Montreal’s John A. Macdonald statue should not be put back: city committee advises

A city of Montreal ad hoc committee is advising against restoring the John A. Macdonald statue that was toppled by protesters.

The downtown statue, erected in 1895, was knocked down by a small group of demonstrators at the end of a rally that called on defunding the Montreal police in August 2020.

A committee released its preliminary assessment on Monday and write in French that, “considering the assimilative and genocidal policies he implemented on Indigenous peoples and the discriminatory acts he perpetrated against several groups of people, in the spirit of the reconciliation process, it is necessary to distance ourselves from this legacy of John A. Macdonald.”

The committee suggested finding another way to acknowledge the first Canadian Prime Minister, including through artistic means by engaging the community, or “retain the base and canopy in their original location so as to preserve a tangible record of the entire history of the site and the figure it showcased for over 125 years.”

Other recommendations: install an interpretive plaque that identifies important iconic elements to be communicated to future generations; encourage a multidisciplinary reinterpretation using physical and virtual markers to broaden the subject of recognition to include all groups affected by assimilative and discriminatory policies implemented by Macdonald and the regime he represented.

The head of a statue of Sir John A. MacDonald is shown torn down following a demonstration in Montreal, Aug. 2020 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)

MORE:

• Trudeau calls out vandals who toppled Montreal’s Macdonald statue
• The aftermath of the topping of John A. Macdonald statue
• Protesters in Montreal topple John A. Macdonald statue, demand police defunding
• John. A. Macdonald statue beheaded

Over the years, the statue had become a frequent target of vandalism.