The CBC (CBC)
and The Globe and Mail (Globe)
have both, in the last day or two, reported on the fact that the Elementary
Teachers' Federation of Ontario have passed a motion to ask individual school
boards to change the name of any school called Sir John A. MacDonald to something
else. The reason: because MacDonald while Prime Minister was the "central architect"
of the genocide of First Nations people including starving those people off of
the lands required for the railroad. Those teachers who voted for this motion were
right - MacDonald was in all likelihood (as viewed through the lens of 2017) a racist who participated in the development
of policies that were, at the very least, immeasurably harmful to First Nation
communities.
I am not convinced however, that deleting his name from a
few buildings rectifies anything. It certainly does not mediate in any way the
actions of MacDonald and perhaps even worse it takes away the opportunity for
the education system to discuss honestly with its consumers (the students) the
consequences of those policies. It would
seem to me that it is well past time that Canadian educators build into their curriculum
a discussion of what was done, why and how. Not because we want to celebrate, condemn or
negate all of MacDonald's and his peers activities but because we need to learn from them and
their errors in thinking. We all need to understand how and why they came to
the conclusions they did. We need to understand the cultural and historical
background - not to justify or rationalize those decisions but rather to insure
that we do everything to prevent those attitudes from arising again. If we
don't discuss those particular attitudes and how they developed (including colonization)
- those attitudes will arise again (see alt-right movement in the USA).
My bet is that for the vast majority of all of the students
who attend a school called Sir John A. MacDonald, the name is absolutely irrelevant
to their lives. It is just a name. The only time he may get discussed is during
a history class - and that somewhat briefly. Changing a school's name to something else would do little
to educate the students as to why his name does not shine as brightly as our political
forefathers would have wished. MacDonald was, by all accounts, a man more
flawed than most. If we are to recognize him at all - then we need to discuss
his brilliance and his flaws - not to celebrate either aspect, but to
understand him and his times.
I accept and acknowledge that MacDonald and the hundreds and
hundreds of politicians and civil servants ever since have either intentionally
or unintentionally created and implemented policies that insured that First
nations communities could not thrive. We can not change the past, but we can
admit to our failings and the consequences of those failures - and we can
promise to do better. But to do so, we need everyone to understand what
happened and why. If we want to raise young people who can think critically,
then we need to give them all of the information, the tools and the freedom to
do so.
Don't change the name - add to the curriculum to explain
both why his name is significant in Canadian history and why his some of his policies
were harmful, disrespectful and dangerous to some Canadians.
