Phillip Brown said he has been flooded with emails.

“I’ve received emails like I’ve never received from residents before,” he told the council meeting. “They just said, ‘This has really struck a chord with me. Please do something now.’ ”

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Coun. Greg Rivard, who pushed to have the statue removed, said the city had an opportunity to send a strong message to the province and the rest of the country.

“This is my history of Sir John A. right now: When I walk by that statue, as I did today, it reminds me of 215 children who were found last week,” Rivard said. “That’s what it means to me right now.”

About 80 people attended the Monday morning vigil at the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Road where the statue is located.

“We have laid out 215 pairs of shoes as a visual reminder of those little lives that were lost,” organizer Lynn Bradley told the crowd. “Two hundred and fifteen pairs of shoes, 215 hearts that no longer beat, 215 families that deserve answers, 215 leaders that will never be, 215 stories that will never be told.”

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Someone has splashed red paint on the hands of the statue, and Bradley told the crowd that the red paint represents the blood of innocent children.

The statue has been vandalized numerous times in the past year, and Charlottetown city council had decided recently to add an Indigenous figure on or near the bench where the figure of Macdonald is seated.

Bradley encouraged the crowd to use their voices to speak for the children.

“Let’s not leave here with anger,” she said. “Let’s leave with love and a promise that we will do our best to ensure this kind of horrendous act will never happen to another child in any situation. Nor will it ever be forgotten.”

Charlottetown councillor Alanna Jankov said the decision to remove the statue doesn’t erase history. “We’re not getting rid of history, we’re getting rid of a statue,” she said.

The statue will be placed in storage, and council will have to make a decision later on what to do with it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2021.

— By Kevin Bissett in Fredericton.

Charlottetown council votes to remove statue of Sir John A. Macdonald

Charlottetown city council has voted to permanently remove a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from a downtown intersection as a response to recent revelations…

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

WARMINGTON: Sir John A Macdonald's memory erased in a day by Peel District School Board
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Publishing date:Mar 31, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 3 minute read • 90 Comments
A Brampton school formerly named after Sir John A. Macdonald has now been renamed Nibi Emosaawdang Public School as seen here on its sign on March 31, 2022.
A Brampton school formerly named after Sir John A. Macdonald has now been renamed Nibi Emosaawdang Public School as seen here on its sign on March 31, 2022. PHOTO BY JOE WARMINGTON /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network
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BRAMPTON — It didn’t take long for the Peel District School Board to erase Sir John A. Macdonald and 200 years of Canadian history.

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Until Wednesday, a Brampton school had been named after Canada’s first Prime Minister for decades.

Not anymore.

Just hours after the board renamed the school, the Sir John A. Macdonald sign was taken down and replaced.

“Welcome to Nibi Emosaawdang Public School,” the sign out front of the Centre St. N. school read Thursday.

Even the school’s logo was removed from the gym’s floor and walls, and social media accounts were deactivated.

“The name Nibi Akik was offered as a way of honouring Josephine Mandamin and all water walkers,” says the board. “The name lends itself to environmental activism (especially when led by female community members as is customary in Indigenous culture as Josephine Mandamin modeled), a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and centers the themes of reconciliation, equity and social justice, which are aligned to the Peel District School board’s commitments to anti-colonialism, anti-racism, anti-oppression.”

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But it also banishes the memory of Macdonald. It’s madness and people from all political backgrounds should end such insanity.

The board’s “Equity Audit” policy requires “the Peel District School Board (PDSB) to review all practices, policies, and procedures, and ensure they are developed and implemented using anti-racist, anti-oppressive and anti-colonial principles” and this includes “evaluating books, media, and other resources currently being used in schools for teaching and learning English, History and Social Sciences to ensure that they are inclusive and culturally responsive, relevant, and reflective.”

But while doing so, this ridiculous re-writing of history scrubs the achievements of the man who oversaw the birth of the nation in 1867. It also sends a message that anybody can be cancelled once judged through a 2022 lens from a time before Canada even had electricity. It’s not fair to apply today’s standards to a different time.

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“I don’t support erasing Canadian history,” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown told the Toronto Sun. “John A. Macdonald was our founding Prime Minister and we should be proud of the country he gave birth to, not trying to erase it from the history books our founding fathers.”

Brown, currently vying to be Canada’s next Conservative party leader and next prime minister, said while he thinks it’s a “beautiful” tribute to honour Nibi Emosaawdang, it “can be done at a new school to be built in Canada’s fastest growing city.”

But in a statement the board said, “consideration to change the name of the school, mascot or symbol, has occurred through a fair and inclusive process rooted in an understanding of settler colonization, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and its impact on First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples,” and that The Mississaugas of the Credit, The Credit River Metis, The Peel Indigenous Network of Employee, the Indigenous Network and the Credit River Metis Council were consulted.

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One parent, who did not want to be named for fear of blowback being thrust upon his children who attend the school, said he’s opposed to this.

“We came from a country where history was changed and we don’t like to see it happening here,” the parents said.

From Macdonald to McGill to Ryerson, cancelling trailblazing historical leaders is a mission statement for today’s woke crowd. Macdonald statues have been removed in Victoria, B.C., Montreal, Que., and even in his home town of Kingston. The one at Queen’s Park has been boarded up for two years.

What makes this one in Brampton even more dubious is that Peel school board trustees had no vote.

“The Peel District School Board is currently under Ministry of Education supervision. Governance roles for the Board of Trustees have changed while they are currently under Ministry of Education supervision. During supervision, Trustees do not have formal governing powers. As such, they cannot put motions forward, vote on any board actions, make any financial decisions, or change or approve policies,” said board spokesperson Malon Edwards.

“Peel District School Board Supervisor, Bruce Rodrigues, considers recommendations like the renaming of Sir John A. Macdonald Sr. Public School. at board meetings,” Edwards added.

That happened March 30th and by March 31, the history of Sir John A. Macdonald in Brampton was history.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

WARMINGTON: Sir John A Macdonald's memory erased in a day by Peel District School Board

BRAMPTON -- It didn’t take long for the Peel District School Board to erase Sir John A. Macdonald and 200 years of Canadian history.

torontosun.com

 

[DaSleeper]

story continues below...............

 

[spaminator]

Boards around statue of Sir John A. Macdonald not coming down soon

Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published May 10, 2023 • Last updated 5 hours ago • 3 minute read

It’s been almost three years since the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald at Queen’s Park was boarded up, and that’s not about to change any time soon. The issue of what to do with the statue has been sent to a committee of the legislature to be studied — a process that could take months, if not years.


The Ford government wants the boards to come down but it’s not actually their call. The government of the day doesn’t have the final say on matters that pertain to the legislature, so the statue will remain under wraps for the foreseeable future.


“We’d like to see the boarding down and then move on, but the reality is, that’s not how that works here,” Government House Leader Paul Calandra said Wednesday.

The boards went up around Sir John A. in the summer of 2020, at the order of Ted Arnott, the Speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly.

That summer, there were statues being toppled across the country, including those of Macdonald in Hamilton and Montreal. The boards around Macdonald’s likeness at Queen’s Park were supposed to be a temporary measure after repeated vandalism with paint in the previous months.


The decision to remove the boards, or the statue itself, reside with the all-party Board of Internal Economy which makes decisions on a unanimous basis. Board members recently asked the legislature’s Procedure and House Affairs Committee to study what should be done.

“The advice of the committee will assist the board as it reflects on the future status of this installation,” a spokesperson for the Speaker’s office said this week.

Committee chair Jennifer French, the New Democrat MPP for Oshawa, said on Wednesday that her committee only recently received the request to examine the issue and that it will become part of a bigger study of the legislative precinct.

“There are a number of different perspectives we want to invite to present to the committee,” French said.


She added that the committee is working collaboratively in a non-partisan manner to protect the future of Queen’s Park and that the fate of the Sir John A. statue will be part of that.

Matthew Rae, the Progressive Conservative MPP for Perth-Wellington, is the committee’s vice-chair. When asked for his view on Wednesday, he refused to wade into the debate, saying only that he looks forward to the study.

“The committee looks forward to the study and we look forward to hearing all opinions and we hope that we’ll be able to find agreement on how to respect all Canadian history,” Rae said.

That’s not the view of the government, which wants to see the committee and the Board of Internal Economy deal with this sooner rather than later.


Calandra said that he’d like to see this issue dealt with quickly, with the study on the rest of the precinct done later. He also said we should be looking at all sides of our history, rather than trying to tear some of it down.



“I don’t think in any way shape or form we should be looking to erase history but just the opposite, recognizing our history, celebrating our history, both the good and the bad points of it and that’s ultimately where I’d like to see us go on the Sir John A. statue,” Calandra said.

Calandra said he’d be supportive of a plaque being installed offering context of the history of Macdonald, including why some people find his statue offensive.

Given that the final decision must be unanimous, there’s a very good possibility that our history, represented by the statue, won’t come down, but neither will the boards.

Unless there is a compromise, the most likely outcome is that the statue stays — like the boards covering the statue of Canada’s first prime minister.

LILLEY: Boards around statue of Sir John A. Macdonald not coming down soon

Boarding went up in 2020 in the face of protests and vandalism, now the future of the statue is in bureaucratic limbo.

torontosun.com