This volume starts just after the confederation, and encompasses the building of the national railway, the establishment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that had taken a more cooperative approach with the natives and became one of Canada’s well known symbols, and the unfortunate incidents and handling of the the uprising of Louis Riel and the natives which still have consequences today.
A previous biography of Macdonald, George Parkin, summarized Macdonald thusly:
He believed that there was room on the continent of America for at least two nations, and he was determined that Canada should be a nation. He believed in the superiority of the British constitution to any other for free men, and that the preservation of the union with the mother country was necessary to the making of Canada. He had faith in the French race, and believed that a good understanding between French and English people was essential to the national welfare.
“Had there been no Macdonald, there almost certainly would be today no Canada”, Gwyn argues. The nation came into being after much hardwork and was by no means a given. Many issues, including foreign relations with many nations and domestic policy with the natives, remain to be solved. I look forward to the next chapter in Canada’s making.
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