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MONTREAL, Que. - Activists marked Thursday’s International Day for the Elimination of Racism by vandalizing the Sir John A. Macdonald statue in Montreal’s Place du Canada March 21.

A group identifying itself as part of #MacdonaldMustFall took responsibility for dousing the statue in paint.

In a statement, it said “Macdonald statues should be removed from public space and instead placed in archives or museums, where they belong as historical artifacts.”

While Macdonald is best known as Canada’s first prime minister, his legacy contains a number of darker elements.

Macdonald was prime minister when Canada’s first residential schools were created. In its 2015 report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada described the residential schools program as “cultural genocide.”

Macdonald’s government also deprived men of Chinese descent of the right to vote and imposed an entry tax to halt Chinese immigration.

He was in power during the North-West Rebellion and subsequent hanging of its leader, Louis Riel.

Protestors have repeatedly vandalized the statue in Place du Canada in in the last two years, most recently in December.

The Montreal Gazette

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