After the Charlottesville riots in the United States, where white supremacists gathered to “protest” the moving of a statue of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, a string of movements sprung up across the country to declare the need to get rid of monuments that memorialize slave owners and racists. Across the border, Canadians took the opportunity to spur conversation about addressing and removing memorials that similarly celebrate figures that were complicit in the genocide of Indigenous people. Although not a new debate, the Charlottesville riots have caused it to come to the forefront.
The argument that the memorials should stay because they are sources of pride for Canadians ignores the Indigenous populations wiped away because of the actions of the people in the monuments, like Canada’s first prime minister, John A. MacDonald. Disregarding the presence of the Indigenous people whose lives are still affected by the actions of historical figures spreads an affirmation that Canada is for white colonizers and white Canadians. For a country that wants to distance itself from its southern neighbours, the response to taking down memorials of racist figures is alarmingly similar to what occurred in the U.S.
The strong response to the removal of these memorials highlights the resistance to change present across the country. These monuments were erected as a reminder to Indigenous people and other marginalized, racialized groups of their inferiority to white Canadians. The action of placing statues of such figures shows an insidious form of colonization still occurring, where the notion of national pride for the dead eclipses compassion for the living.
The idea that these figures were heroes who held some problematic views that reflected those of their time downplays the full extent of genocide committed against the Indigenous communities in Canada. Using the word “genocide” only seems extreme because of the erasure of colonial horror. From colonization until today, Indigenous populations have decreased so drastically, the word genocide is a fitting descriptor. The denial of this ongoing erasure goes hand in hand with maintaining colonial figures weren’t “that bad.”
Removing memorials or renaming schools will not change history, nor will it erase racism, but it will show that Canadians care about taking care of people in their communities more than they do about justifying colonialism and genocide.
Instead of turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed towards Indigenous people with the shoddy excuse that there is no changing history, Canadians can do their part by changing the future. Black citizens in America and Canada still face a concentration of racialized violence. Indigenous people are still recovering from genocide, residential schools, racism, and many more atrocities.
If Canadians want to remember their history, these memorials can exist in museums and textbooks where they can be present as historical figures, but they also don’t have to be celebrated with such pomp and glory. People should not and will not forget history if they don’t walk past a statue of John A. MacDonald on their way to school. If Canada wants to build its reputation on being a multicultural fabric, then it should stop glorifying those who aimed to tear it apart.
Ultimately, the desire to keep memorials in place because of some bid to remember the legacy of history ignores the lives of people still affected by the legacy of racist and genocidal policies today. Since when is a piece of metal more important than the living, breathing people all around?
