"Sir John A. MacDonald 'father of genocide' says Hamilton group"

HAMILTON - A planned wreath-laying at a statue of Sir John A. MacDonald at Gore Park in downtown Hamilton had to be diverted Sunday afternoon after about a dozen people congregated around the figure denouncing Canada's first prime minister as "the father of native genocide."

To avoid a confrontation, about 30 members of Hamilton's Sir John A. MacDonald Society diverted their march and wreath-­laying ceremony at the statue and headed to a local pub instead after learning of the presence of protesters made up of both native and non-native people surrounding the statue.

The protest, which ran in conjunction with a country-wide rally dubbed #nativelivesmatter, was meant to highlight the "true history" of MacDonald and his policies against aboriginal people and Chinese-Canadians, said Six Nations man John "Kawaowene" Garlow.

Sunday marked MacDonald's 200th birthday. Garlow said the group did not know that the Sir John A. MacDonald Society had planned to hold a ceremony at the statue.

The protest began around 1 p.m. Protesters taped a sign on the statue declaring MacDonald the "father of native genocide," saying he instituted the residential school system and that he even aimed to starve native people into extinction, said Garlow.

One non-native passerby whipped out her cell phone to call 911 on the protesters before they informed her two smiling Hamilton police officers on bikes had already spoken with them briefly a half hour earlier and told them to "have a good day."

A non-native man stopped to take a photo of the group and spent about a minute arguing with protesters and denying their assertions that the first prime minister mistreated aboriginals and Chinese-Canadians.

MacDonald forced Chinese-Canadians to build the TransCanada Railway under harsh conditions and he forbade them from holding any occupation other than labourer, said Garlow.

"Sir John A. MacDonald was one of the first participants of genocide against the people of Turtle Island," said Garlow. "As a human being, I don't think it's proper for people to cherish that. We're protesting hopefully to change the minds of our fellow Canadians, who are our allies. The Onkwehonwe people have always tried to honour the allyship of our people."

He said aboriginal people fed and healed settlers when they first stepped foot on Turtle Island but were subsequently starved by colonial powers. "That's not right."

Garlow said not enough people know the "true history" of MacDonald.

"I don't think they really do. He was one of the ones who taught to ignore the history, to steal the land. It's important to say you shouldn't honour that. If you want a better world for everybody, then people like MacDonald shouldn't have been in power."

The group also handed out stickers denouncing Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a corrupt politician while waving Unity flags and holding signs reading "native lives matter" and "We Care/MMIW", expressing support for missing and murdered indigenous women.

The slogan "native lives matter" was an alteration from the slogan "black lives matter" that emerged in the United States after the highly-publicized deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police.

The group contended that native people face police brutality in Canada in a similar fashion to black people in the U.S.

Passing cars honked their support. The group covered MacDonald's bust with a plastic tarp before leaving.