Editor's Note: The original version of this story said Macdonald was the founder of the residential school system. In fact, he was one of the founders.The first prime minister of Canada, after five years, is set to be vindicated — officials now plan to free the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from its wooden box covering on the grounds of the Ontario legislature.In 2020, when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was publicly lamenting the claims by indigenous leaders that hundreds of children were buried in mass unmarked graves from the days of Canadian residential schools — claims that five years later still remain unsubstantiated — vandals repeatedly attacked the statue, complaining the first prime minister was a racist and a colonialist.To preserve the statue, it was first draped with a cloth covering, which quickly proved insufficient, and finally replaced with wooden panelling, where Macdonald would remain entombed for five years.But now, the relic has a glimmer of hope it will see the light of day — members of the Ontario legislature plan to uncover the statue while they consider what to do with it next..The statue was crafted in 1894, three years after Macdonald died. MacDonald, a father of Confederation, served as prime minister from 1867 to 1873 and again from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was one of the founders of the residential school system, which provided education for indigenous children through a partnership between the Canadian government and the Catholic church.On May 12, members of the Board of Internal Economy, which decides on official matters pertaining to the grounds of Queen’s Park, voted in agreement “the (protective) hoarding around the Sir John A. Macdonald statue be removed as soon as cleaning is completed, and the existing signage be erected once complete," according to the board’s meeting minutes, reported the Trillium..Speaker of the Legislature Donna Skelly confirmed that the statue is expected to be uncovered later this summer and said she welcomes the public to engage with it however they choose.“I welcome everyone to Queen’s Park—those who support the statue and those who don’t,” she told reporters Tuesday, per the CBC.Government House Leader Steve Clark also commented on the decision.“We’ve tasked the legislative committee to look at ways to ensure that Indigenous voices are represented at Queen’s Park, especially during the building’s rehabilitation,” he told Global News.“But we also need to recognize our history as it stands.”.Scholars at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute argue that Macdonald’s legacy must be assessed in full historical context. In a May 2024 paper titled, Sir John A. Macdonald and the Politics of History, Kelsie Walker contended while Macdonald made serious errors, he was also a visionary leader without whom Canada might never have existed as a united nation.“We should neither whitewash nor erase our history,” Walker wrote.“A mature country must be able to hold both truths at once.”The paper also warns against the dangers of 'presentism' — the act of judging historical figures solely by today’s standards — and encourages Canadians to engage with history critically rather than ideologically.As of late May, the statue remains enclosed on the south lawn of Queen’s Park, surrounded by small children’s shoes left as memorials in recent years. A sign posted on the casing reads, “Though we cannot change the history we have inherited, we can shape the history we wish to leave behind,” reflecting the complexity of the statue’s place in public memory.
