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These so-called experts - very few credible historians among them - have signed on to a statement, published by the National Post, that further promotes a whitewashed view of Macdonald and displays incredible contempt for historical thinking. Here's why: https://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/defence-sir-john-macdonald-legacy/
Let's focus on the group's list of Macdonald's "real accomplishments." 1. "Re-imagined British North America as Canada and did so with courage, wisdom and integrity." JAM, and others, "re-imagined" Indigenous territories as "Canada" through war, thievery, and genocide.
2. "Acquired territory that made Canada the second largest country in the world." Wow. Again, the authors use passive voice here to step around acknowledging *how* Canada "acquired" that territory - which it did, again, through war, thievery, and genocide.
3. "Spearheaded the building of a railway to the Pacific." This vague statement presents Macdonald as a great captain of industry, a visionary. They don't mention that he was forced out of office for corruption: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pacific-scandal
4. "Championed unity between English and French, Protestant and Catholic." I can't even. I mean, balancing interests was part of the Confederation project, but Macdonald often inflamed tensions for political benefit, showing a lack of concern for unity re: Louis Riel's execution.
5. "Launched policies that failed, as happens to all national leaders." OK, sure. As an historian I agree that all leaders support and defend policies that often fail or turn out to be failures. BUT, the example they use in this bullet point is OUTRAGEOUS: residential schools.
They say: "This is certainly the case with the establishment of a national policy on Indian Residential Schools. Even though widely supported at the time, the schools had a dark legacy that hangs over the country to this day." NO!!
This statement is pure residential school denalism, similar to the garbage that O'Toole (who I am sure would *love* to sign this letter) coached far right students on recently: https://pressprogress.ca/erin-otoole-claimed-residential-school-architects-only-meant-to-provide-education-to-indigenous-children/
Macdonald was the architect of the Indian Residential School system, and defended that system even once it started to become known that the schools had high rates of death and disease because it supported colonization. I have outlined this argument here: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/07/09/john-a-macdonald-was-the-real-architect-of-residential-schools.html
6. "Made many other mistakes respecting Indigenous peoples and policies Canadians today strongly disapprove." First, genocide isn't a "mistake" - it is genocide. Second, many people, especially Indigenous peoples, strongly disapproved of JAM's genocidal policies IN HIS LIFETIME.
Here is a political cartoon from a *Toronto* paper from 1888 critiquing Macdonald for his starvation, genocidal policies. Knowing this debunks the whole "you can't judge the past by the standards of today." Even using the standards of JAM's time, he was criticized.
7. "Macdonald’s failures must, however, be weighed against an impressive record of constitution and nation building, his reconciliation of contending cultures...."
What this statement doesn't seem to grasp - or, more correctly, tries to conceal disingenuously - is that Macdonald's "successes" and "failures" are two sides of the same coin. Macdonald was a "nation-builder" but that building was done through racist policies and genocide.
Overall, this statement is not only out of touch Conservatives and signed by non-experts - David Frum, Barbara Kay, Peter MacKay - desperate to defend the Conservative brand, but it lacks nuance, complexity, and critical thinking - and, worse, promotes whitewashed history.
In the end, historian @innes_rob offers a more helpful, accurate assessment of Macdonald and his legacy. JAM should not be forgotten, nor uncritically celebrated, lionized, and mythologized: https://theconversation.com/john-a-macdonald-should-not-be-forgotten-nor-celebrated-101503
