An interpretive sign outside Victoria city hall explaining the removal of a statue of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, has been vandalized.
A sharp object was used to slice an “x” through the text on the metal-based podium-style sign erected Saturday immediately after the 635-kilogram bronze statue of Macdonald was removed and put in storage.
Tamara Hodgson had taken her daughter Charlotte, 12, and homestay student Flor Picasso, of Mexico, to read the sign.
Hodgson thinks it’s an interesting idea to move the statue to a museum so Macdonald’s policies as prime minister can be more fully explained and called the vandalism “ignorant.”
Picasso was interested to hear about Macdonald’s key role in the birth of Canada and its democratic system and his role in the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but Picasso was shocked to learn of our first prime minister’s role in the establishment of residential schools and the poor treatment of Indigenous people: “I didn’t know about that, oh my goodness.”
Mayor Lisa Helps said Sunday she saw the x on the sign, and while city signs are often vandalized, she said this time it’s obvious it was targeted.
"I guess I’m not surprised; obviously tensions are running high over this issue,” said Helps. “But it's important to remember the sign is a temporary measure to explain where the statue has gone as we start a wider conversation with the community about reconciliation and what it means and to find an appropriate way and context to reposition the statue in the city. Hopefully people will see it as that."
Councillors voted 8-1 on Thursday night to ratify a 7-1 committee-of-the-whole recommendation to remove the statue. (One councillor was absent for the committee vote.)
As part of a reconciliation process, a group of councillors and First Nations talked about the pain and insult some Indigenous people feel having to pass the statue on the way into City Hall.
Only Coun. Geoff Young was opposed to its swift removal, on the principle that the public deserved to have input and be included in the discussion.
Other councillors who voted for the statue’s removal agreed on this point, explaining they learned about the removal plan only when it appeared on a committee-of-the-whole agenda on Tuesday or on the mayor’s blog on Wednesday.
During the statue’s removal Saturday there were peaceful protests and at times loud and angry disagreements.
The metal post and podium panel for the sign were available for use as they had been fabricated earlier for another purpose while the decal with an inscription took only hours to make in the city’s sign shop – a decision made by city staff after the council vote to remove the statue.
The sign erected Saturday in the statue’s place reads: “In 2017, the City of Victoria began a journey of truth and reconciliation with the Lekwungen peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, on whose territories the city stands.
“The members of the city family – part of the city’s witness reconciliation program – have determined that to show progress on the path of reconciliation the city should remove the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald from the front doors of city hall, while the city, the nations and the wider community grapple with Macdonald’s complex history as both the first prime minister of Canada and a leader of violence against Indigenous Peoples.
“The statue is being stored in a city facility. We will keep the public informed as the witness reconciliation program unfolds, and as we find a way to recontextualize Macdonald in an appropriate way. For more information please visit www.victoria.ca/reconciliation.”
