Wilmot could become one of the first municipalities to propose re-erecting a statue of Macdonald after many were vandalized and torn down across Canada
An Ontario town is considering bringing a statue of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald back out of storage after it was defaced in 2020 amid a heated debate over the legacy of Canada’s first prime minister.
Wilmot, a small community outside of Waterloo, Ont., has been mired in controversy since 2013 after a group of citizens offered to privately finance the construction of 22 statues of former Canadian leaders. Macdonald was the first statue constructed for the project, known as the Prime Ministers Path. It was first displayed in 2015, moved in 2016 and put into storage after it was splashed with red paint in 2020. Four years later, the town restarted consultations on the value of the project, and in April will hear recommendations about what to do with the statues of Macdonald and other prime ministers.
Wilmot could become one of the first municipalities to propose re-erecting a statue of Macdonald after tributes to the founding father were vandalized and torn down across the country.
City council member Steven Martin said he views the conversation unfolding in Wilmot as part of a broader pattern across the country.
“When the Prime Ministers are portrayed, they can represent painful times in peoples’ lives, such as the Residential Schools or even Canada turning down ships of Jewish people during World War II who then went on to their deaths,” Martin told National Post in an email. “I believe that across Canada as we deal with our history and rename streets, buildings and other locations, in order to not glorify painful events, then we are dealing with issues in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
It’s a very complex issue
In 2016, Wilmot’s city council re-located the statue to Castle Kilbride, a Victorian home built by an industrialist in neighbouring Baden, where it was joined by sculptures of former prime ministers Robert Borden, Mackenzie King, Lester B. Pearson and Kim Campbell over the next two years.
The meeting included several potential recommendations, including educational signage beside the statues and even leaving red paint on the Macdonald statue. It was the first time community members could see the proposals before the final recommendations are expected to be introduced at a council meeting in April.
“I think the impression I had,” Councilmen Stewart Cressman told National Post last Thursday, “is it’s a very complex issue.” Cressman said his general impression of community feedback was that residents “didn’t want to see the township spending any more money on the Prime Minister’s Path; it would have to be funded privately.”
“The educational piece,” he continued, referring to the creation of plaques beside the statues, “would likely continue to evolve, and there would be many iterations, and likely anything that would be in, or the potential for things to be included in that, would cause controversy.”
Condemnation of historical Canadian figures accelerated in the wake of media reports in May 2021 that unmarked graves bearing the remains of 215 children were found at a former residential school in British Columbia, although no remains were ever unearthed.
Denise Soueidan-O’Leary, a program manager with LURA, wrote the Post commending Wilmot for its commitment to “meaningful conversations, truth and reconciliation, and the potential for collective healing,” noting the town served as a model “reminder that as Canadians, we resolve issues through dialogue, not division. We work toward collaborative solutions, not brute-force victories.”
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