LETTER

After Amherst, it’s Macdonald’s turn  

For the eighth time in two years, the racist and colonial John A. Macdonald Monument (1895) in Montreal has been vandalized by anti-colonial artists.

Since the last time the monument was targeted in May 2019, Amherst Street in Montreal was officially renamed Atateken Street. The word Atateken signifies brotherhood, sisterhood and equality between people in the language of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka.  James Amherst, a British General, advocated and practiced genocide against Indigenous peoples. 

If Amherst’s street name can be replaced, the John A. Macdonald Monument can also be removed from public space and placed in archives or a museum. 

The #MacdonaldMustFall group reminds the media and public (that we believe) John A. Macdonald was a white supremacist. He directly contributed to the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the creation of the residential schools system, as well as other measures meant to destroy native cultures and traditions. He was racist and hostile towards non-white minority groups in Canada, openly promoting the preservation of a so-called “Aryan” Canada. He passed laws to exclude people of Chinese origin. He was responsible for the hanging of Métis leader Louis Riel

#MacdonaldMustFall 

Montreal