Before Macdonald started the residential school system in 1883, he was starving Indigenous people to get them out of the way for his previous railroad (which he took bribes for). He put them on reserves to grow their own food, without the land or the tools to do so adequately. /1

So this policy of starvation not only removed Indigenous people to make room for the railroad, it killed off Indigenous people. The government wanted to “reduce the expense” of having Indigenous people by rationing food to the point of death. /2

In just five years in the late 19th century the Plains First Nations population dropped from 32,000 to 20,000 thanks to this program of starvation. Almost half. Mission accomplished, if you would have asked JAM, I suppose. /3

So let’s stop excusing his actions as a product of his time, or saying that, hey, he did good things too. Consider if we want to keep statues up to honour a man like that. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, by the way. /4

Yes, he was incredibly damaging to Indigenous people because of the policy of starvation, the pass system, the residential school system. But he was also corrupt, and also created the Chinese Head Tax. So…C’mon. Really. Nobody’s going to shed a tear if the statues come down. /5

And if you would shed a tear, here’s the world’s smallest violin. /end

Precious not previous. Dammit. :/