The Plante government has decided that the statue of John A. Macdonald at Place du Canada will not return to its pedestal, three years after it was toppled by radical left-wing activists.
Posted at 9:38 am. Updated at 9:59 am
The Executive Committee on Wednesday adopted the recommendations of the ad hoc committee that considered its future.
The bronze monument, which was badly damaged in an anti-colonial demonstration and never repaired, should be sent to a museum, these experts say. The base and the stone roof will be the subject of an “artistic intervention”.
“This decision was examined with the greatest care and sensitivity,” explained the elected cultural representative on the Executive Committee, Ericka Alneus. “Our role as a city is not to decide unilaterally, but to adopt a stance that allows us to question and enrich the discussion. »
Montreal wants to install the artistic intervention and proceed with the statue’s restoration in 2024. The latter could be issued from 2025.
The ad hoc committee made its recommendations last January, according to its report. “Considering the assimilation policies that the Prime Minister has implemented towards indigenous peoples and the discriminatory acts he has committed against several groups of people, the consequences of which are still painful and felt by several communities, the Committee is of the view that In the spirit of a process of “reconciliation, it is necessary to distance ourselves from its legacy and the colonial vision that the monument is intended to glorify,” the document says.
The committee responsible for investigating the file consisted of seven external members – including Senator Michèle Audette and three academics – and four Montreal city officials.
The monument to John A. Macdonald dates from 1895. The statue of the politician was created by George Edward Wade, a London sculptor. The base and canopy are made of granite.
“The monument honors the key events of the Macdonald government that contributed to the expansion of Canada,” says the city of Montreal’s website. Of the monuments erected to commemorate Macdonald, Montreal’s remains the most imposing and elaborate. »
The figure of Macdonald (1815-1891) – Canada’s first prime minister and founder of the Conservative Party of Canada – has been controversial in recent years. At the heart of the allegations is the character’s central role in implementing discriminatory policies against Aboriginal, Métis, French Canadians and Chinese immigrants.