Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
When a statue of John A. Macdonald was toppled in Montreal this past summer, there were no words lost from politicians and political commentators across the country.[1] Before he was a statue, John A Macdonald was the father of both confederacy and of the residential school program - devoting a great deal of his political legacy to the forced assimilation of Indigenous people and, in his own words, to preserving the “Aryan character of the future of British America."[2]
Photo: Graham Hughes - Canadian Press
When the statue of John A. Macdonald fell in Montreal, the public spotlight was again cast on Macdonald’s racist legacy. With this spotlight came Macdonald’s most fierce defenders and apologists. A group of 130 historians and Canadian politicians published a statement called ‘in the Defence of Sir John A Macdonald and his Legacy,’[3] while the Premier of Alberta decried that the statue toppling was done by a ‘roving band of thugs to vandalize our history with impunity,’ and offered to re-erect the statue at the Alberta Legislature Building.[4]
It may very well not be the physical bronze statue itself that people care so deeply about, but rather who and what is chosen by governments to be commemorated in public spaces. Monuments are important. Calls to Action #81 and #82 are aimed at the federal government and each provincial government to collaboratively install public monuments to commemorate Residential School Survivors.
81. We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Survivors and their organizations, and other parties to the Settlement Agreement, to commission and install a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools National Monument in the city of Ottawa to honour Survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities.
82. We call upon provincial and territorial governments, in collaboration with Survivors and their organizations, and other parties to the Settlement Agreement, to commission and install a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools Monument in each capital city to honour Survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities.
Public memorials and statues in Ottawa have been a consistent and lingering talking point in federal politics since the Calls to Action were made, yet there has been no public discussion by elected officials on call #81. Shortly after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action were made the Harper government did move forward with plans to commission a prominently displayed public statue, however they chose instead to spend a planned $5.5 million dollars to commemorate global victims of communism.[5] Current Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, forever a statue enthusiast, spearheaded this initiative while a member of that previous federal government. [6] Its been five years and neither federal government has made any strides towards call #81.
In the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, construction has started on a provincial monument to commemorate residential school survivors.[7] The province of Alberta, however, receives a failing grade. While the provincial government is yet to make any movement towards Call to Action #82, the most prominent comments in regards to any monument made by the provincial government has been an offer to bring the Montreal Macdonald statue to be displayed at the Alberta Legislature, quite possibly the complete opposite action of what Call #82 sets out.
Until Tomorrow,
Team ReconciliAction
[1] Sarah Rieger, "Jason Kenney says Alberta would re-erect John A. Macdonald statue toppled in Montreal" CBC News (29 August 2020) online: <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jason-kenney-john-a-macdonald-1.5705287>.
[2] House of Commons Debates, 3-1, (05 May 1885) at 1589 (John A. Macdonald).
[3] Macdonald-Laurier Institue, "in the Defence of Sir John A Macdonald and his Legacy" Editorial Comment, (2021) online: <https://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/defence-sir-john-macdonald-legacy/>.
[4] Jason Kenney, "4/ to allow roving bands of thugs to vandalize our history with impunity.,," (29 August 2020 at 14:52), online: <https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1299812161766658054>.
[5] See generally: Joanne Laucius, "Victims of Communism Memorial: a decade in the making" Ottawa Citizen (09 November 2018), online: <https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/victims-of-communism-memorial-a-decade-in-the-making> ; Roy Macgregor, "New Victims of Communism memorial in Ottawa a looming disaster" Globe & Mail (30 January 2015), online: <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/new-victims-of-communism-memorial-in-ottawa-a-looming-disaster/article22730797/>.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Staff, "Residential School monument coming to Government House" CTV News, (27 January 2021) online: <https://regina.ctvnews.ca/residential-school-monument-coming-to-government-house-1.5284279?cache=>.
