Back in 2009, the Canadian Secretary to The Queen, Kevin MacLeod noticed a lack of interest in Canada’s first prime minister, so he began bringing flowers to the statue of Sir John A. MacDonald on Parliament Hill on his birthday.
“Sir John A. is an incredible and colossal figure . . . so I decided that in my own quiet way I would at least do something that shows that Canadians do remember,” MacLeod said.
Inspired by MacLeod’s tributes, the Monarchist League of Canada, a group of individuals dedicated to maintaining Canada’s loyalty to the British monarchy, along with the Carleton Conservatives organized the first annual Sir John A MacDonald Memorial and Pub Night Jan. 10 — a day before his birthday.
Members of both groups gathered on Parliament Hill to honour MacDonald, who they say has been overlooked by Canadians.
Allan Jones, chairman for the Ottawa chapter of the league, delivered a brief speech, where he lamented the lack of interest from Canadians.
“I promise that next year, on your birthday . . . we will pay homage to you as the founder of modern Canada, and the first and greatest prime minister in our history,” Jones said.
“I often say that, if Sir John chose law and politics as his profession, he chose Canada as his passion,” Jones added.
The small crowd gathered at the statue of MacDonald to sing “O Canada” and share stories of MacDonald’s history, before moving on to Sir John A pub on Elgin Street, where beers and bagpipes waited.
It was a fitting place to honour MacDonald, notorious for his heavy drinking.
“He liked his country the same way he liked his drinks, strong and free,” said Jeffery Pierce, president of the Carleton Conservatives.
Pierce and a number of other Carleton Conservatives attended the memorial to show their appreciation for the former Conservative prime minister.
“I think it’s a healthy [thing] that we take some comic relief in the fact that he drank a bit,” said Andrej Litvinjenko, a member of the Carleton Conservatives and an executive at Ottawa’s Monarchist League.
Many attendees were eager to share their personal reasons for admiring MacDonald.
“We don’t recognize him just for the fact that he was there when Canada became a country, but for the hard work he put in as prime minister for 19 years,” Litvinjenko said.
Matthew Rowe, Ottawa’s spokesmen for the Monarchist League of Canada, said he thought the night was a great success.
“I hope that next year, there will be hundreds of people from all walks of life celebrating [MacDonald’s] life,” Rowe said. “I think this is a movement that’s gaining momentum, and that’s only going to increase with each year.”
That boost in interest may be especially important now that plans are being made to demolish MacDonald’s birth home in Scotland — something that Kevin MacLeod, and the others in attendance, expressed concern about.
“[It’s] important for Canadians to recognize the fact that there’s an iconic part of their history, that’s not on their soil,” MacLeod said. “I think if Canadians recognized the situation, they would say ‘we have to preserve this; not only for ourselves, but for our future generations.”
