Mixed legacy

As someone who studied Canadian and prairie history, Macdonald did both things of which we should be proud and things of which we should be ashamed. He played a key role in bringing together Canada West, Canada East, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Confederation. Later he played a key role in founding the NWMP and building the national railroads, which both fulfilled a promise to British Columbia and helped physically link Canada from west coast to east coast. Without him, it is likely Canada would never have become a united country and that large parts would have become part of the USA.

However, Macdonald was also a bigot who thought that the indigenous peoples were inferior and also disliked French Canadians. Even though the Metis and first nations had legitimate grievances in Manitoba and what is now Saskatchewan and Alberta, and even though Louis Riel had tried to present his people's grievances peacefully only to be ignored Macdonald insisted he be hanged as a traitor.,

Only, Riel was not a Canadian. He was born in the Red River settlement in what is now Manitoba, but was then Rupert's Land - British territory controlled by the Hudson';s Bay Company. He was a British subject, legally. It's arguable at best whether Canada had a right to try him for treason, and in light of what we now know, it was the wrong thing to do.

Riel should be recognized as a Father of Confederation. The statue of Macdonald should stay in place because hiding or moving it does not change history or make anything right, Instead, there should be an additional statue of Riel, and there should be information giving context to what both did.