TABLE OF CONTENTS Video Summary Related Content Video
TABLE OF CONTENTS Video Summary & Related Content Video Review Before Viewing While Viewing Talk Prompts After Viewing The Story Activity: Putting the Issue to the Test Sources 3 4 5 6 8 13 15 20 22 CREDITS News in Review is produced by CBC NEWS and curio. ca GUIDE Writer/Editor: Sean Dolan Additional Editing: Michaël Elbaz VIDEO Host: Michael Serapio Senior Producer: Jordanna Lake Packaging Producer: Marie-Hélène Savard Associate Producer: Francine Laprotte Supervising Manager: Laraine Bone Visit www. curio. ca/newsinreview for an archive of all previous News In Review seasons. As a companion resource, go to www. cbc. ca/news for additional articles. CBC authorizes reproduction of material contained in this guide for educational purposes. Please identify source. News In Review is distributed by: curio. ca | CBC Media Solutions © 2019 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD: A Legacy of Controversy Video duration – 13: 27 Sir John A. Mac. Donald has become a controversial figure in our modern times. Of course, he was Canada’s first prime minister, responsible for bringing about Confederation and building a rail line across this country. But in this era of truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples his image is a symbol of oppression. It was his policies that saw the starvation of Indigenous tribes on the prairies to force them on to reservations and assimilate them. And it was his government that brought in the residential school system. But is removing his statue and name from schools and buildings removing his legacy or dishonoring an historical figure? RELATED CONTENT • • Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada video collection and teacher guide John A. : Birth of a Country John A. Macdonald's Complicated Legacy News in Review, October 2017 – Violence in Virginia: The Rise of the Alt-Right (* discusses removal of a Robert E. Lee statue) curio. ca/newsinreview /3
VIDEO REVIEW curio. ca/newsinreview /4
BEFORE VIEWING What happens when history is revisited and once revered figures are suddenly viewed as bigots, villains or malefactors? For example, monuments and statues dedicated to confederate generals in the southern U. S. recently came under scrutiny for representing ongoing institutional racism. As a result, many jurisdictions made the controversial decision to remove the statues and monuments. When a new perspective becomes a part of the consciousness of a nation, is it appropriate to tear down monuments or are they an important reflection of a moment in history? What alternative actions could these jurisdictions take? A malefactor is a person who commits a crime or does something wrong. Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview /5
WHILE VIEWING 1. Which Canadian city removed a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from their city hall? a) Toronto b) Ottawa c) Victoria d) Regina 1. A survey in September 2018 found that half of Canadians opposed the removal of the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald while only 25 per cent supported its removal. TRUE or FALSE? : 2. David Garneau is known for playing the ghost of Louis Riel in a performanceart protest in front of the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Regina. He is of which Indigenous background: a) Métis b) Inuit c) Iroquois d) Huron 4. Sir John A. Macdonald is seen as a: a) Nation-builder b) The architect of the residential school system c) One of the fathers of Confederation d) All of the above Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview /6
5. Paul Fortier owns a pub in Kingston that: a) used to be named after Sir John A. Macdonald. b) serves Scottish fair from the era of Sir John A. Macdonald. c) is named after supporters of Sir John A. Macdonald. d) has been in Kingston for over 200 years. 6. Patrick Johnson has been charged with criminal mischief for taking a sledgehammer to the Sir John A. Macdonald statue in Regina. TRUE or FALSE? 7. James Daschuk wants the city of Regina to tear down the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald. TRUE or FALSE? Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview /7
TALK PROMPTS curio. ca/newsinreview /8
TALK PROMPT #1 Consider pausing the video and giving students the opportunity to talk to an elbow partner for a few minutes, or use these questions as part of a class discussion. Pause the video after Métis artist and university professor David Garneau says, “He (Laurent Garneau, David’s great-great grandfather) was arrested, put in jail for six months and was threatened with hanging. So, I grew up with the idea that is a possibility. And it led to what I call the great silence. You know, Métis people just went underground at that point to assimilate. My family assimilated, just was quiet. ” @ 05: 40 1. How effective do you think Garneau’s performance protest has been at communicating his message regarding Sir John A. Macdonald? 2. Why do you think he chose art to get his message across? 3. How does the statue of Macdonald make him feel? Can you understand why he feels this way? Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview /9
TALK PROMPT #2 Pause the video after pub owner Paul Fortier says, “You want to watch your back, you don’t know when it’s going to happen but you’re going to be gone. ” @ 13: 26 1. Why does Warren Everett, the head of the Kingston Historical Society, believe that people should not make Sir John A. the lightning rod for the debate regarding Canada’s legacy of discriminating against the Indigenous population? 2. Why did Paul Fortier change the name of his pub? Did the strategy work? Why did Fortier receive death threats? Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview / 10
TALK PROMPT #3 Pause the video after CBC report Nick Purdon asks, “Listening to the argument I can’t help but wonder how it is that Sir John A. Macdonald has become the most controversial figure in the country. And what are we really arguing about when we argue about it? ” @ 11: 11 • Where do you stand on the Sir John A. Macdonald debate: on the side of the man who took the sledgehammer to the statue or on the side of the man who believed trying to wreck the statue was an act of vandalism? Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview / 11
TALK PROMPT #4 Play the video through to the end. 1. What does historian Jim Daschuk think of the whole debate? 2. What do you think of David Garneau’s idea of retiring the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald to a museum? 3. Would moving the statue to a museum solve the problem of Macdonald’s controversial legacy? Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview / 12
AFTER VIEWING The head of the Kingston Historical Society, Warren Everett, believes that there comes a point where you need to let history be history and not analyze the motives of past political figures through the lens of today’s norms. During the video, he tells the CBC’s Nick Purdon, “You could have a growth industry in wrecking. ” He goes on to say, while referencing the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald standing in the background, “I think if this statue came down, you start to erode the legacy and history of the country. I think it would leave a big hole in Canadian history if taken down. ” Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy 1. What do you think? Is it fair for people to call Sir John A. Macdonald a racist based on today’s norms vs. the norms of the 1800 s? 2. Should memorials dedicated to him be torn down or removed because he offends today’s sensibilities? 3. What other options do we have when it comes to memorials dedicated to Sir John A. Macdonald? curio. ca/newsinreview / 13
It used to be that sir John A. Macdonald was just the father of the country. That's it, that's all. Nobody really questioned his legacy. Which is actually a lot more complicated. Sir John A. started the residential school system, for example, so he can be seen as a nation builder but also as a racist. And there are plenty of people on both sides [of the argument]. – from CBC journalist Nick Purdon’s news report
THE STORY To memorialize or not to memorialize: that is the question. The removal of a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from Victoria’s city hall set off a nationwide debate on the career and legacy of Canada’s first prime minister. While some gave Sir John A. the thumbs up, others gave him an emphatic thumbs down, with a call to remove every memorial to the man across the country. Nation-builder For many Canadians, Sir John A. Macdonald’s legacy is one of nationbuilding, leadership and independence. He is seen as father of Confederation and the man whose will and determination facilitated Canada’s peaceful escape from the grip of the British. He is revered for envisioning a nation that many Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy thought would fail without British governance and lose its way in the shadow of an emerging superpower to the south. While others went about their business waiting for the Canada experiment to curio. ca/newsinreview / 15
fail, Macdonald built a railroad that stretched to the far reaches of the country and brought the rule of law to a largely vacant West. In the end, the experiment succeeded: the British continued to surrender power to the new confederation and the U. S. never did gobble up the northwest into its borders. History has given credit to Macdonald for steadfastly clinging to the notion of a confederacy of provinces that could exist independent of the British and the U. S. Removing the obstacles Macdonald’s reputation as a merciless nation-builder comes largely from his treatment of Canada’s Indigenous people. In many ways, Macdonald and his contemporaries saw the Indigenous population as obstacles to western expansion. It is for this reason that he needed to come to terms with Indigenous tribes or risk losing the West to the U. S. His team of negotiators managed to capitalize on tribal Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy troubles in order to get the key Macdonald’s quest to build a railway from coast to coast, while successful, came at a great cost. Besides taking on a debt load that nearly bankrupted the fledgling nation, Macdonald’s National Policy saw over 15 000 Chinese labourers brought in to complete the most dangerous railway work, with close to 1 000 dying on the job. curio. ca/newsinreview / 16
chiefs of the Plains First Nations to sign the notorious Treaty 7. The treaty saw Indigenous leaders agree to give Canada access to traditional tribal land to build the transcontinental railway. It also set up the reserve system that confined the nomadic Plains First Nations people to designated plots of land. Not everybody was on board with Treaty 7 and, as far as Macdonald and his cohorts were concerned, that was too bad for them. Those who stood in the way of westward expansion and failed to fall in line with the provisions of the treaty were denied access to food at a time when the plains were enduring widespread famine. Thousands died — the exact number is unknown because nobody kept track of who died. Sadly, as far as the most politicians in Canada at that time were concerned, the Indigenous population represented a savagery that needed to be tamed. And the Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy best way to do that was to show Indigenous peoples who had the power and teach them the ways of what these politicians saw as their superior race. Architect of the residential school system This attitude was captured in Canada’s infamous residential schools — another Macdonald legacy. The goal of the residential school system was to “take the Indian out of the child. ” In other words, curio. ca/newsinreview / 17
Indigenous people were forced to learn the ways of the Anglo-Europeans who colonized what was once their land. In many cases, nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples were forced into a sedentary life on governmentcreated reserves and Indigenous children were shipped off to schools to teach them anything but their native cultural traditions and values. The scale of abuse at the residential schools — physical, emotional and sexual — has become one of the most insidious and cruel wounds inflicted on Indigenous culture as a whole Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy by the Canadians who eventually took control of the northern part of this continent. Warren Everett of the Kingston Historical Society says that Sir John A. Macdonald shouldn’t be exclusively blamed for the residential school system. He claims, “He [Macdonald] shouldn’t be the lightning rod, because if he is, so is Laurier, so is Borden, so is Bennett — everybody up to Pearson. They may not have started it, but they certainly didn’t stop it. ” curio. ca/newsinreview / 18
Typical for era or a villain? The positive and negative legacies of Sir John A. Macdonald are a matter of public record and have stirred up a national debate on whether or not to acknowledge him as a nationbuilder or admonish him as a racist who attempted to wipe out Canada’s Indigenous population. His defenders argue that he was typical of his era and that his views on Indigenous people were no different from those of his contemporaries. In fact, the argument could be made that almost any other colonial political leader, given the same circumstances, would have acted in the same way and made the same decisions. However his detractors argue that, regardless of the time and place in history, Macdonald has to be taken to task for his ruthlessness, and if one of the ways to do that is to take down a few memorials, so be it. Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy TO CONSIDER 1. Do you think the city council of Victoria was right to take down the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald? 2. What is the positive legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald? 3. What is the negative legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald? 4. Do you think it is fair to judge Sir John A. Macdonald — a politician of the 19 th century — from a 21 st century perspective? curio. ca/newsinreview / 19
ACTIVITY: Putting the Issue to the Test Let’s see if you can find a way to challenge the legitimacy of tearing down (or not tearing down) memorials dedicated to Sir John A. Macdonald. Here’s what you are going to do: • Form a group of five. • Two group members will take the position that Sir John A. Macdonald memorials should be removed from public spaces and two group members will take the position that the memorials should remain. Each side will research their position and prepare their arguments to present to a neutral and independent judge. • One group member will play the role of judge. She/he will listen to the perspective of both sides and then rule on whether or not the memorials should be taken down. Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy Note: * You should treat this as a kind of mock trial. * The judge will research both sides of the argument to aid in their determination. curio. ca/newsinreview / 20
FORMAT • Remove the memorials presentation – 5 to 10 minutes. Be sure to reference specific historic events to support your position. Use the sources from this News in Review guide (p. 22) to help you with your arguments. • Keep the memorials presentation – 5 to 10 minutes. Be sure to reference specific historic events to support your position. Use the sources from this News in Review guide (p. 22) to help you with your arguments. • The judgment – after listening to both sides, the judge should ask questions of clarification. The judge will take a day to consider the arguments of both sides and then return to class the next day to render their verdict. The judge has a right to reference specific historic events to support Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy their verdict. They can also critique the presentations of those appealing for the removal and those arguing to keep the monuments. curio. ca/newsinreview / 21
SOURCES CBC News. (Dec. 21, 2018). The trial of Sir John A. Macdonald: Would he be guilty of war crimes? CBC News. Retrieved from: www. cbc. ca/radio/ideas/the-trial-of-sir-john-a-Macdonald-would-he-be-guilty-of-war-crimes-today-1. 4614303. CBC News. (Dec. 28, 2018). The verdict on Sir John A. Macdonald: Guilty or innocent? CBC News. Retrieved from: www. cbc. ca/radio/ideas/the-verdict-on-sir-john-a-Macdonald-guilty-or-innocent-1. 4616181. Dangerfield, Katie. (Aug. 24, 2017). The controversy over Sir John. A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, explained. Global News. Retrieved from: https: //globalnews. ca/news/3693078/sir-john-a-Macdonald-controversy-canadas-first-prime-minister/. Dann, John. (Aug. 14, 2018). Removing my statue of John A. Macdonald from view is not going to change our history. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: www. theglobeandmail. com/opinion/article-removing-my-statue-of-john-a-Macdonald-from-view-is-not-goingto/. Daschuk, James. (May 11, 2018). When Canada used hunger to clear the West. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: www. theglobeandmail. com/opinion/when-canada-used-hunger-to-clear-the-west/article 13316877/. Dehaas, Josh. (Aug. 9, 2018). Removing John A. Macdonald: ‘Historical vandalism’ or step toward reconciliation? CTV News. Retrieved from: www. ctvnews. ca/canada/removing-john-a-Macdonald-historical-vandalism-or-step-toward-reconciliation-1. 4047293. Gwyn, Richard J. (Mar. 4, 2015). Macdonald: The man who made us. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: www. thecanadianencyclopedia. ca/en/article/madonald-the-man-who-made-us. Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview / 22
SOURCES Hopper, Tristin. (Aug. 28, 2018). Here is what Sir John A. Macdonald did to Indigenous people. The National Post. Retrieved from: https: //nationalpost. com/news/canada/here-is-what-sir-john-a-Macdonald-did-to-indigenous-people. Johnson, J. K. (July 31, 2013). Sir John A. Macdonald. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: www. thecanadianencyclopedia. ca/en/article/sir-john-alexander-Macdonald. Purdon, Nick. (Nov. 10, 2018). Death threats and burning effigies: Sir John A. Macdonald controversy gets extreme. CBC News. Retrieved from: www. cbc. ca/news/canada/sir-john-a-Macdonald-history-controversy-1. 4859448. Nasser, Shanifa. (Aug. 23, 2017). He’s considered Canada’s founding father, but many Ontario teachers want his name stripped from public schools. CBC News. Retrieved from: www. cbc. ca/news/canada/toronto/john-Macdonald-school-1. 4259643. Tesar, Alex. (Aug. 19, 2013). Treaty 7. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: www. thecanadianencyclopedia. ca/en/article/treaty-7. Wilson-Smith, Anthony. (Jan. 14, 2015). Bicentennial of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: www. thecanadianencyclopedia. ca/en/article/bicentennial-of-sir-john-a-Macdonalds-birth. Sir John A. Mac. Donald: A Legacy of Controversy curio. ca/newsinreview / 23
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