Macdonald statue to go public again
Victoria mayor cites ‘mistakes as we navigate and try to walk this road together’ of reconciliation
SCOTT BROWN
A statue of Sir John A. Macdonald that was removed from in front of Victoria’s city hall will be relocated to another public place in the city, according to Mayor Lisa Helps.
City council voted earlier this month to remove the monument to Canada’s first prime minister as part of the city’s reconciliation process with First Nations.
Helps, who called Macdonald a “key architect of the Indian residential school system,” said the statue served as a painful reminder of colonial violence for Indigenous people entering city hall.
But in a op-ed that appears in the Aug. 29 Victoria Times Colonist, Helps apologizes to residents who felt excluded from the process that led to the decision, which she still believes was the correct one.
“I didn’t recognize the great desire of Victoria residents to participate in reconciliation actions. The process going forward will enable this,” Helps writes.
“Reconciliation means following Indigenous leadership. It means listening carefully to how symbols and monuments that might be meaningful to many can create barriers for others. And it also means being in dialogue, and creating opportunities for true learning and conversation among Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. But it is complex, and so we will make mistakes as we navigate and try to walk this road together.”
The statue’s removal was welcomed by both the Songhees and Esquimalt nations, whose traditional territory includes Victoria.
“The removal of the statue is a visible symbol of progress, of rejecting oppression and embracing a new and inclusive way to work,” Songhees Nation Chief Ron Sam says in a letter to council. “We look forward to carrying on this journey together.”
But others, such as B.C. Green Leader and Victoria-area MLA Andrew Weaver, criticized council for denying input from “regular people” who support reconciliation.
“I don’t make this comment lightly, I think it was a boneheaded move, I think it was a boneheaded move by Victoria City Council,” the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head told CHEK TV.
“You as elected officials … have a duty and responsibility to ensure actual reconciliation,” he said.
Helps says she has made a public commitment for a wider community conversation about reconciliation and a new location for the statue.
“I have also arranged a meeting with the John A. Macdonald Society and invited the statue’s sculptor, John Dann.
“These conversations are also important steps in the reconciliation process,” Helps says.
“As we work through the process of reconciliation as a community, with the Songhees and Esquimalt nations on whose homeland the city was built, we have the opportunity to create a more welcoming, inclusive city for everyone. And this is something I’ve heard loud and clear that all Victorians value.”