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This is John A Macdonald. Egerton Ryerson, who also had his statue “defaced”, was a key player and firm believer in the residential school system, which ripped Indigenous children from their families, abused them, forced them to only speak English... https://twitter.com/citynews/status/1284487755481993216
...and cut their hair, which is sacred to their culture. They were beaten and neglected. Children died, and the schools caused intergenerational trauma to the ones who survived. Because of Ryerson. Now let’s talk about the man this statue commemorates, John A. Macdonald.
Dude was corrupt, first of all. He resigned over a scandal where he was proven to take bribes to build the a Canadian Pacific Railway. But he got voted in again. For some reason, Macdonald was Teflon. Nothing stuck to him, even when it was proven he did it. Sound familiar?
He had a hand in the Chinese Head Tax. Macdonald brought over countless Chinese labourers to build the aforementioned railway, and then paid them half less than the other labourers. Once the railway was done, a lot of people didn’t want Chinese immigrants in Canada. The solution?
The Chinese Immigration Act. Every Chinese person wanting to immigrate to Canada after 1885 had to pay a fee. First it was $50, then kept rising to its eventual maximum of $500 in 1903. From labourers that were making less than $1 a day.
The Government of Canada collected about 23 million dollars on this tax and the high price tag discouraged Chinese women and children from joining their fathers and husbands, which constrained immigration. Now let’s talk about how Macdonald treated Indigenous people.
Here’s an actual quote from the man: “I have reason to believe that the agents as a whole … are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense,” Macdonald told the House of Commons in 1882.
After American over-hunting of bison caused a famine in the prairies, MacDonald’s government capitalized on this. Macdonald, as we’ve mentioned, had a boner for this stupid railroad. So he had agents explicitly withhold food in order to drive bands onto reserve. Why?
It got them out of the way of the railroad. A Liberal MP at the time even called it “a policy of submission shaped by a policy of starvation.” And then when food was given, it was very little, and often rancid or spoiled.
Several people died of starvation. One parent lost seven of their children. These stories were not uncommon. So a rebellion was started by Métis leader Louis Riel. Macdonald responded to the rebellion with force.
Macdonald authorized the pass system. If an Indigenous person wanted to leave their reserve, they had to get permission from their “Indian agent”. The Macdonald government also criminalized powwows and potlatches.
In 1885, eight angry Cree killed 9 white men - one was Indian agent Thomas Quinn, who gathered a group of starving people he was in charge of in front of the on-reserve ration house, LITERALLY TOLD THEM “April Fool’s” and turning them away empty handed.
It was called the Frog Lake Massacre, but it was really settling the scores- Indigenous folks were being abused, and the white men in question kind of deserved it. In return, Macdonald ordered crowds of hungry Cree to silently witness the mass execution of eight of their people.
At the time, Canada had just OUTLAWED public hangings. But Macdonald wanted to make a spectacle of their deaths. “The executions of the Indians … ought to convince the Red Man that the White Man governs,” Macdonald wrote to Edgar Dewdney.
More than anything, this is the legacy these statues espouse. This is why they were defaced, and this is why the molded pieces of metal honouring these men should be melted down and made into something useful instead of just celebrating famous racists of history.
Fuck it. If anyone needs more paint, I’ve got a few extra cans in my garage I’m not using.
