Have your say on Sir John A. Macdonald's legacy, Kingston

Starting today, and for the next several months, the City of Kingston, Ont., is inviting residents to submit feedback about the changing legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald, and how best to handle it.

It comes as communities across Canada are grappling with the former prime minister's shifting image, specifically when it comes to his opinions about and treatment of First Nations.

"Sir John A. Macdonald is a thread that runs through this city, and we have to think about what does that look like and how do we each contribute to those narratives?" said Jennifer Campbell, Kingston's manager of cultural heritage, on CBC Radio's Ontario Morning.

"I do think there's going to have to be kind of a case-by-case consideration and conversation about what the next steps could be, and we really don't know at this point."

To start, people can submit their feedback onlineor in person by visiting Kingston City Hall. Officials are hoping to generate a list ofhistories and opinions ahead of sitting down in more formal groups to come up with next steps.

'Hot-button' issue

"We're hoping... that we'll have, already on the table, some of those hot-button conversation pieces so we can address them in a way that's meaningful," Campbell said.

Macdonald-related sites in Kingston include:

• Bellevue House, a national historic site overseen by Parks Canada, where then prime minister Macdonald lived from 1848-49.
• Macdonald's gravesite, also a national historic site, in Cataraqui Cemetery.
• A statue of Macdonald in Kingston City Park, which was unveiled in 1895.
• Alocomotive from 1913 dubbed "The Spirit of Sir John A" in Confederation Park, which was restored in 2013.
• A collection of Macdonald artifacts owned by the city.
• A pub and restaurant called The Public House, which once housed Macdonald's law offices. It used to be called Sir John's Public House, but its owner decided to change it early this year in the spirit of reconciliation.

"[The consultation process]may result in public installations, it could result in additional installations in our exhibition spaces at Kingston City Hall, it could result in educational programming," Campbell said, adding nothing's been decided yet.

Theconsultation period, which will last for several months,will be followed by a series of public engagement events starting in January 2019.

A final report will be drafted in the summer of 2019, then presented to city council closer to the end of 2019.