If questioning our national identity is a nation-wide pastime, then Sir John A. Macdonald can provide ample insight into the character of this country, whether good or bad.
When Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1815, Canada-as we know it-had yet to exist. Instead, this patchwork of regions was inhabited by various Indigenous peoples and disparate bands of Europeans and Americans.
By the time of his death in 1891 in Kingston, he’d become known as the Father of Confederation, having strung together over 9,000 kilometres that would come to be known as the Canadian provinces.
He’d also pursued a campaign of genocide wherein 90-95 per cent of the Indigenous population of Canada was eradicated. As historical texts prove, both actions were intentional. For Macdonald, the one could not have happened without the other. His government wanted the land that many Indigenous peoples occupied in order to build the railway that would link East to West and form the backbone of our economy.
One could argue the birth of this country is inseparable from acts of systemic racism-something we have often attributed to our neighbours to the south.
He is the Father of Confederation, but also the Father of the Indian Act, Residential Schools, small pox blankets and other nefarious means of building this patchwork of provinces we’ve come to call our own. A controversial past is common for colonial figures, many statues of which have had their heads roll in recent weeks.
In nearby Prince Edward County, a statue of Macdonald that sits prominently on Main Street has been party to recurring vandalism in recent weeks. At the same time as many of his ideals and actions were reprehensible, there is nothing that can be done to change the past. Macdonald can’t undo the effects of the Indian Act any more than blood can be drawn from a stone.
What can be changed are the 61 boil water advisories still in effect on reserves across Canada and the ever increasing number of Indigenous women and girls still going missing and being murdered, among many other human rights issues. And while Macdonald is a dead man, his legacy lives in the policies and government he created-those that have been perpetuated by every single Canadian government since Confederation.
To date, the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) notes 1,724 confirmed cases dating back to the 1900s. Despite the work done by MMIWG, the cases continue to rise, with over 100 confirmed cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls since 2016. Reflecting on Canadian identity has become a lot less comfortable in recent years with the widespread realization that confederation is linked with genocide. History is complicated, as are people.
Hopefully, we do not recoil from historical reflection that could enable us to move towards a future more equitable than the past.
-Sarah Williams