Sir John A. Macdonald Essay

Sir John A. Macdonald is known as the father of the confederation throughout Canada. Due to his many achievements to unite the first provinces of the country, he is admired by many Canadians of all ethnicities. Although, his contributions to the country may have been great, there are some events that he had a part in that have recently been very controversial. Due to the controversy, Ontario schools are debating whether or not to change their names. As Macdonald was a part of some offensive events in his lifetime (towards Indigenous groups), there is some controversy that has started. These events had to do with the discrimination that was shown against indigenous people. However, even though he had offensive ideologies, there were many positive

things that he did for society in Canada, and due to that, his name should not be removed from Ontario schools. Macdonald has made more improvements for Canada than negative contributions with being a part of the Confederation, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and fighting for various human rights.
Although Macdonald had an offensive view on indigenous people, based on historical perspective, this may have been the appropriate thing to do at the time when Macdonald lived.

He may have truly believed that indigenous people were savages at the time. Other than the belligerent view of Macdonald, he had also contributed a great amount to the country of Canada. “He played a key role in the confederation”,which created the independent country of Canada. Due to the confederation, he was also named Prime Minister which resulted in many positive things for Canadian society. One of the things that he accomplished was the Canadian Pacific Railway. Macdonald was a key part of the creation of the long and expensive project as “he agreed to introduce legislation for the further financial support of the railway”. Due to his dedication, he united different parts of Canada and also allowed people to begin living on the west coast of Canada. Other than providing Canadians with nationwide transportation, Macdonald was also able to offer the country national protection by creating the North-West Mounted Police, later renamed Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Also, while Indigenous people were originally given the ability to vote in 1960, Macdonald proposed this nearly 60 years earlier. Along with pushing for Indigenous voting rights, “In the 1880s, Macdonald became ‘the first national leader in the world to attempt to grant women the vote,’ wrote biographer Richard

Gwyn”.
The controversy of the changing of Ontario school names are currently affecting the view of John A. Macdonald’s legacy. However, his achievements are very important, even though he may have had some offensive ideologies (that seemed to be the right thing to do at the time). Although the offensive ideas cannot be forgotten, society should also not forget about the contributions he has made for civilization. Very similar to the way that Thomas Jefferson made contributions to the United States of America as a founding father. However, Jefferson was also known to be a very racist person, but, this is usually overlooked due to the positive contributions that he had made. The names of Ontario schools should not be changed, as Sir John A. Macdonald made greater improvements compared to his negative ideologies.