Re-Discovering Sir John A: Children’s Book Author Wants to Restore Balance to Legacy of Canada’s First PM

A statue of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Writer Lindsay Shepherd has published her first children’s book, “A Day With Sir John A,” to offer young Canadian readers a better understanding of the country’s first prime minister and his achievements.

Shepherd says she was inspired to write the book because of what she saw in libraries and bookshelves.

The cover of the new children's book “A Day with Sir John A” by Lindsay Shepherd and illustrated by Tatsiana Gubich, published by True North.

Book displays are “very hyper-focused on race, decolonization, sexuality, sexual orientation, gender,” she told The Epoch Times.

“I wanted to offer something that wasn’t like that. I wanted to offer something that was still fun and designed for kids, but also sparked an appreciation for history, and ultimately teaches kids that history is complex,” said Shepherd, a mother of two children.

She could not find a children’s book on the former prime minister and was also bothered by the treatment his legacy was receiving.

She cited as an example changes the government made to Bellevue House, Macdonald’s home in Kingston, Ont., saying it has been turned “into a place that basically treats him like a monster, which he was not.”

Statues of Macdonald have been taken down in cities across the country, including in Kingston, Charlottetown, and Regina.

In 2018, Macdonald’s face was removed from the Canadian $10 bill and replaced with Viola Desmond, a civil rights activist born in Halifax.

Storyline of ‘A Day With Sir John A’

Shepherd’s book, illustrated by Tatsiana Gubich and published by True North, combines non-fiction and fiction, telling the story of a young boy named Emerson who goes on a school field trip to the Sir John A. Macdonald museum.

As he visits with his class, “everyone around him seems to think Sir John A. Macdonald is a stain on the country’s history, and he’s a really terrible person,” said Shepherd.

Readers learn more about Macdonald and his accomplishments as Emerson travels back in time to 1885.

She said the book took months to research and about half a year to write.

One of the decisions she had to make was setting the period in which Emerson goes back to meet the former prime minister. She chose 1885, a year when Macdonald accomplished a lot, including the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the creation of Banff National Park.

“It’s a year where he was advocating for the voting rights of women and indigenous people … at that time those ideas were really not popular, and he was at the forefront of that.”

The book, written for children ages 3 to 7, is “something parents can read with their younger kids, or the early elementary readers can pick up themselves,” she said.

Comprehensive information for parents is included at the end of the book, reviewing the historical events mentioned in its pages.