Sir John A. MacDonald.

(second submission - corrected version)

I believe that reconciliation can happen without trying to white wash history, and completely tarnishing the entire legacy of a prominent Canadian over one part of that legacy.

Was the residential school system an atrocity? Absolutely.

Looking back, was SJAM's prominent involvement in the schools a shame? Absolutely.

Do I think the founding father of this great nation deserves to be torn down to "monster" status in order to heal and move forward? Absolutely NOT!

He was a product of his environment during the times he lived in. His position on the indigenous Canadians was no different than the majority of all politicians and Anglophone/francophone Canadians at the time. He was definitely not alone in his way of thought, and in establishing those schools. As badly as the residential school system turned out, the motive behind it was not intentionally evil or malicious. The system was already in use in parts of the USA, and the politicians of the time thought it was an appropriate way to "integrate" the indigenous peoples into the European lifestyle. It was thought to be the appropriate and "humane" thing to do. We know now that it was not correct and unacceptable, but they didn't at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say.

How many adults can honestly say they've never said or did things that the regret, and would never do in today's society? Things that were acceptable and even encouraged only a few decades ago??

If his name and statues are to be ripped apart because of the residential school systems, then the same should happen to every other Prime Minster that lead this nation until 1996 - when the last school closed. That includes the father of our current PM. Because complacency is just as bad at committing the acts themselves.

We also have other examples of prominent Canadians currently being honoured throughout this nation with less than ideal pasts, based on our current viewpoints on what is and isn't acceptable...

- James McGill, who founded the prestigious university in Montreal that bears his name, owned 6 African slaves.

- Joseph Brant (Brant County, City of Brantford), who is considered one of Canada's most notable Indigenous leaders, owned slaves, murdered his son, and is accused of selling out his own people for personal gain.

_ Wilfrid Laurier, a famous Liberal Prime Minister, opposed Indo-Canadian immigration, raised the Chinese head tax, and saw it righteous to settle land taken from "savage nations".

- John Diefenbaker orchestrated a "purge" of homosexuals from the civil service while in power.

- Jacques Cartier kidnapped indigenous people to be his personal guides, even taking some back to France where they died.

- The Famous Five are a group of Alberta women who spearheaded a 1929 legal appeal to have women recognized as legal “persons” in Canada. They also embraced a host of contemporary causes that seem wrongheaded or even evil by modern standards. This included eugenics, prohibition, bans on non-white immigration and the criminalization of marijuana.

- Tommy Douglas, the founder of the NDP and father of nationalized medicine, wrote of eugenics and how selective breeding could end poverty by "weeding out mental defects in the gene pool".

- Lord Dalhousie, who has a university named after him in Halifax, wrote about opposing the massive influx of freed American slaves coming into Canada, saying, “Slaves by habit and education, no longer working under the dread of the lash, their idea of freedom is Idleness and they are altogether incapable of industry."

- Winston Churchill's name graces many places in Canada, but Churchill was an unashamed white supremacist. He boasted about personally killing “savages” in Sudan, and it was under his government that two million people died in the 1943 Bengal famine.

- Mackenzie King, another prominent PM, was open about his admiration for the Nazi party in the 1930's and was against admitting Jewish refugees from Europe. He wrote, "We must nevertheless seek to keep this continent free from unrest and from too great an intermixture of foreign strains of blood."

- Even our Indigenous Canadians can tell of historical moments where atrocities were committed against other opposing tribes and peoples that are regrettable, looking back.

And the list can go on and on. Canadian history if full of examples like this. We must understand and remember that at the time these people thought, spoke, and acted, their thoughts, words, and acts were acceptable to most at the time.

Sir John A. MacDonald was by no means a perfect man. But he took a handful of sparsely populated British colonies in a vast and harsh land, and managed to build a nation before the Americans swallowed us up in their idea of "manifest destiny". His vision and determination helped lay the foundation for the amazing nation that every Canadian now enjoys. As bad as I feel about the horrible story that is the residential school system, there are far more positive tales to be told that came about after one man decided to build a great nation.

Like every other nation, we have had dark moments and regrettable stories to tell. What is important now is that we remember them, teach them, learn from them, and move forward to be better - together.

Leave his statues. Leave his name on the roads and schools. Tell of his positives, but include his regrettable words and actions.

Pay homage to his legacy of a brilliant political leader and nation builder, but show the world what happened when historical ignorance reigned supreme.

Erect statues and name roads after great Indigenous leaders to even the historical balance. Teach more indigenous languages in school.

Bring forth the history of our proud indigenous peoples, but let's not erase or disrespect the history that lead us to the Canada we love today.