Sir John A. Macdonald was erased from some public spaces. Now there's a movement to bring him back

The racial reckoning of the COVID era saw Canada grapple with its checkered past — a process that led to statues of some foundational figures being removed, in some instances by force.

Five years on, there's a growing movement to restore some of what was taken down in that tumultuous period. The campaign, led by politicians past and present, historians and members of the public, is focused on bringing back some of those monuments, in particular ones of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, which have all but disappeared from public spaces.

There are some signs the pendulum is swinging back as a result of this advocacy: Wilmot, a community outside of Waterloo, Ont., put back its statues of Macdonald and other prime ministers this summer after years in storage. The monument, which had been vandalized in the past, is more educational than it was, featuring plaques acknowledging past wrongs.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, with support from both Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPPs, also brought down the wooden hoarding that for years covered up Macdonald's statue on the grounds of the provincial legislature, Queen's Park.

"We're freeing John A.," Ford told reporters at the unveiling in June. "You have to support our first prime minister. You know, things have happened over a number of years, but we can't just box them up. We have to move on. Stop worrying about the past."

But many are still locked away.

Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole is lending his name to the effort, asking that Macdonald get more recognition elsewhere considering Canada wouldn't exist in its current form without his seminal role in Confederation and his leadership over nearly 19 years as the head of government in the new dominion.

As Canada grapples with threats to its sovereignty and a U.S. trade war, officials should "embrace a renewed sense of national pride" and honour the forefathers, O'Toole said.

"For a number of years there was this cancel culture — just this rush to tear down or erase. I think we've come through that period now, and it's time to properly reflect and put the statues back up," O'Toole said in an interview with CBC News.

The once-imposing statue of Macdonald that towered over Place du Canada in Montreal was toppled and decapitated in 2020 amid protests over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a cop in Minneapolis, Minn.

All that's left of what was a century-old statue is an empty plinth. The city decided Macdonald wouldn't be returned after what protesters did to his likeness, but left the base in place.

O'Toole jogged past that moribund statue in late October and saw what was, to him, a sad sight.

He posted about it on social media with a simple caption: "Bring back Sir John A.," a message that generated a flood of reaction — some 10,000 likes and nearly 1,500 comments on Facebook alone — with the vast majority of commentators in favour of restoring some sort of tribute to the man who brought together disparate colonies to form a new nation.

What's perhaps most frustrating for O'Toole is that while the Macdonald statue is gone — a monument to a British naval hero, Admiral Nelson, an imperialist who defended the transatlantic slave trade, remains on display a couple kilometres away.