Possible path forward
Standing committee recommends changes to controversial statue
The City of Charlottetown will meet on May 10 on a possible solution to the controversy that has surrounded a bench statue for the past year.
Council’s standing committee on economic development, tourism and event management met on Wednesday, May 5, to discuss what to do about the likeness of Sir John A. Macdonald at the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Row.
The committee unanimously agreed to issue a recommendation to council that the resolution passed last June be amended to include the five recommendations from the various Indigenous stakeholders, such as the Lennox Island and Abegweit First Nations, L’nuey and Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I.
Two of the recommendations include adding an Indigenous elder's likeness next to that of Macdonald to promote a message of reconciliation and to alter the bench portion of the statue so that it doesn’t act as photo opportunity for tourists.
The stakeholders also want a Mi’kmaq artist to consult with any changes.
After the statue became the target of vandalism last year, council voted unanimously in June that the statue would stay where it is, that consultations would be held with Indigenous stakeholders and that the plaque next to it would be amended to tell a more rounded version of history.
Since council’s vote last June, none of those recommendations have happened, and the statue has been vandalized four times.
Those opposed to the Macdonald statue point to the fact he created Canada’s residential school system, where officials forcefully removed Indigenous children from their families. Many of them were abused and died in the schools.
Re-writing the plaque next to the statue didn’t go far enough for stakeholders like L’nuey and the confederacy. Their members refused to participate in the process after that.
Academics in the community were also being engaged to help re-write the plaque, but they declined to participate without the input of Indigenous leaders.
City staffers Laurel Lea and Doug Dumais, whose roles fall under the committee’s terms of reference, made presentations at Wednesday’s meeting, explaining that they’ve been in discussions recently with the Indigenous community as well as Michael Halterman, the Colorado artist who created the statue.
Lea told the committee that Halterman “is very much onside” with the recommendations and is open to working with a Mi’kmaq consultant.
“We feel we do have a path forward,’’ Lea said.
Mayor Philip Brown acknowledged the frustration in the community with inaction on this issue but noted that the pandemic created challenges along the way, such as limiting the ability to hold meetings.
“I see this satisfying Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups,’’ Brown said.
City council will have to approve amending the original resolution to include the five recommendations.
Council holds its next regular public monthly meeting on Monday, May 10.