Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses party members at the Liberal Party campaign headquarters in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 21, 2019. (Photo by Raffi Kirdi/Xinhua)

 
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he was deeply disappointed by demonstrators who toppled a statue of the country's first prime minister John A. Macdonald in Montreal.

Trudeau said that while some of the country's past leaders have done questionable things, acts of destruction are not the best way to advance the fight for equality.

"We are a country of laws and we are a country that needs to respect those laws, even as we seek to improve and change them, and those kinds of acts of vandalism are not advancing the path towards greater justice and equality in this country," Trudeau told reporters in Montreal.

Trudeau said he understood the impatience and frustration of Canadians who face systemic discrimination and racism and the desire to act quickly, adding that his government "will do just that."

The Macdonald statue in Montreal was brought down and decapitated Saturday during a demonstration calling on political leaders to defund police, which was part of a wave of protests across the country against excessive violence perpetrated by law enforcement against black and indigenous people.

Undated web photo shows the statue of Canada's first prime minister John A. Macdonald in Montreal, Canada, was decapitated on the ground and sprayed with graffiti. (Xinhua)

 
Images posted on social media showed the statue was decapitated on the ground and sprayed with graffiti.

John A. Macdonald's statues across Canada have been repeatedly defaced and placed under review by critics calling out the "harmful legacy" left by Macdonald, who has been credited as a father of Canadian Confederation.

The demonstrators targeted Macdonald for his policy forcibly removing indigenous children from the "savages" in their home communities for education in largely church-run facilities where abuse was rampant.

The demonstrators said the glorification of Macdonald is out of step with the modern push for racial justice.

Macdonald, who served as prime minister for almost 19 years, spearheaded the construction of the transcontinental railway that united the fledgling country.