Statue SIR John?

TimesColonist: Statue of Sir J.A. Macdonald at Victoria City Hall

Statue Sir John?

Yep, that's you. Pigeon poop and all.
​
And then there's Riel...

In discussing a City Hall controversy over whether or not its statue of Macdonald should be moved elsewhere, the Timescolonist admits that:

• “Sir John A. Macdonald represented the interests of the Canadian Pacific Railway -- He had a great reputation as Canada’s first prime minister but he was also a drunk who was in the pay of the CPR … an absentee MP parachuted in to represent the riding.”

The worst thing ever said about Macdonald's nemesis, Louis Riel, is that he was "crazy". Crazy like a magnificent fox, I'd say.

But I wouldn't give you two cents for the statue Winnipeg, Manitoba, erected in honour of Louis Riel Day.  It looks like a prototype for  a bad copy of the Sir J.A. Macdonald one they're fighting over right next door in Regina, Sask,

The list of "What’s Open and Closed on Louis Riel Day?" doesn't mention minds.

CBC: Death threats and burning effigies: Sir John A. Macdonald controversy gets extreme

• Erected in Victoria Park in 1967, the statue is just steps away from where [Louis] Riel was tried for treason and hanged in 1885 for resisting Canadian encroachment into Métis lands.

While I can sympathize with the motivations of the demonstrators, I feel more inclined to say: take down all statues of every kind, everywhere. Monuments are instruments of false ideas designed to control our view of the past and therefore the present.

​I thank whatever gods there be that pigeons exist to put matters into perspective.

That Winnipeg statue of Riel -- for me, that's not the real Riel. Not the Riel that Bruno Gerussi created in my mind so long ago with a travelling theatre group that performed in a local high school auditorium. Man, he was something!

That play is never mentioned in Gerussi memorials, though, for me, it was his finest hour. Here's how I've always envisioned Riel when I recall that play. Or like this.

In Riel's time, humanity was far less important than the Hudson's Bay company and the railroad that carried the goods. And, despite Jagmeet Singh's opinion - See YouTube Video - that the monarchy has no relevance today (and I agree) -- it was and still is a mind-numbing distraction from the ongoing exploitation of resources and peoples. 

As the below video states, Manitoba might not even exist were it not for Riel. He fought for the Metis way of life, and Macdonald sent in the (Royal) military to destroy it. The very fact that Macdonald's name is prefaced by "Sir" should tell you what a toady he was to the monarchy.

​What is it that makes people want to worship a worthless golden calf?

No statue of Macdonald can make him anything other than a drunken tool of the monarchy.

No statue of Riel is needed because he lives in people's hearts and minds.