Visit Picton (Ontario) Canada - the Darker Side

A prominent sight on Picton's Main Street is Sir John A. MacDonald's statue standing proudly in front of the historical Public Library, one of a limited number of Carnegie designed libraries in Ontario. While seeing a statue of MacDonald, Canada's first prime minister, was unsurprising, I was curious to know why Picton had chosen to honour him specifically. A quick search taught me that Picton was the town in which MacDonald settled his first court case, and indeed the statue is entitled Holding Court. It did not take long, however, to unearth a deep controversy which put the statue into storage until 2020. John A. MacDonald, while an important prominent Canadian historical figure, was also openly racist and upheld Indigenous assimilation beliefs which lead to the creation of residential schools, causing deep trauma in Native communities; this makes him a troublesome figure.

As a general rule, I'm not one to believe that history should be rewritten; it should be expanded with multiple perspective brought in as they come to light. This includes statues, and there are several of Sir John MacDonald: Montreal has a statue of the first Prime Minister which was erected in 1895; Ottawa has another which has stood with other political figures since the 1880s. These are clearly part of Canadian history, both good and bad; destroying them in favour of new ideologies doesn't necessarily serve collective memory. There are ways of reconciling with the past such as the Ottawa Mayor who came to a compromise when he agreed to change the plaque to reflect this complex reality.

So what of Picton? Well, to me, the situation is different. Consider this: the statue was not commissioned in the 1800s nor even in the 1900s but in 2015. Picton stands adjacent to Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory; indeed, one of the most direct routes to Picton is through the First Nation reserve. It seems to me rather... provocative to erect the statue of a man who sought to eradicate Indigenous Peoples so close to their homes.

I might have chalked this to an unpleasant irony, had a small incident not happened to my daughter and I on one of our tours. While we were in a shop chatting, a lady walked in, bought some merchandise and quickly left; I barely noticed her presence. The salesperson stepped up to attend to us. I don't remember his exact words, but he explained that he'd been in Picton for a year, from Toronto, and still couldn't believe some of the mentalities. He continued by saying that the lady had made a disparaging remark about my daughter and I speaking French. Anyone who has lived in Ontario knows the fight Francophones have had to go through to preserve their language; still today their language rights are not guaranteed. While they weren't discriminated against to the harsh levels as Native populations, they were certainly treated as inferior to their Anglophone peers. The women's remark was not innocent. My daughter and I pondered this as we thought back to the 2020 riots, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the currents of prejudice that still happen in Canada today. This didn't mar an otherwise lovely stay, but it did give food for thought...