Flushed down the John

Back in October, I mused about the possibility that Canada had reached peak political correctness, after the Toronto School Board announced that it was dropping the word "Chief" from its job titles on the grounds that it was offensive to Canada's indigenous peoples.  Seems I may have spoken to soon: we now learn that the Sir John's Public House in Kingston, Ontario is dropping the first half of its name, on the grounds that Sir John (A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister) was unenlightened about those same indigenous peoples. 

The pub's soon-to-be-forgotten name was appropriate for two reasons.  First, the building once housed Macdonald's law office.  Second, the man was by all accounts a prodigious boozer, so he would undoubtedly have been more than happy with the building's current use.  He would certainly have been raising a glass there today, this (January 10) being his birthday.

I'm not about to defend Sir John's record in dealing with indigenous peoples or anyone else.  He was a man of his time, and by most accounts rather more enlightened than most on native matters.  What is undeniable, however, is that he more than any other person was responsible for the creation of Canada as a unified Confederation. Celebrations of that Confederation's sesquicentennial last year were muted -- some would say ruined -- by complaints from current native leaders about the treatment of their people through the years.

Fair enough: Canada's record towards its indigenous citizens has been shameful.  However, their fate will not be improved one whit by the fulsome* apologies that politicians now love to offer, or by airbrushing people out of history.  If we can't even mention someone's name without people taking offense, how can we have any kind of discussion about what they did, for better or for worse?

I love the comment in the linked Star article from the owner of the pub, Paul Fortier that "many customers that because of the name....they felt unsafe".  Oh, please.  It's not as if Macdonald is likely to walk in through the door at any moment, and if he did it's quite certain his first priority would be grabbing a libation. If I were Mr Fortier I might have considered spreading the word that the place was named for some other bibulous Sir John -- Falstaff, maybe? Too late now.

* I use this word in its true sense: excessive to the point of insincerity.