TORONTO -- Historians told CTVNews.ca that white supremacy is linked to the legacy of Sir John A . Macdonald -- Canada's first prime minister, a champion of residential schools and whose government starved Indigenous people in order to expand railways -- but that connection is whitewashed when defenders lionize him.
A public letter entitled 鈥�,鈥� released Monday signed by 149 people, including some prominent figures and former politicians, argued that 惭补肠诲辞苍补濒诲鈥檚 discrimination against Indigenous Peoples has to be weighed 鈥渁gainst an impressive record of constitution and nation-building, his reconciliation of contending cultures, languages, and religions, his progressivism, and his documented concern for and friendship with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.鈥�
But Indigenous history scholars told CTVNews.ca that the letter, from the advocacy group 鈥淔riends of Sir John A. Macdonald鈥� and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, is 惭补肠诲辞苍补濒诲鈥檚 .
鈥淧eople are afraid of Canada being linked to white supremacy,鈥� Robert Alexander Innes, Indigenous studies associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a fear that his genocidal and racist tendencies say a lot about modern-day Canadians [which] a lot of Canadians don鈥檛 want to face. It鈥檚 a difficult thing.鈥�
He criticized how the letter described what Macdonald did: he 鈥渁cquired territory that made Canada the second largest country in the world鈥� but doesn't mention how the land was taken from Indigenous Peoples. The letter said he 鈥渟pearheaded the building of a railway to the Pacific,鈥� without mentioning it involved starving the Indigenous people living on the land.
Innes and other scholars who spoke to CTVNews.ca believe the letter鈥檚 motivations were less of an actual attempt to reckon with history and was more of a political and nationalistic pushback to so-called 鈥渃ancel culture鈥� and the removal of Macdonald statues from public spaces.
Letter signatories included Conservative stalwarts such as former Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and former Finance Minister Joe Oliver; conservative columnists Barbara Kay and David Frum; Ryerson University professor Patrice Dutil and military historian Jack Granatstein.
Omeasoo Wahpasiw, an assistant professor of education and arts at the University of Prince Edward Island, called the letter 鈥渄angerous,鈥� telling CTVNews.ca by phone: 鈥渋f we want to continue to develop as a democracy, we have to remember that nuances are incredibly important.鈥�
Wahpasiw, a Cree woman, said not linking Macdonald directly to the of Indigenous people 鈥渢ells me that those people鈥檚 rights didn鈥檛 matter and still don鈥檛 matter. And as an individual, what matters are your great accomplishments, not how you treat[ed] people.鈥�
Signatories of the letter purport to be seeking the prime minister鈥檚 鈥渇ull story鈥� but Innes, who advocated , said 鈥渢he irony is that by creating and having commemoration uncritically, you鈥檙e actually erasing the bad things that John Macdonald did.鈥�
Innes estimates upwards of 5,000 deaths should be placed at 惭补肠诲辞苍补濒诲鈥檚 feet as a result of his starvation policy, which involved the in the prairies, until they moved to reserves to make way for the Canadian Pacific Railway鈥檚 construction during the 1880s.
While on these deaths exist, Innes鈥� figures are partially extrapolated from the deaths of one third of the Cowessess First Nation, a band Innes is a member of today. 鈥淸This event] has been completely erased from our historical consciousness [but] that鈥檚 a big part of our story.鈥�
Students learn how to sew at Fort Resolution Indian Residential School (St. Joseph's Convent), in Resolution, N.W.T., in this undated image. (Library and Archives Canada)
Approximately 4,000 to 6,000 children died while in the residential school system which ran until 1996, according to estimates from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Approximately 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forcibly separated from their families and forced to attend these schools; were , and often being subjected to physical and sexual abuse.
Although the letter does acknowledge residential schools and their lasting legacy, Sean Carleton, a historian and Indigenous studies scholar at the University of Manitoba, pushed back at the letter鈥檚 assertion that residential schools were 鈥渨idely supported at the time.鈥�
Carleton points out that newspapers, as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous critics at the time, were not only calling out his residential schools and starvation policies; but also 惭补肠诲辞苍补濒诲鈥檚 barring of Chinese people from voting, and the Chinese head tax (in which Chinese immigrants paid a fee to enter Canada between 1885 and 1923).
鈥淛ohn A. Macdonald should not be uncritically celebrated, mythologized and lionized,鈥� Carleton argued. He said it 鈥渨hitewashes white supremacy views and defends a shallow, sugar-coated version of Canadian history that protects anti-Indigenous racism and promotes a variety of undercooked dangerous ideas.鈥�
LETTER ECHOES THE HISTORY OF EXCLUDING VOICES: HISTORIANS
Scholars explained to CTVNews.ca the letter is defending a sanitized history based on accounts that were biased from the start. And part of historians鈥� work is undoing those glossed-over accounts.
Crystal Fraser, an assistant professor of history at the University of Alberta, said much of Canadian history that was deemed important came from government agents on First Nations reserves, military leaders and missionaries -- all of whom she said were majority white and supported colonization.
鈥淣ot very often do you see an Indigenous voice in an archive,鈥� Fraser, a Gwichyà Gwich'in woman, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. 鈥淚 think if we had more of that, we could put to bed this misconception that Indigenous people were hapless victims. We鈥檝e been pushing back for centuries.鈥�
Carleton agreed saying the letter incorrectly implies that backlash against Macdonald is a modern-day occurrence. Carleton, Innes and Fraser all said Macdonald was a .
鈥淚ndigenous people went to war against Canada,鈥� Carleton said, referring to the country fighting the Métis in order to colonize what became Western Canada. 鈥淭hey were very, very critical of what was going on. There were a variety of critics in his role in the War of 1885 and the execution of [Métis political leader Louis] Riel -- that was critiqued in his own time.鈥�
Carleton said when history is sanitized, it 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 prepare Canadians to deal with the issues that are always bubbling underneath the surface.鈥�
NUANCE HELPS TO CRITICALLY ABOUT FUTURE: WAHPASIW
He said since the 1960s, false historical narratives have been dismantled as more Indigenous and critical scholars are added to the group of historians who comment, research and re-contextualize history.
鈥淚n an era of reconciliation, celebrating an architect of Indigenous genocide isn鈥檛 very helpful,鈥� Carleton said. 鈥淢any of the things they talk about in this letter need to be taught and understood but... he was also simultaneously a nation destroyer.鈥�
Fraser, whose research focuses on the history of student experiences at residential schools, was critical of how Canadian school systems and educators hadn鈥檛 been living up to the Truth And Reconciliation Committee鈥檚 .
, half of Canadians say they鈥檝e never learned about residential schools as students. A fact that鈥檚 disheartening for Fraser, who carries intergenerational trauma as both her mother and grandmother survived that system.
Fraser said the letter is indicative of the need for Canada as a whole to stop propping up inaccurate historical takes on figures like Macdonald, and instead 鈥渞edirect our funding, our energy, our teaching onto subjects that can actually make a difference for people living in this country.鈥�
Injustices today, such as murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, high suicide rates and lack of access to clean drinking water are the truer legacy of discriminatory policies of Macdonald and his contemporaries, Fraser said.
Wahpasiw, who regularly pushes her students in P.E.I. to dig deeper, agreed saying the letter 鈥渘ot only undermines our ability to think critically about the past but it undermines our ability to think critically about the future.鈥�
