Sir John A. Macdonald Should he Stick or Should he Go

I read “Rewriting history? That’s how history is written in the first place” at http://www.macleans.ca/opinion/rewriting-history-thats-how-history-is-written-in-the-first-place and “Why Sir John A. Macdonald’s name should stay on our schools” at http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/why-sir-john-a-macdonalds-name-should-stay-on-our-schools, both in Maclean’s Magazine.

These articles were written because some activists have started to speak up about wanting to take this man’s name off of public schools in Ontario.

The first article discusses points against having Sir John A. Macdonald’s name on schools.

He may have been the first prime minster but he caused a lot of damage to the Native Americans, this included killing and repressing them.  He was also a known “corrupt politician, and a functional alcoholic.”. So why would we want him on our schools?

The second article talks about the point of Keeping Sir John A. Macdonald’s name on schools.

He founded the country and that he wasn’t that bad. Also quote from magazine and quote from Churchill “I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place”.  Another point is that one of the famous five that helped get women’s rights (Emily Murphy) wrote racist screeds infamously around the same time and she is still commemorated not for that but because she helped get women’s rights.

I Think…

Well let’s start with that if I was an alien who had just arrived on Eearth the counter point was written better than the other side. EXCEPT the quote from Churchill, I think a quote from Hitler would’ve been more tactful. The point about the women’s rights was very good so if I had proof that Macdonald did enough good things to outweigh the bad then it would be fine to me at least.

My mom says though, just think of all those indigenous peoples who have had to use ten dollar bills all this time with John A. MacDonald’s head on them, and he’s a guy who killed a lot of them, took their children away, etc. From that perspective she says it’s terrible. Also I fact checked the Emily Murphy point and it turns out she was quite the lady. Effectively she wanted right for white women not anybody else.