The statue was in Hamilton’s Gore Park until hundreds of protesters marched downtown and destroyed it last summer. It remains in storage, the city confirmed earlier this month.
“He’s our first prime minister – that’s worth it … he was also very involved in the home schooling and it’s important for us to see these things as educational opportunities instead of trying to eliminate them,” Mayor Fred Eisenberger told journalists on Friday at the town hall.
He said that “it will take some time” for the councilors to think about restoring it and, if they decide, where.
Eisenberger also said he did not believe there was much support for the removal of all Macdonald statues.
He made the remarks a few minutes after speaking with local community leaders and anti-hate groups about the need for stricter laws banning hate speech on private property. This was done after watching a Confederate flag in the Binbrook area of Hamilton.
The comments of the mayor of Hamilton Fred Eisenberger come in view of the meeting of the emergency committee and community services next Thursday. (Bobby Christova / CBC)
Next Thursday, there is a meeting of the emergency committee and community services, where city staff will present an overview of landmarks and monuments.
The meeting will also include a report by First Peoples Group, a native consulting firm based in Ottawa. The report recommends that the statue of MacDonald not be re-erected.
“Relocating the statue now would be a step in the wrong direction. Clearing the site (storing all other components indefinitely) would allow future community involvement in a good way,” the report said.
Macdonald’s ties to residential schools
Macdonald’s legacy has been examined for its role in the school housing system. Thousands forced to attend school died there and many were abused, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. The committee heard testimonies of the effects of more than 100 years of abuse on 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children.
The Macdonald statue is unveiled after it was demolished last summer. Indigenous School Counselor Nathan Muir says the resettlement desire will “ensure that the Hamilton Indigenous people are oppressed and injured.” (Bobby Christova / CBC)
Canada has calculated this story, as potential burial sites are increasingly located in former residential schools.
The search for possible human remains at the former Mohawk Institute’s residential school in Bradford, OD, not far from Hamilton, continues.
The mayor is accused of not listening to the voters
Nathan Muir, an indigenous youth adviser on the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, told CBC Hamilton that he was “disappointed with the mayor and his reckless desire to ensure that colonial systems remain in power.”
“As a politician, one has to listen to his constituents and it is clear that Mayor Eisenberger does not listen to his constituents. In doing so, he continues to ensure that the people of Hamilton are oppressed and injured.”
Jordan Carrier, a woman from Plains Cree who saw the statue fall last year, said she “boils her blood and only thinks of audacity” of the mayor who spoke publicly at an anti-hate rally and “moments later she continues to “It hurts the natives,” he said.
“The people of Hamilton, the Hamilton Native community and the lands in which Hamilton sits deserve much better than that.”
Jordan Carrier, a woman in Plains Cree and a resident of Hamilton, was one of the organizers of the rally for the Hamilton Indigenous Unity last August 14th. After the rally, protesters took down the statue. He says it should not be resettled. (Eva Salinas / CBC)
Kojo Damptey, executive director of the Hamilton Center For Civic Inclusion, was among the community leaders standing next to the mayor at town hall on Friday, calling for tougher legislation on hate symbols.
Damptey told CBC Hamilton that Eisenberger’s comments on the statue are “beyond comprehension” as Hamilton’s record has the highest per capita hate crime rate in the country in 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2014.
“One minute you say we should not support hatred and the next minute you say we should erect statues of people who literally told the House of Commons that the natives are uncivilized,” Damptey said.
“Then how can we tell someone in Binbrook that a Confederate flag should be lowered? … The argument will also be, ‘Well, let’s not erase the story – let’s put a sign next to it.’
title: “Hamilton Mayor Wants To Relocate John A Macdonald Statue To School Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-01” author: “Donald Wilborn”
The statue was in Hamilton’s Gore Park until hundreds of protesters marched downtown and destroyed it last summer. It remains in storage, the city confirmed earlier this month.
“He’s our first prime minister – that’s worth it … he was also very involved in the home schooling and it’s important for us to see these things as educational opportunities instead of trying to eliminate them,” Mayor Fred Eisenberger told journalists on Friday at the town hall.
He said that “it will take some time” for the councilors to think about restoring it and, if they decide, where.
Eisenberger also said he did not believe there was much support for the removal of all Macdonald statues.
He made the remarks a few minutes after speaking with local community leaders and anti-hate groups about the need for stricter laws banning hate speech on private property. This was done after watching a Confederate flag in the Binbrook area of Hamilton.
The comments of the mayor of Hamilton Fred Eisenberger come in view of the meeting of the emergency committee and community services next Thursday. (Bobby Christova / CBC)
Next Thursday, there is a meeting of the emergency committee and community services, where city staff will present a review of landmarks and monuments.
The meeting will also include a report by First Peoples Group, a native consulting firm based in Ottawa. The report recommends that the statue of MacDonald not be re-erected.
“Relocating the statue now would be a step in the wrong direction. Clearing the site (storing all other components indefinitely) would allow future community involvement in a good way,” the report said.
Macdonald’s ties to residential schools
Macdonald’s legacy has been examined for its role in the school housing system. Thousands forced to attend school died there and many were abused, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. The committee heard testimony from the effects of more than 100 years of abuse on 150,000 First Nations children, Inuit and Metis.
The Macdonald statue is unveiled after it was demolished last summer. Indigenous School Counselor Nathan Muir says the resettlement desire will “ensure that the Hamilton Indigenous people are oppressed and injured.” (Bobby Christova / CBC)
Canada has calculated this story, as potential burial sites are increasingly located in former residential schools.
The search for possible human remains at the former Mohawk Institute’s residential school in Bradford, OD, not far from Hamilton, continues.
The mayor is accused of not listening to the voters
Nathan Muir, an indigenous youth adviser on the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, told CBC Hamilton that he was “disappointed with the mayor and his reckless desire to ensure that colonial systems remain in power.”
“As a politician, one has to listen to his constituents and it is clear that Mayor Eisenberger does not listen to his constituents. In doing so, he continues to ensure that the people of Hamilton are oppressed and injured.”
Jordan Carrier, a woman from Plains Cree who saw the statue fall last year, said she “boils her blood and only thinks of audacity” of the mayor who spoke publicly at an anti-hate rally and “moments later she continues to “It hurts the natives,” he said.
“The people of Hamilton, the Hamilton Native community and the lands in which Hamilton sits deserve much better than that.”
Jordan Carrier, a woman in Plains Cree and a resident of Hamilton, was one of the organizers of the rally for the Hamilton Indigenous Unity last August 14th. After the rally, protesters took down the statue. He says it should not be resettled. (Eva Salinas / CBC)
Kojo Damptey, executive director of the Hamilton Center For Civic Inclusion, was among the community leaders standing next to the mayor at town hall on Friday, calling for tougher legislation on hate symbols.
Damptey told CBC Hamilton that Eisenberger’s comments on the statue are “beyond comprehension” as Hamilton’s record has the highest per capita hate crime rate in the country in 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2014.
“One minute you say we should not support hatred and the next minute you say we should erect statues of people who literally told the House of Commons that the natives are uncivilized,” Damptey said.
“Then how can we tell someone in Binbrook that a Confederate flag should be lowered? … The argument will also be, ‘Well, let’s not erase the story – let’s put a sign next to it.’
