Canada statue of John A Macdonald toppled by activists in Montreal

  • Published
Montreal's downtown statue of Sir John A Macdonald was also decapitated in 1992Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Montreal's downtown statue of Sir John A Macdonald was also decapitated in 1992

Activists in Montreal have pulled down a statue of Canada's first prime minister Sir John A Macdonald, who was linked to cruel policies that killed many indigenous people in the late 19th Century.

Video captured the moment the statue's head flew off and bounced on to the pavement nearby.

Quebec's head of government condemned it as "unacceptable".

"Destroying parts of our history is not the solution," said François Legault.

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post by Nore

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post by Nore

No arrests have been made, according to Canadian broadcaster CBC.

Macdonald was prime minister of Canada for 19 years between 1860 and 1890 and is remembered for his nation-building policies but he also created the residential schools system.

For more than a century the system forcibly removed at least 150,000 indigenous children from their homes and sent them to state-funded boarding schools. Many children were abused and some died, and they were forbidden from speaking their own language or practising their culture.

A government report in 2015 called the practice "cultural genocide".

He was accused of allowing famine and disease to kill many indigenous people and his government forced some First Nation communities to leave their traditional territories, withholding food until they did so.

Quebec Premier François Legault wrote on Twitter, "whatever one might think of John A. MacDonald, destroying a monument in this way is unacceptable. We must fight racism, but destroying parts of our history is not the solution. Vandalism has no place in our democracy and the statue must be restored."

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post 2 by François Legault

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post 2 by François Legault

Earlier on Saturday a peaceful demonstration calling for defunding the police took place in central Montreal.

A leaflet distributed at the protest described John Macdonald as "a white supremacist who orchestrated the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the creation of the brutal residential schools system," according to CBC.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

In June activists hung banners from the statue during anti-racism protests

It said that the city's mayor, Valérie Plante, had been petitioned to remove the statue but due to her "inaction" a group of activists had decided to take matters into their own hands.

A number of statues of controversial historical leaders around the world have been toppled in recent months during heated public debates over how societies should remember leaders tied to slavery, empire and racism.

In the US, statues of Christopher Colombus as well as Confederate leaders were removed, while in the UK monuments to prominent slave traders have been taken down.

Belgian protesters also defaced statues of King Leopold II due to the deadly legacy of his personal colony in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.