By Eric Strikwerda Associate Professor, History, Athabasca University \u201cWe\u2019re freeing John A.,\u201d Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently announced, unveiling plans to return a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald to its place of prominence overlooking the south lawn of the Ontario legislature at Queen\u2019s Park. The statue\u2019s return comes five years after activists, disgusted by the first Canadian prime minister\u2019s racist policies, sprayed pink paint over the statue\u2019s base. Ford\u2019s announcement was welcome news to the mostly conservative historians, editorialists and assorted pundits who have decried Macdonald\u2019s \u201ccancellation.\u201d Their objections have been part of passionate debates about whether racist and harmful figures from the past should be celebrated through statues, school and state institution names and public infrastructure projects. For these conservatives, the issue is simple. Dismantling statues is dismantling… <\/p>\n
By Eric Strikwerda Associate Professor, History, Athabasca University \u201cWe\u2019re freeing John A.,\u201d Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently announced, unveiling plans to return a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald to its place of prominence overlooking the south lawn of the Ontario legislature at Queen\u2019s Park. The statue\u2019s return comes five years after activists, disgusted by the first Canadian prime minister\u2019s racist policies, sprayed pink paint over the statue\u2019s base. Ford\u2019s announcement was welcome news to the mostly conservative historians, editorialists and assorted pundits who have decried Macdonald\u2019s \u201ccancellation.\u201d Their objections have been part of passionate debates about whether racist and harmful figures from the past should be celebrated through statues, school and state institution names and public infrastructure projects. For these conservatives, the issue is simple. Dismantling statues is dismantling... <\/p>\n