Divisiveness Vs Community

First I would like to add that though MacDonald has some history in Prince Edward County (PEC) the statue itself has not been here long nor was it actively solicited by the citizenry of PEC to my knowledge. It is a newer statue in the scheme of things. Thus, the attachment to the statue itself is not the issue here or why we are discussing what to do with the statue. The issue is will white Canadians, and specifically white people from PEC be able to acknowledge a past full of colonial terrorism in the name of nation statehood? Will we acknowledge our own flawed history?

Those arguing that we cannot change history nor learn from it if we hide it are correct. However, nor can we learn, and in fact I posit we are negatively served, when we try to propagate myths and lies. Rather, this facilitates us repeating atrocities and crimes against humanity all in the name of saying we are 'making it better' or bringing 'culture to the savages'. The myth is a nice clean history where founding fathers did (mostly) all the right things and we will neglect to consider any negative outcomes or appearances. We have been rewriting history for decades so much so that many scholars will put forth well written positions citing the standard dogmatic dialogue. THIS is the rewriting of history. Leaving the current dialogue status quo is forwarding the real false narrative. This is our chance to do something about it.

At this juncture, I could indeed write a long argument outlining positions and historical facts but we would be missing the point entirely. The point is our community right now.

The reality is a community should do things that brings said community together. The community should do things that properly represent us all. We should not do things that cause havoc, disorder and negativity to parts of the community. The community should not show favour to some members while neglecting the concerns of other members. This statue does just that. It creates negativity and represents more than "just" a tribute to 'Canada's first PM who lived around here for a bit'. It is obviously divisive or we would not be here.

Picton and Prince Edward County has such a long a history of amazing things (first weekly published news papers first drug stores etc) that we have so much we can all be proud of (And market for you people with monetary malaise that feel everything is about money [fools]). We have a huge history here we can promote and get behind that EVERYONE can agree is interesting and meaningful.

We do not need a divisive albatross right in the middle of our main street, that frankly a significant amount of people find hurtful and not representative at all of how they feel.

I really could write a PhD thesis on this so thank you for the opportunity to get a few quick thoughts out. I hope I didn't miss anything I wanted to say that was important.

Remember: Out elected council should be working towards the good of us ALL. It should be benefiting us ALL. It should be INCLUSIVE. It should BUILD community. It should facilitate bringing out the best in us all. Removing the statue will serve to make us a more cohesive and stronger community and will serve to properly align our history with our current moral compass. THAT is the opportunity for education we all need. This is the path we should be taking with clear hearts and an open mind pointing towards a shared future that is more inclusive and meaningful.