Bye Bye Johnny: John A Macdonald Statue Taken Down in Kingston

We’ve seen quite a few statues of John A Macdonald meet their end over the past year. MacDonald no longer presides over Montreal, Charlottetown, Picton, and now, his hometown of Kingston. After years of public pressure and city council foot-dragging, Johnny Boy lays in storage in an old, musty hockey arena. Although we would have much rather liked for him to be sold as scrap to fund a Land Back camp somewhere, the thought of Canada’s first prime minister spending his days next to some rat feces and a couple of stale jockstraps is pretty funny. Read More …

Canadian Tire Fire #2: Statues Fall, Racism Kills, Land Defense Efforts Rage On

This past week brought more sobering reminders of Canada’s deeply-entrenched racism, as well as some inspiring moments of fiery resistance. As communities across the country continued to process the uncovering of a mass grave outside a Kamloops residential school, responses included the defacing, removal, and even toppling of colonial monuments. As activists in Kingston settle in at a ceremonial action at another John A Macdonald statue, demanding its removal, one can only hope this foreshadows the loss of many more statues of racists across so-called Canada. Read More …

Colonial statues defaced in downtown Toronto

Last night, for the second time in a week, the statues of John A MacDonald and Eggerton Ryerson were doused with paint.

In case you missed it, last week, activists with Black Lives Matter – Toronto dumped paint and spray painted messages around 3 statues in downtown Toronto; an attack against the symbols of Canada’s violent and ongoing, racist, colonial legacy. That day also resulted in one of the fiery-est, most love and rage-filled anti-cop rallies we’ve experienced in a long time and one of the greatest displays of jail support we’ve seen in this city. Read More …