Last Tuesday evening at a packed meeting, the municipal council of Prince Edward County missed an opportunity to do the right thing: Reinstall their statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in the picturesque town of Picton.
By a vote of 8-6, the councillors rejected the start of a consultative process to restore the statue of Macdonald that was removed from Main Street in June 2021 amid repeated vandalism.
The Statue's Significance
The lovely statue depicts a young Sir John A. arguing his first court case in Picton, where he lived as a young man and started his career. From that humble start, he would go on to lead the push for Confederation, establishing Canada with four provinces, and serve as its first prime minister. He was the key figure in uniting the colonies and then expanding the country from coast to coast.
The statue's installation in 2015 was the culmination of a massive, decade-long community effort and fundraising drive spearheaded by local residents who donated the statue to the municipality. For six years, it stood in Picton, greeting passersby who could learn a bit more about Macdonald's early years in the town.
Suddenly, in 2021, this statue became one of nine that were torn down by protesters or removed by local authorities, all arising from the white-hot emotions that flowed from the discovery of potential graves at the former Kamloops residential school. In a short period of time, too short for reasoned debate, Macdonald was solely convicted for the mistakes of an entire society that started long before he took office and continued long after he left.
Better Understanding of Macdonald's Role
No one wishes to downplay the issue of residential schools or the historical mistreatment of Indigenous Canadians. This is a different issue — the rightful place of our first prime minister in our public spaces.
For the longest time, Canadians rightly honoured him. We can sense that we lost something when the statues were removed. Fortunately, things may be changing. Canadians now have a better understanding of Macdonald's role in residential schools. With the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, we can see that we acted too rashly in removing these statues.
Last summer, the Ontario legislature removed the protective boards that covered the Macdonald statue at Queen's Park. The township of Wilmot, outside Kitchener, bravely decided last July to restore their Macdonald statue. Last week, the councillors of Prince Edward County were presented with their opportunity to do the same.
In support of the statue's re-installation were many local residents, business leaders, and two prominent historians with deep knowledge of our prime ministers. Six of the fourteen local politicians calmly and intelligently pleaded for a sensible way forward to restore the statue, despite them being berated and defamed as white supremacists and confronted with sinister threats of more vandalism. They held firm and fearlessly supported the motion to restore the statue, with the motion itself being brought by an Indigenous member of council.
Voted for Status Quo
Sadly, the other eight councillors appeared to be cowed by the vocal minority and paralyzed by the issue. They voted for the status quo. And in a bizarre bit of procedural unfairness, the council held the vote before speakers on either side were allowed to give their submissions. What's more, no mention was made of the municipality possibly breaching the 2015 donation agreement under which the municipality accepted the statue that requires it to be displayed in a public place.
What a shame. The council could have shown leadership on this topic by joining with Queen's Park and Wilmot. At a time when our nation is being threatened from all sides, the example of Sir John A.'s leadership is more relevant than ever before.
Proud Canadians must continue the work of redeeming Macdonald to his rightful place in our public squares. Was Macdonald saint-worthy? No. Statue-worthy? Yes. But for now, Prince Edward County's beautiful statue of a young Macdonald remains locked away somewhere in a municipal storage facility.
