Macdonald statue removal part of Victoria City Hall reconciliation act
VICTORIA — A statue of Canada’s first prime minister has been removed from the grounds outside Victoria City Hall, days after the city council voted to remove it.
The city began discussions in 2017 to remove the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald as part of the reconciliation process with the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, voting seven to one Thursday to have it removed.
Songhees Chief Ron Sam wrote in a July 31 letter to Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps that removing the statue is an important step in the city’s path toward reconciliation.
Minutes from the council meeting say the statue will be stored in a facility until the city determines what to do with the statue, adding they were not trying to “erase history.”
Supporters and protesters alike were visible at city hall carrying placards and signs, while some protesters wrapped themselves in Canadian and British Columbian flags and sang the national anthem.
Macdonald played a significant role in the creation of the residential school system that displaced thousands of Indigenous youth, and served as the MP for Victoria from 1878 to 1882.
Victoria isn’t the only government or institution reviewing its celebration of Macdonald. In August, an elementary teachers’ union in Ontario issued a call to remove his name from schools in the province. And in May, the Canadian Historical Association voted to strip Macdonald’s name from one of its top writing prizes.
Other historical figures have also come under scrutiny for their roles in the residential school system.
The Office of the Prime Minister and the Privy Council was known as Langevin Block until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had it changed. Hector-Louis Langevin, another Father of Confederation, argued that a separate school system for Indigenous youth was needed to assimilate them into Canadian culture.
Ontario’s public education system owes its beginnings to Egerton Ryerson, but he is also believed to have helped shape residential school policy through his ideas on education of Indigenous children. An Indigenous students’ group and the Ryerson Students Union have called for Toronto’s Ryerson University to change its name out of respect for residential school survivors.