Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) National Historic Person

Sir John A. Macdonald was designated as a national historic person in 1927.

The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada reviewed this designation in 2024.

Reasons for designation

Canada’s first prime minister, this lawyer, politician, and businessman forged a lasting alliance of British and French Canadians from different political backgrounds under the Liberal-Conservative party banner; he served as co-premier of the Province of Canada (1856–1858; 1858–1862); he was a member of the Great Coalition that championed union with the Maritimes; and he played a major role in the drafting of Canada’s first constitution, the British North America Act, 1867, both as a delegate to the Charlottetown and Québec Conferences (1864), and as chair of the London Conference (1866–1867).

Macdonald advanced a vision of Canada as a British society and oversaw wide-ranging efforts at “nation-building” as prime minister (1867–1873; 1878– 1891), which included the construction of an all-Canadian transcontinental railway, expanding Canada to the Pacific and the Arctic, opening the western plains for mass settlement by Euro-Canadians, protecting the emerging Canadian economy with the National Policy, creating the North-West Mounted Police and Canada’s permanent military force, insisting on the separate existence of Canada on the North American continent, and shaping policies affecting Indigenous Peoples, both as prime minister and the longest-serving Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs (1878–1887; 1888). His government’s efforts to carry out this vision included the Pacific Scandal, suppressing Indigenous resistance in the northwest, using the disappearance of the bison to force First Nations to take treaty and settle on reserves, disenfranchising Chinese people and attempting to restrict their immigration, and founding a national system of Indian Residential Schools, which represented a policy of aggressive assimilation that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) described as cultural genocide.

Macdonald has long held a prominent but contested place within public memory that has resulted in a wide range of perspectives on Macdonald and his legacy. He was the subject of a polarizing national debate in the early 21st century, which was part of a broader reckoning with the colonial past in many Western societies.

Review of designation

Reviews are undertaken on an ongoing basis to ensure that designations reflect current scholarship, shifts in historical understandings, and a range of voices, perspectives and experiences in Canadian society.

In 2024, this designation was reviewed due to colonial assumptions and an absence of layers of history in the statement of commemorative intent. The original text, approved in 2014, highlighted Macdonald’s role as the chief architect of Canada’s Confederation and his work as Canada’s first prime minister. The original text did not reference his government’s role in shaping and advancing policies affecting Indigenous Peoples, founding a national system of Indian Residential Schools, and in the disenfranchisement and restriction of immigration of Chinese people.

New reasons for designation were developed that more fully elaborate the broad ranging accomplishments, challenges and impacts of Macdonald’s leadership and his complex legacy. The original plaques were removed. A new plaque will not be prepared as the limited text of a plaque does not allow for adequately communicating this complex history.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, December 2023.

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