So, I think yes, Canada should have an official day for the first prime minister, but it should be more complex than simple hero worship. It's a good time to understand and own our history and what it means now and for the future.
Discussion
Loading...
But, he is clearly guilty of at least cultural genocide. His complicity in the residential school system is directly responsible for generations of suffering by indigenous people. No remembrance of Macdonald should ignore these crimes against humanity.
One of the hard things that we here, indigenous and non-indigenous people, have to figure out is what the role of the settler-colonial entity called Canada will be in the future of this land. Maybe it will disappear forever; maybe it changes into something more appropriate for reconciliation. Maybe this is the work of decades or centuries. Whatever Canada becomes, I don't think it will be possible to disentangle its history from Macdonald.
@evan
My half thought-out sense is that as we live in a world defined by Nash equilibriae, we have to be in a country for the common defence against other countries and to represent our interests abroad. If we were a dozen smaller entities, those entities would have to unite to form something much like Canada, so our best option is to make it as just as we can.
@evan it's an active process, with many Indigenous and non-Indigenous folks working at it together. One thing we do need are robust spaces for continuing those important conversations free from external interference.
So, I think yes, Canada should have an official day for the first prime minister, but it should be more complex than simple hero worship. It's a good time to understand and own our history and what it means now and for the future.
@evan I don't think there's been any Canadian political leader who's received much hero worship — maybe Pierre Trudeau? They all have major flaws, Sir John A. notably so.
(I contrast this with the arguably blasphemous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apotheosis_of_Washington .)
@evan IMO we have a day to celebrate the country. We don't need days to celebrate individual leaders, either first or last.
@evan we have one for T&R (and we should), one for MacDonald would be good too