Letter to the editor
The following is a response to the column Fresh Old Ideas by Arnold Malone that appeared in the January 16, 2025 edition of the Columbia Valley Pioneer.
I will begin with the writer’s final paragraph that states, “… history has been recorded and facts must not be altered to assist an argument.” To which I will add my own words: Neither should facts be omitted to assist an argument.
The subject in question is Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, whom the writer extols as “the main architect of the BNA Act” and credits with having “tripled the size of Canada with the most ambitious internal project … the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.”
The columnist laments that Macdonald “has been the primary victim of this nonsense” … the word “nonsense” being used to describe the actions of “well intentioned yet misguided people with an imagined disgrace about our early leaders and who want to expunge their names forever,” and “preach about a single objection while ignoring the conditions of the time and the overwhelming good that these amazing leaders provided.” While the writer also mentions Macdonald’s efforts towards obtaining suffrage for women and Black persons, in my response I will only address the first Prime Minister’s involvement vis-à-vis Canada’s Indigenous peoples – in deference to space considerations.
In a balanced view of Macdonald’s legacy, I too give him credit for his tenacious pursuit of Canadian nationhood, eventually setting Canada on the path to independence from its colonial parent, while forming a distinctly separate entity from the 48 states south of the 49th parallel. Similarly, he must be credited for the mega project of realizing the Canadian Pacific Railway, as well as the institution of the Northwest Mounted Police. But, (and again, in a balanced view) at what cost? I am of the belief that a ledger that simply states accomplishments provides the reader with an unbalanced view.
In order to achieve balance, each accomplishment must be accompanied by its related costs. And here is where the Macdonald legacy becomes muddy. Very muddy.
What the writer refers to as “new found values” that “demean an earlier time,” I see as the perspective of 130+ years (since Macdonald’s death) that bestows clarity on his actions. It is precisely this long view and clarity that have enabled numerous historians of the latter half of the 20th century and the early 21st century to review and rethink the Macdonald legacy. In fact, so very much has been written (and corroborated) in the past 70 years, that it boggles my mind that there are some among us who still portray him as the ‘saviour of Canada.’ But surely this notion of Canada is one that could only be held by the conquering nations – for must I remind you that there were already, at the time of first contact, numerous thriving nations on this land?
The writer’s statement that “During Macdonald’s years most Indian schools were day schools without compulsory attendance” is patently wrong. While ‘Mission Schools’ for Indigenous children were operated by various Christian religious orders since 1620, and The Mohawk Institute in Upper Canada became the first ‘residential school’ in 1831 [The Canadian Encyclopedia], the form of oppressive and repressive residential schools, with enforced attendance of all Indigenous children, only came into existence during Macdonald’s tenure as Prime Minister (for all but five years during the span of 1867— 1891) and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs (1878—1887).
It was Macdonald, in 1883, who authorized the creation of residential schools. While initially, many Indigenous leaders trusted that such an education would enable their children to prosper in the settler society, the Prime Minister clearly had other ideas, as evidenced by his speech to the House of Commons in May, 1883: “When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with its parents, who are savages … he is simply a savage who can read and write.” Instead, he believed, “…that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence … put … in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and models of thought of white men.” [The Canadian Encyclopedia]
The above are the man’s words as recorded in parliamentary annals of the time. How is it possible to dispute them? With regard to the matter of starving Indigenous people on the prairies: while it was the expectation of the Canadian governments (both Macdonald’s and Alexander Mackenzie’s) of the 1870s, that the recent treaties would encourage the Indigenous Peoples of the west to abandon their hunting and trapping traditions and take up farming like the European settlers, that did not take place. Strict measures by impatient government agents enforced hard labour on the land in return for necessary supplies and implements. The simultaneous collapse of the bison herds only made the Indigenous population more dependent on the government for food.
In the face of opposition complaints of government overspending on what was then considered “a dying race,” Macdonald’s response was that the agents “are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense.” [Dictionary of Canadian Biography]
I ask: are these the actions of a hero? In the Columbia Valley Pioneer column, this is what the writer refers to as “Against strong parliamentary opposition, our first Prime Minister provided food aid to the First Nations people.” While Attorney General of Canada West in 1854, Macdonald tabled the Act for the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes in the Canadian Assembly (the union of the Upper and Lower Canadas at the time). As its name implies, the Act was intended to entice Indigenous residents to become “enfranchised” or full citizens; upon which they would receive full status as British subjects, voting rights and 50 acres of reserve land. The catch? They had to be male; judged by a special board of examiners to be educated, debt-free, and of good moral character; remain that way for a three-year trial period; and give up their “Indian status” and cultural identity. The reserve land they would receive would immediately cease to be reserve land. [Ontario Historical Society] The Act for the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes morphed into the Gradual Enfranchisement Act in 1869, and eventually became the infamous Indian Act of 1876 (albeit under the Alexander Mackenzie government).
Returning as Prime Minister in 1878, Macdonald had no difficulty administering the Act. With regards to the moral character of our first Prime Minister, I would like to add one further reference … one that was not alluded to in the column. It will serve to underscore the racist leanings of the Prime Minister. While in his zeal to get the CPR completed, in the late 1870s and early 1880s, Macdonald countered the anti-Chinese sentiment in BC as well as his cabinet, “… either you must have this labour or you cannot have the railway.” On the subject of Chinese immigration, he held a different point of view. He argued that Chinese immigrants would produce “a mongrel race” that would destroy “the Aryan character” of British America. [Dictionary of Canadian Biography]
I could go on, but I think I have made my point regarding issues that were omitted in the writer’s column. I might add that the only referenced quote in the piece was attributed to an associate of the Aristotle Foundation – a right-wing think tank.
In terms of the tone of the piece, I would like to say that the use of statements such as “imagined disgrace,” “false purity,” and “single objection,” as well as justifying Macdonald’s behaviour on the grounds that he acted as a man of his era, is not only an egregious argument in the face of the devastating damage he caused to multiple generations of the First Peoples of what is now Canada, it is also a grievous insult to a people who have graciously permitted all of the rest of us to live on their land.
In closing I would like to point out that I find it ironic that the writer, while steadfastly defending his “historical hero” John A. Macdonald, has consistently misspelled his name throughout the column.
Kumari Campbell, Radium Hot Springs
