This week, the city of Victoria removed a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, from its steps. Not for cleaning, not because it needed repairs, but because it offended people. Ok, a particular group of people.

It seems, in it’s efforts to be more inclusive and open, the city held talks with its staff, and other interested parties, all different groups of various ethnic backgrounds. In the year-long process, the City Family, as it was called, heard from Indigenous members that walking past this statue reminded them daily of colonial violence against their ancestors. In less than a week of deliberations, it was decided the statue should come down.

In its place, will be a plaque, explaining why the statue was removed.

This is the beginning of potentially a very tragic end.

Canada is a self-deprecating nation. We say we’re sorry, a lot. To a lot of people. Even to people to whom we’ve never met. We’ve apologized to entire nations, various ethnic groups, our neighbors, our allies, even our enemies. We’ve apologized for our parts in wars, peacekeeping, for living well, for our roles in keeping, in this case, Indigenous people from moving forward. Here’s where this gets tricky, and the media and politicians need to stop making this comparison. We cannot keep comparing the actions of over 100 years ago, to today’s standards of what we consider to be inclusive or politically correct. What happened over 100 year ago actually happened and we must stop sweeping it under the rug with apologies.

No nation is blameless in atrocities committed against some of its people. Not one nation in the world can claim that they have been equal and kind to all of its citizens since its inception. Not ONE.  Humans have been horrible to other humans since the beginning of time. Humans have felt the need to invade, lord-over, manipulate and even destroy other lands, in the name of God, themselves, Kings, Queens, or even, just because they could. Canada is no exception. For all our apologies, we began as a nation of conquerors. Don’t believe that? Be it the British or the Vikings, both were looking for new lands to claim. You cannot claim something, unless you come prepared to conqueror it.

And conquer, we did. Were we kind to the Indigenous people who already here? Not really. In fact, our presence almost wiped some tribes out completely due to diseases we brought with us that they had no way of fighting. We built “roads” through the lands they lived in. We brought the iron horse through the lands they had hunted in for presumably centuries before we came along. We corralled them to further and further outreaches of our populations, because the people who came in and conquered, did not know the incumbents’ history, and considered them to be less than themselves. This sounds terrible, why would Canada, a nation known for its apologies and open doors, do such a thing to its own population?

History tells us, we’re no different that any other conquering nation. We came, we conquered. In doing so, we trampled on people, killed, maimed and destroyed. Didn’t learn that in school? Perhaps our curriculum is a shade out of date – but there’s another reason you may not know this part of history. We don’t want to be reminded of our past atrocities. And that’s wrong. It’s been wrong from the start.

Rather than removing our history, and bury it out back in the garden somewhere, rather than removing names from schools or statues from city hall steps, from this point forward, lets focus on the present, on being inclusive, on being welcoming, on being truthful. Let’s acknowledge our past, and all of our parts in it. The conquerors that came here were not the only ones in the wrong – though they have the lion’s share to take ownership of. See what I did there? That’s correct. We need to stop blaming those who live in 2018, for the atrocities committed in 1878. I didn’t elect the government who went on to create the Residential School system.  Nor did I elect the government who would create a national railway and build a nation. Funny thing about nation building, you can’t do it, without hurting someone. Try to find one that didn’t have one group or another trampled on in the course of building their nation. What needs to happen here, is ALL of our history, good bad and otherwise, needs to be taught to new generations. Without filters, without left of right leaning focuses. Without apology. Without history, we cannot hope to improve and evolve. History teaches us from where we came, yes. It also teaches us what we did wrong to get there, and what we can do better for all concerned in future.

Taking the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald off the steps of Victoria City Hall will not lessen the wrongs done to those lived in his time. It will not better the lives of those who live in our current time. It will only serve to make some of us feel better for apologizing for something we didn’t do. Instead, how about we add a plaque to that statue, that not only says who this is, but what he’s historically credited with, good, bad, and otherwise. Because, while for the next 50 years or so, the planned replacement plaque will tell people why there is no longer a statue of Canada’s first Prime Minister where it once stood,  in a generation or two from now that replacement plaque will be removed – and then the entire history is lost.

And if our history is lost, how do future generations continue to build without knowing the mistakes of the past? Without knowing them, they are doomed to repeat them. Which would be a far worse atrocity that those already committed. In removing our history now, we condemn future generations to flying blind, with no reference points to navigate with. And we leave them with a blank history, from which the entire cycle can start again.

It’s time to stop removing our past, and blaming those who live today for the mistakes of that past. Apologies mean nothing if the reason for the apology is not acknowledged and learned from.