In a recent column in the Globe and Mail, John Ibbison asked a thought provoking question, “Why does everyone pick on Sir John A. Macdonald and not Sir Wilfred Laurier?” Sir John A’s statues are being torn down and street and school names are being unceremoniously changed, while Sir Wilfred’s statues and labels are untouched. Laurier, as the Liberal Prime Minister supported Conservative Macdonald’s policies. Not surprising, he expanded the residential school system and blocked Black and Chinese immigrants from entering Canada. As a result, why has there been no frenzied attacks on such edifices as Sir Wilfred University or the Chateau Laurier?
As Ibbison noted, both Macdonald and Laurier gave us Canada, for better or for worse. Could politics or appeasement be involved? Probably, but what a shame.
Dick Dodds
Napanee