We can do better.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who every now and then says something heartfelt to assure Canadians he really isn’t a robotic alien planted here to destroy the Earth, waxed poetical about John A. Macdonald.
(My apologies for the unnecessarily unkind words about the PM – I’ve apparently been viewing too many unflattering photos of the tar sands recently. Hard to get just the right angle of the sludge scape.)
He referred to Macdonald as a shining example of modesty, hope and success, ‘an ordinary man of whom little was expected but who, given the opportunity, did extraordinary things.’
Harper was helping to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Canada’s first prime minister.
Amongst the glowing praise, he alluded very briefly to John A’s ‘faults and failures,’ singling out his notorious drinking.
When I heard Harper expressing these opinions, I wondered why celebrating this long-dead politician’s birthday is suddenly ‘a thing.’ To be frank, I care about Macdonald’s birthday as much as I care about Mr. Harper’s fixation on the War of 1812.
However, what I do care about is living in a country and a world where people and their governments strive for justice and equality for all, where they learn from past mistakes and move forward with guiding principles other than greed and narrow self-interest.
Which is why our prime minister’s glee at Mr. Macdonald’s birthday was disturbing. Among the ‘extraordinary things’ that John A. Macdonald accomplished, his policies resulted in the genocide of the land’s native people, rather than acceptance and partnership. He deliberately starved First Nations to make way for the Canadian Pacific Railroad; he bragged about how keeping them starving was saving the government money. He also resigned at one point for accepting bribes from the company building the railway. Macdonald was responsible for the hanging of Louis Riel and attempting to keep the Chinese out of Canada.
While it has been argued that Macdonald’s policies should be judged in the context of the times in which they were crafted, celebrating the anniversary of his birth in 2015, with nary a mention of his complete legacy, continues the injustice.
What was the point of apologizing in 2008 for the horror of the residential school system if, in the next breath, you celebrate the birthday of the man responsible for its creation?
The word ‘insincere’ springs to mind.
Perhaps I’ll send Mr. Harper author James Daschuk’s award-winning book, “Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation and the Loss of Aboriginal Life.” Or maybe my copy of “The Inconvenient Indian, a curious account of native people in North America,” by Thomas King. Coincidentally, I happened to be reading it when I heard Mr. Harper on the radio.
Mr. King tells a different version of history than that espoused by the PM – and he’s far more witty than I or Mr. Harper could ever hope to be.
