County News
Kingston and Sir John A.
The County is not alone in grappling with his legacy
Across our nation, there have been many variations of the conversation this community is having about the future of Holding Court, a sculpture featuring Sir John A. Macdonald, situated on Main Street in Picton. These conversations and protests are happening in many communities. Canada. The US and Europe. History or, more precisely, whose version of history, is undergoing renewed scrutiny and criticism in communities around the world.
Kingston has a particularly strong connection to John A. Macdonald. It is widely recognized as the hometown of Canada’s first prime minister, and it is where he was laid to rest. A very large statue recognizing Macdonald’s contribution to the founding of this nation offends some in the community. It is seen as memorializing the oppression and forced assimilation of Indigenous Peoples by Macdonald. Some contend that such symbols create an obstacle to reconciliation in this country.
Kingston’s Macdonald statue has been vandalized a handful of times over the past decade and, more recently, became a lightning rod for heightened scrutiny of Macdonald’s record.
Nearly two years ago, the city, spearheaded by Mayor Bryan Patterson, embarked on a community consultation exercise to determine the fate of this statue—but more broadly to listen to and consider the concerns and grievances that have long simmered below the surface. That community worked with an Indigenous-run advisory firm, First Peoples Group, on how it should handle Macdonald’s memory in a more inclusive way.
The product of this exercise was presented last fall, comprising a set of recommendations (below) aimed at stimulating conversation and enriching the context and understanding of Macdonald. Rather than delete history, the city would seek to add to it.
“We created a process where everyone could feel that their voice was heard,” explained Kingston Mayor Bryan Patterson, “that everyone could offer their perspective. Ultimately, this helped to create legitimacy and became a decision of the community, rather than something that was imposed upon it. It was a collective exercise about the best way forward.”
Patterson acknowledged that while not everyone is satisfied with the outcome, a majority in his community is now better able to understand both sides of the argument.
“With an issue like this where you are trying to balance perspectives, there will always be those on either extreme that are unhappy with the result. We recognize that. The aim of these action items is that we find a middle ground. That history is complex. We needed a balanced outcome that recognized both sides,” said Patterson.
Has it helped to ease tensions?
“In retrospect, I am quite pleased with the way the process unfolded, given that it is such a divisive and polarizing issue with strong opinions and gut reactions on different sides.”
He stressed that the immediate actions form just part of what he envisions as an ongoing dialogue.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us. Details matter. We are going to take the time to work through those details to ensure we continue to find the right balance.”
Mayor Patterson concedes it was a painful exercise in his community.
“It is important to have that dialogue and those conversations,” said Mayor Patterson. “The more you have, the more people can appreciate the arguments on the other side. That enables you to come up with a solution that works for both sides. It’s a tough process, but it is absolutely worth it.”
Kingston’s immediate actions
- Remove the script reading “The Spirit of Sir John A.” from the Engine 1095 tender in Confederation Park;
- Replace the book plaques adjacent to the monument to Sir John A. Macdonald in City Park and Engine 1095 in Confederation Park with interim notices that indicate new text is under development to tell a more complete and inclusive account of their histories in a Kingston context;
- Form a working group that includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members, representing a diversity of perspectives, to develop text that addresses issues specific to the history and legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald in Kingston that can be shared online and on-site through the City of Kingston website and in relation to local landmarks managed by the City of Kingston;
- Add a land recognition statement, developed by the Indigenous community, to the City of Kingston website and to all City of Kingston e-mail signatures; and
- Confirm the City’s support to name The Third Crossing in a way that reflects and celebrates the stories and contributions of Indigenous communities in this region, both past and present.
Once you study Christian colonialism you can trace it back to ancient Jericho, where a totally destructive Yahweh is credited with the absolute destruction and sacrificial burning of every living creature. You will discover how Yahweh led his Hebrew followers down into depravity, breaking all of his “impossible to keep” commandments; eg: no killing, no stealing, no coveting….Yahweh never owned the lands he promised, and he taught his followers genocidal land theft, and how to use brutal colonial terrorism, defined as: the use of violence and threats of violence to gain political control over indigenous people and their land wealth to take lands that did not belong to them. Israel is repeating this process by taking Palestinian lands like Jerusalem, with violence.
Macdonald symbolizes the depravity of colonialism that was used to destroy millions of Canadian lives, instead of protecting and nurturing them. It would be more appropriate to display and honour the statues of his young victims, the abused generations, in all our public places.
2/3rds of your comment is completely irrelevant to what this article is about, but I think you have some sort of deluded expectation that countries and territories form out of peace and mutual respect. If that’s how humans worked, then that would defeat the whole point of having unique civilizations and therefore no “countries” would have existed in the first place.
Again, you insist on judging the past with a contemporary lens, which is futile because there is hardly anybody back then with views like yours, and because politics and culture are subject to change, yours is not absolute. That’s not the point of having statues or learning history.
In keeping with “colonial style governance” that protects its delusion of power first, and addresses the needs of the community last, the jaunty caricature of John A. Macdonald, was imposed by County heritage extremist on good people with consciences, without consultation, before public washrooms were provided in the business district. Really?
Combining the 250 or so responders to the Heritage District Study of 2012, with Mr. Warrick’s recent boast that 650 County residents (?) have signed his petition of support, it looks like less than 5% of the County still supports local heritage, which includes the Macdonald caricature on Main.
More significantly, last June 1,000 protestors marched on Picton to publicly protest the hateful and deeply racial policies created by this man, and the Indigenous Holocaust that became his legacy,
Almost from its inception, the state of Canada turned on its children, and would abuse them for more than 150 years by terrorizing small children with physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse.
The TRR concludes through a prolonged justice process, that there was no education or assimilation. This is not about a good system that went bad or had some flaws, but a criminal system designed to hold hostage native children to ensure the good and peaceful behaviour of their communities, while gaining legal control of their land wealth.
Except here’s the thing, by your logic you would have to get rid of EVERY statue and public mention of EVERY prime minister that lived through the 100+ years of indigenous cultural assimilation. Nobody erects a statue because their faults and evils define their entirety, Sir John A. Macdonald is a historical figure that has changed and built the foundation of Canada today. Nobody is perfect either, so in 100 years or so if we get a statue of Trudeau maybe a super lefty version of you will still find problems with it and demand it be removed. A feminist and progressive figure today is a misogynist, racist black-face wearing evil white person tomorrow.