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Something
Someday this week, a crew of County workers will be assigned the task of packing up the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from Picton’s Main Street and putting it in storage. The move is temporary, according to County council. Until consultation.
There will be many high-fives. Some hearty online self-congratulations. Some quiet celebration. County council may get a quick hit on television news. A symbol of oppression toppled.
Yet, it is hard to see that anything of consequence has been accomplished.
As of March, there were 58 active boilwater advisories on First Nations reserves in this country. One community north of Thunder Bay has endured water advisories for 26 years. After a flurry of news stories, Neskatanga was thrust into the national consciousness last fall, when its 300 residents were evacuated because its drinking water was making folks sick. It was the second time they had been forced to leave their homes due to unsafe water.
Prince Edward County has waterworks experts. Well-trained professionals. These folks maintain six different water systems and two wastewater facilities. They are smart folks with a broad range of waterworks experience.
We could help with this. We could lend this capability to help ensure clean drinking water to a community without such basic amenities. We could contribute municipal expertise and resources to help ensure clean drinking water to another community. We couldn’t tackle 58 water systems—but we could help one. And if other communities followed our lead? And the federal government, seeing this as a more efficient and effective way to fix the problems—rather than a monolithic bureaucracy in Ottawa—might send a few dollars to assist the effort. Something.
A thing one small community could do to help another. It might improve lives. Build relationships. Perhaps there are other things this community can help with.
Peta Hall, with significant support from this community, built a school in western Africa. Her efforts demonstrated that there is enormous goodwill and resources in Prince Edward County. Hall has proved that these attributes can be marshalled to make lives better elsewhere. Something.
In 2004, County council gave the Indonesian island of Aceh $10,000 after a tsunami inundated the community killing 225,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. It seemed an odd gesture at the time; Council using County property-taxpayer dollars to help people on the other side of the globe. It seemed a peculiar precedent.
But for the folks who were helped by these few dollars, it wasn’t a symbol. It was a lifeline. In this community, council’s decision was largely viewed as a worthy and humane response. It was something.
I suspect I am too old, too white, too settlery to visualize the something that comes from putting Sir John A. Macdonald into a warehouse. Some say we must stop honouring flawed historical figures. That these thoughts and ideas impede reconciliation. That our thoughts are the problem. That the absence of these icons will enable a proper contextualization of our history for the next generation. That this will lead to a better relationship between all Canadians. Maybe.
It is an ambitious project. I sincerely wish them well.
But it all feels so circular. By December, Neskatanga had fallen out of the news. Out of national consciousness. In March, the Federal government vowed to lift all boil water advisories by the end of the year.
Maybe the absence of a statue in Picton helps. It is, however, painfully hard to see how it is anything more than a symbolic performance—in a long chain of token gestures.
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