HIGHLAND Games in North America often have a life of their own, leading them some way from the original Scottish model so as to fit in rather with the more exotic notions about the old country that are cherished by our transatlantic cousins.

An example is the Great Canadian Kilt Skate, which has been held in a number of venues since the first one in 2015. It calls for local Scots, real or imagined, to don Highland dress, leaving their knees bare, and go nonchalantly skating over some frozen body of water to demonstrate the toughness they or their ancestors brought to the New World.

One problem is that the organisers of the event, in order to underline its appeal in the oh-so-Scottish province of Ontario, decided to call it the Sir John A Macdonald Great Canadian Kilt Skate. Macdonald was the first prime minister of united Canada in 1867, and so to many Canadians he remains a sort of father of the nation. In these times of political correctness, his status has come under fire.

Macdonald rose from a humble background in Scotland and Canada already offered wider opportunities to people such as him. He was born in Glasgow in 1815 to parents who ran a pub. Their business failed and in 1820, they emigrated. Young James grew up in rural Ontario to be a sharp lawyer who did not take long in later life to get into politics.

In the emerging Canadian nation, Conservatism was the strongest current of public opinion. English-speaking colonists rejected American republicanism and cultivated British royalism. Macdonald became a leader of the Conservative party and took a prominent part in the discussions and conferences on how the territories in the northern half of their continent should be governed. The result was the British North America Act 1867.

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The Act remained in force till 1982. In effect, it made Canada an independent country. Macdonald led the new nation for 19 years, and also during much of its later history he was honoured for one reason and another.

Much of the admiration was surely deserved. Macdonald turned this into one of the biggest self-governing countries on Earth when he added to the core of Quebec and Ontario the North-Western Territory, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.

He created a potent human symbol for the whole of it when he founded the Mounties, the North-West Mounted Police. He dressed them in a bright red uniform that declared beyond dispute that this was a nation under the rule of law, unlike much of its southern neighbour.

He also created a distinctive economic regime with the protective tariff of his (mainly anti-American) National Policy. He completed the Canadian Pacific Railway from coast to coast to hold the disparate provinces together.

On the broadest Canadian scale, biographers have noted Macdonald’s contribution to the spirit of the nation. His desire for a free and tolerant society became part of its distinctive outlook and character. But he was also responsible for scandals and bad policies. Both the French-speaking community and Chinese immigrant workers felt he lacked sympathy for their interests.

Macdonald was certainly much more popular among the English-speaking Canadians.

Among the French, a mixed-race population called Metis in Manitoba rose up in rebellion against the central government as the Confederation took shape in 1869. Macdonald faced them down and eventually executed their leader, Louis Riel. His severity alienated many French Canadians permanently from the Conservative party, right down to this day.

And nobody now favours the philosophy of Macdonald’s federal policies towards the First Nations, Canada’s indigenous ethnic groups. For example, the boarding school system for Indian children was designed to rob them of their languages and heritage and learn substitutes acceptable to the white population.

The prize-winning historian James Daschuk wrote a full study of their treatment, Clearing The Plains: Disease, Politics Of Starvation And The Loss Of Aboriginal Life. (Regina, 2013). Canada has now given up these attitudes of the 19th century. The liberal outlook of the present Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, stands in strong contrast to Macdonald’s. He has encouraged the celebration of a National Indigenous Peoples Day every June 21.

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Last year, he said of it: “Today ... First Nations, Inuit, and Metis from coast to coast will celebrate their unique histories, cultures, traditions and languages with their families and communities.

“Every year, we celebrate the diversity of indigenous cultures across Canada and the vibrancy of the indigenous peoples who fight every day to keep them alive.”

Once threatened with extinction, the First Nations are now praised for preserving ways of life that could only flourish in Canada and today they work to revive them.

But it is not only Canadians who harbour doubts about Macdonald. So do Scots, a little uneasily.

Empire-builders are still often admired in the old home country, and sometimes they merit mentions in the Scottish Parliament but this has never happened to Macdonald.

On the contrary, Macdonald’s birthplace in Glasgow has been torn down. It used to stand in Brunswick Street, on a spot that has now been redeveloped as part of Merchant City.

It was in a shuttered former pub, the Fox And Hound, supposed also to have been the textile shop owned by Macdonald senior. The family lived in the apartments above until this floor was turned into a massage parlour. The whole structure was razed in 2017 to make way for mixed-use condos.

The Scottish Government has felt cautious about claiming Macdonald as a native son. It used to run an official website headed: “Sir John A Macdonald: Son of Scotland, Father of Canada.”

Now the biographical articles have been deleted with the comment: “We acknowledge controversy around Sir John A Macdonald’s legacy and the legitimate concerns expressed by Indigenous communities.”

Otherwise, the only mention is a politically correct one, noting that the Canadian leader was forced to make an early entry into the working world as a result of the repeated business failures of his Scottish father.

Altogether, the Canada of today seems content with the role its history has given it. It is one of the world’s richest countries, yet its policies seem benign. It is a firm member of the western alliance and a willing contributor to all peace-keeping operations.

Yet it suffers little criticism for the support it offers to allies, notably the US and the UK, that are driven by more overtly imperialist motives. Nobody needs to be afraid of the Canadians. What is the lesson that the Scotland of the future should draw?