WARMINGTON: Why punish guy trying to free Sir John A. Macdonald from a box?

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So, do you throw the book at guy who spray painted “Free John” on the wooden box that jails Canada’s first prime minister, or give him the Order of Canada?

There is great debate about this.

Some things seem to OK to vandalize and other things not so much. It seems to depend on people’s politics. And then there is the wooden encasement surrounding the Sir John A. Macdonald statue on the front lawn of Queen’s Park.

There is only one law. But it is enforced in different ways.

That said, if a person ripped the head off the statue instead of allegedly scrawling “Free John” on the wooden enclosure now hiding it, there may not have been as much of a fuss.

History has shown those who have ripped down statues of Macdonald, Queen Victoria, Egerton Ryerson or James McGill, seem to be above full prosecution. It has the appearance that the people who tumble statues of Canada’s first prime minister are on safer ground than those who try to save him from being removed.

A Toronto man is slated to appear in court on May 5 on accusations he vandalized the wooden structure with the words “Free John.”

“Officers received the call on Feb. 27 around 2 p.m.,” Toronto Police spokesperson Ashley Visser told The Toronto Sun. “Daniel Tate, 44, of Toronto, was arrested for mischief under $5000 and released on an appearance notice.”

Tate is a familiar name to those who cover Toronto’s cancel culture in that he often fights efforts to remove historical names – namely Yonge-Dundas Square.  He fronted an unsuccessful petition to prevent the downtown landmark’s name from being changed to Sankofa Square.

Tate also took to social media in a video posting where he explained he is “very concerned about” a “coordinated campaign of anti-Canadian forces waging war on Canadian culture and identity.”

The charges against him have not been tested in court.

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In previous acts of vandalism on the actual statue, there have been no known arrests.

On other Macdonald statues across Canada, the cities have sometimes removed them because of fear of vandals, or they have been destroyed. In some cases, Macdonald’s head was removed from the statue and desecrated.

In this case, the allegation is putting two words on some plywood. That said, graffiti is on the books as a crime and it’s not up to an individual person or group to decide which laws are to be followed and which one’s are not.

If there seems to be a double standard, keep in mind the police often do lay charges for such things – many times not on the day but later. An example happened in York Region where, as I highlighted in a column, the election signs for Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman, running for re-election in Thornhill, were shown in online videos being removed, destroyed and placed in a dumpster.

York Regional Police confirmed Monday that they did track down a suspect in this case and have now laid charges.

Const. James Dickson told The Toronto Sun that Peter Bekhit, 41, of Markham, has been charged with mischief and is to report to court on May 6. The allegations have not been tested in court.

On Tate’s point, there is no way any of our great Canadian legends, from Macdonald to Gretzky, should have their statues mistreated or removed.

It was refreshing to see Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre put out a video last week in which he shared the screen with a Sir John A. Macdonald bust and even spoke to it to make his point about what binds Canada together. It’s a sign that all of the cancellation of the great orator from Kingston should be what’s cancelled — not the legendary lawyer.

None of these icons — from Macdonald to Pierre Elliot Trudeau to Dundas, Ryerson and McGill — deserve any of the political vitriol that is sent their way. In public life comes agendas and judgments being made from a different time.

Sometimes slack should be cut and common sense used.

That said, once you take things into your own hands and take an action against a statue or leave behind graffiti, or your stance, you may be in violation of the law and that law is supposed to be applied evenly. Sometimes, it seems, people who stand up to the cancellers are the ones who get the harshest treatment.

A court will decide what to do in these cases. But of special note, the man charged with destroying the Sir John A Macdonald statue in Hamilton a few years back, had those charges withdrawn.

Hopefully Tate’s will be, too. Instead of punishing his civil disobedience for calling for Macdonald to be freed from this tomb, they need to listen to the “Free John” message, and actually free Canada’s founding father.