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[CazTGG]

Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, was an architect of Indigenous genocide whose name has no place on public schools in Ontario, according to an attention-grabbing motion passed last week by the province’s elementary teachers union.

It’s a strong accusation at a time of heated debate over the memorializing of controversial figures in the United States and Canada — that a man whose statue stands outside Parliament and the Ontario legislature, whose name is on major roads and the airport of the country’s capital, and whose face is on the $10 bill, is unworthy of being associated with children’s schools.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario issued the call at its annual meeting on Aug. 14, after a motion written by teachers from Peel Region and Grand Erie was passed.

Full story: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...uld-be-renamed-elementary-teachers-union.html

For those not up on their Canadian history, Sir John A.Macdonald was our first Prime Minister and a key figure in Canada's Confederation, the Chinese Head Tax and residential schools among other impactful decisions. The latter two of these decisions were largely informed by Macdonald's racist views on the Chinese and indigenous people of Canada, believing the former would destroy "the Aryan character of the future of British America" while the latter were described by him as savages that "though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write". This suggestion has garnered a mixture of reactions, with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne saying that we need to teach our kids about the history of our country, including colonialism (which...we do...in history classes. At least, that's what I was taught from high school onward) in opposition while supports it as a means of recognizing the impact that Macdonald's decisions left on Canada.

Remove my name if old.

 

[Frozenprince]

Someone who actively waged a campaign ethnic cleansing shouldn't be honored like this.

Remove his names and keep it to the history books where it belongs.

 

[Sapiens]

That just makes Stephen Harper one step closer to finding his ugly pumpkin head on a bill.

 

[Verelios]

So...why is there even a debate? The guy is an asshat.

 

[Sega Saturn]

Are you serious? What's the point?

 

[CazTGG]

That just makes Stephen Harper one step closer to finding his ugly pumpkin head on a bill.

We have more than a dozen of other Prime Ministers more worthy of having their face put on the $10 (Pierre Trudeau), to say nothing of other Canadians (Terry Fox) or pre-Confederacy indigenous leaders (Tecumseh) before we get to Mr. TVs & Movie.

Are you serious? What's the point?

Acknowledging that a man who sought to commit cultural genocide should not be honored by having his name plastered onto a school? There was a similar suggestion a few months ago with a push to rename Ryerson since Egerton Ryerson was an instrumental figure in the creation of residential schools with equally unsurprising defensiveness over the suggestion.

 

[Frozenprince]

Are you serious? What's the point?

Man idk why you think you'll get some protracted argument where you can "troll" in a thread about a racist who waged literal ethic cleansing and cultural genocide campaigns as a basis for his political platform.

Like if you're gonna troll, pick better battles, not only is this in bad taste, it's just lazy.