This is a message to the Woke Generation. Yah you, you assholes. How dare you dishonour our county’s past? There is a strange structure in front of the Ontario Legislature that seems to be covering up the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald. That man did more to make Canada happen than anyone else in that generation. Does he have to cower there because a bunch of loud-mouthed ignoramuses are blaming him for the residential schools?
If Sir John has to take the blame for residential schools, then we all share his blame. Sir John did nothing that was not common of the attitudes of his times. What might our generation be accused of in the future? Do we want our great grandchildren castigating us for our failures? And, believe me, we have our failures.
Sir John was hardly acting alone at the times. He might have been drunk when the federal support for the residential schools was decided. And sure, Egerton Ryerson was on side. Ryerson was supposed to have been instrumental in providing Ontario with a robust and non-sectarian public school system. For his accomplishments against the dominant Anglican forces of the time, he deserved to be honoured. I am not sure just how much he agreed with the residential schools but to remove his name from Ryerson University, is an action by weak-minded idiots. As far as I am concerned, it will always be “Ryerson.”
There is a street running across the south part of Toronto with the name of a long-dead Scotsman. His name was Henry Dundas. And that is the name of the street. It is a long street, with many addresses. It has an area where ladies of a certain profession have been known to stroll. There is an area of very fine Chinese restaurants. As I said, it is a very long street.
Of course, I have no allusions that anyone would want to name a street after me. I would have to have a disclaimer in my obituary that it is really in honour of Kyle Lowry, who played so well for the Toronto Raptors. People do look at me oddly when I refer to him as Cousin Kyle.
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