No, not everyone was a racist back in 1885 when Sir John A. told the House of Commons that, if the Chinese were not excluded from Canada,
“the Aryan character of the future of British America should be destroyed …”
This report in the Ottawa Citizen says, “Lest it be thought that Macdonald was merely expressing the prejudices of the age, it should be noted that his were among the most extreme views of his era. He was the only politician in the parliamentary debates to refer to Canada as “Aryan” and to justify legalized racism on the basis not of alleged cultural practices but on the grounds that “Chinese” and “Aryans” were separate species.”
So the “A” might be for “Aryan”, not the A-word I first thought of.
Good post.
Alexander meant defender of people,
not misunderstanding humanity.
Back in those days I don’t think they even had the word Racist, such a different time.
I think you are right about the word, Merrill, but MacDonald was more extremely prejudiced than many of his contemporaries. I think the word they used in his day was “bigot” and MacDonald certainly was one.