Drew Hayden Taylor is an Anishnawbe playwright and humorist.

It’s been said old soldiers and politicians never die, they just fade away. In some rare cases, they roar back into our lives and make a fundamental fuss over how we should view them. Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, died in 1891 and is once again in the news. A statue of the man standing in Toronto’s Queen’s Park was boxed up five years ago after vandals defaced him amidst protests about his revered place in Canadian history. It seems the politicians thought pink paint was not his colour. A recent decision was made by Ontario’s Legislature to unbox the man and let him once again stand proud and unfettered, proudly extolling the virtues of colonization. He came, he legislated, he conquered.

Sir JAM will be cleaned and mounted this summer … if you’ll pardon the expression.

Yes, the man did cobble together a country, amidst a sea of champagne at that notorious gathering of elite white politicians in PEI. I’ll drink to that. Coincidentally, he also kept the Americans at bay. For that, some might decry, Where is he today? He was the poster boy for functioning alcoholics. There’s also the creation of the Canadian national railroad and a few other things that make the man memorable, through rose-tinted........

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