Canada’s First Prime Minister honoured with restored portrait and bicentennial stamp and coin at special ceremony
Kingston, Ontario - 11 January 2015
The Government of Canada is committed to commemorating a number of nation-building milestones that will culminate in the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017. Each of these anniversaries represents an opportunity to celebrate the events that have shaped our history and made Canada the country we know and enjoy today.
To this end, on January 11, 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the City of Kingston, Ontario, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald and to pay tribute to the important role he played as one of Canada’s founding fathers and as Canada’s first Prime Minister.
During the ceremony, which was held in the Memorial Hall of Kingston City Hall, the city unveiled a restored portrait of Sir John A. Macdonald. The 1863 full-length portrait of Macdonald is the best known work of William Sawyer, a portrait painter and photographer (1820 to 1889), and also a close friend of Macdonald. The portrait was presented to John A. Macdonald in 1863, before his knighthood in 1867, by admiring friends who commissioned it. The painting shows the self-assured young Macdonald standing in a classic pose typical of formal full-length portraits fashionable at the time.
Canada Post and the Royal Canadian Mint were also part of the ceremony and took this opportunity to unveil a stamp and a coin that commemorate the achievements of Sir John A. Macdonald.
Born two hundred years ago on January 11, 1815 in Glasgow, Scotland, Sir John A. Macdonald played a key role in shaping Canada's history. He was instrumental, along with Sir George-Étienne Cartier, in the negotiations that led to Confederation and later in expanding Canada to the Pacific Ocean. They are two of the 36 Fathers of Confederation who met to share their vision on union and, ultimately, to forge a new country. Almost 150 years ago, they created a democracy that today serves as a model for the world.
During his years as Prime Minister (1867 to 1873 and 1878 to 1891), Canada experienced rapid growth and prosperity. Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island all entered Confederation between 1870 and 1873, while the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway's transcontinental line was driven into the ground in 1885.
Sir John A. Macdonald is also remembered for his role in the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the establishment of the North-West Mounted Police and the first Canadian national park in Banff, Alberta.
The 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth is one of the milestones on the Road to 2017 that have defined our country and made us who we are today.
