Who Is He?
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Sir John A. Macdonald in 1875.
His Achievements
John A Macdonald was a key figure in Canada becoming the country we know today. He played a prominent role in the British North America Act which led to the joining of provinces to make up Canada. His involvement in Confederation, as well as helping Canada develop more autonomy and independence from Britain was crucial in establishing the country. He also created the Canadian Pacific Railway, which united the country from coast to coast and allowed for the development of Western Canada. This then allowed the manufacturing industry take off and further Canada's economy.
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To read more on his involvement in the creation of Confederation, click here. To read more on the Canadian Pacific Railway, visit this site.
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“When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with his parents who are savages; he is surrounded by savages … He is simply a savage who can read and write,” — Macdonald to House of Commons.
His Controversies
While Macdonald's positive acts for Canada on a national and international scale are numerous without a doubt, to only remember these positive aspects of Macdonald’s time in power is to turn a blind eye to the means of how he achieved certain ends. To ignore this is an erasure of authentic history - the acts of violence and racism he allowed must be recognized. As we celebrate the Canadian Pacific Railway, we must also be aware that the very land which the railway was built upon was attained due to the systemic starvation of the Indigenous people to force them to vacate; thousands died due to the withholding of rations. The Indigenous people’s land and their livelihood were seen as an obstacle to overcome in Macdonald's nationalist dream to unite the country.
“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 to House of Commons, 1882.
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Macdonald also had a hand in the approval of the Indian Act, which was a highly invasive act that allowed the government to control all aspects of an Indigenous person’s life, from political control to control over the practice of their own culture and traditions. It forced people onto reserves and allowed for the erasure of culture and practices.
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To view the official Indian Act, click here, additional readings about the Indian Act from an Indigenous point of view can be accessed here.
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“The executions of the Indians … ought to convince the Red Man that the White Man governs.” — Macdonald in letter to Edgar Dewdney.
Macdonald also had a heavy hand in the creation of residential schools, an atrocious and horrifying aspect of Canadian history which had the goal of assimilating Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Although altruistic sounding at first glance, the actuality was that these schools were industrial schools specifically designed to promote "aggressive civilization" - a disturbing notion, widespread at the time, that Indigenous peoples were not as evolved as the white man, was inferior, and that the school's purpose was to enlighten them of the civility they lacked. Within these residential schools, children were ripped from their homes and families, and subjected to widespread abuse. This led to thousands dying.
Within the academic journal The Genocide Question and Indian Residential Schools in Canada, it sources many quotes from Macdonald explaining his plan that “the native child ‘would be disassociated from the prejudicial influence by which he is surrounded on the reserve of his band’” (Hudson, 2012). It also speaks on the longlasting issues that still affect Indigenous communities today with the “Continuing cycles of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as addiction suicide and other markers of intergenerational trauma, within Aboriginal communities are considering residual effects of the residential school experience” (Hudson, 2012). The horrors of these institutes still affect communities today and should be acknowledged more by the general public.
To read an educational guide on residential schools in Canada, click here, and to read "The Genocide Question and Indian Residential Schools in Canada" click here.
Additionally, Facing History and Ourselves has an academic article on Residential Schools that can be accessed here.
“When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its parents, who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write his habits, and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write. It has been strongly pressed on myself, as the head of the Department, that the Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.” — Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald in the Official Report of the Debates of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada, 9 May 1883.