A statue of John A. Macdonald is being removed from the City Hall in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, because it reminds Indigenous people of colonialism. Andrew Lutton explains why this is a bad idea, and why we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
00:00:00.400Sir John A. Macdonald, a father of Confederation, the first Prime Minister of this country we call the Dominion of Canada, a legend of Canadian history,
00:00:09.100but not worthy to be memorialized in a statue out front of the City Hall of Victoria, British Columbia.
00:00:15.340City Council in Victoria is set to remove a statue of Sir John A., who, by the way, served as a Member of Parliament for Victoria for at least a term,
00:00:24.060because they don't want to remind Indigenous people of the violence of colonialism.
00:00:28.680This is, in their justification, a step towards reconciliation.
00:00:33.060By reminding people of colonialism, you're endorsing it, and by putting up a figure of colonialism, well, you're just basically inflicting violence upon Aboriginals.
00:00:42.600This is the slippery slope through which these politically correct ninnies are trying to govern people.
00:00:48.740It's not a new phenomenon. We had in Ontario the Elementary Teachers Federation try to ban any school name from having John A. Macdonald in the title.
00:00:56.980Thankfully, that didn't go anywhere in terms of actual policy.
00:01:00.600You also have statues all over the United States of Confederate figures, regardless of the history and the context of that history coming down,
00:01:08.860because we try to view history through this politically correct modern lens.
00:01:13.360With John A. Macdonald, this is very misguided.
00:01:15.420He's a figure that, if you look at him in the context of his time, he was actually a very progressive, tolerant, and definitively non-racist person.
00:01:24.520By 2018 standards, things have changed. It's not as easy to compare people then to the people we have now.
00:01:31.300And that shouldn't be the goal of history.
00:01:33.040We can celebrate the positives and the goodness, the formation of this country, while also understanding the imperfection of historic figures.
00:01:41.080That doesn't mean we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
00:01:45.960He's a figure a lot more recently who promoted at one point in his life eugenics, also called homosexuality a mental illness.
00:01:54.080Heck, he was even honoured as being the greatest Canadian by CBC, above John A. Macdonald.
00:01:59.280You have these other figures that, if you look at the gestalt of their lives, there might be some negatives, but there is a lot more that is positive.
00:02:07.700Certainly, John A. Macdonald is in that category.
00:02:11.820And a great many of these Fathers of Confederation, who, under the guise of reconciliation, were to view as evil and not welcome in the Canadian discussion now.
00:02:21.760And, by the way, it's a little bit hypocritical.
00:02:23.740This is coming from the city of Victoria.
00:02:26.300Victoria, B.C., the city named after Queen Victoria, the monarch at the time John A. Macdonald was the Prime Minister.
00:02:33.140I don't see city council lining up to change the name of the city, which is proving that this is all window dressing.
00:02:39.580And if it comes to choosing between the eradication of history or the eradication of the political correctness that is eradicating history,
00:02:46.320I would choose to eradicate the political correctness.
00:02:50.200Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it, right?
00:02:53.760Well, I would take it one step further.
00:02:55.560Those who try to erase history are mindless, politically correct morons.
00:03:00.060For the True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.