Montreal won’t return toppled John A. Macdonald statue to its downtown pedestal

Montreal’s toppled John A. Macdonald statue won’t be put back on its pedestal in Place du Canada, the city’s executive committee decided on Wednesday. 

The statue’s head fell off when protesters hauled it down in 2020 during a demonstration calling for the defunding of the Montreal police and an end to systemic racism. The city says it will now be restored and put on display somewhere else, where it can be accompanied by the proper context explaining its historical significance and controversy. 

But the pedestal where the statue stood since its erection in 1895 will stay, as per the recommendations of a committee set up to determine its future. The executive committee adopted those recommendations Wednesday morning.

Now, Montreal will commission artists to find a way of modernizing the monument. 

“The decision was not made to erase history, but to confront it with the values and preoccupations of our time,” said Ericka Alneus, the executive committee member responsible for culture and heritage.

Alneus said the city was currently in discussions with multiple institutions to find a place for the statue and to have it repaired.

The plaque which will be placed at the pedestal where the statue formerly stood will be installed sometime in October, Alneus said. She did not yet know exactly what would be inscribed, but said Indigenous experts had been consulted.

“We have the opportunity here to add elements that were missing from the story,” Alneus said. “The challenge will be to add the context that explains why the canopy is empty.”

The committee that presented its recommendations on Wednesday was established after the statue was torn down. It was tasked with deciding what should be done with the monument. 

Protesters have targeted monuments to John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, because of his legacy of implementing racist policies toward Indigenous people and his instrumental role in creating Canada’s residential school system.

Before it was torn down in 2020, the downtown Montreal statue had been repeatedly doused in red paint.

Michael Rice, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) historical consultant, high school teacher and native studies specialist, said the statue’s removal won’t change much. The continued damage of Macdonald’s policies was still being felt today, he said, and, ultimately, Canada needs a reckoning with its cultural heroes.

“You can remove the statue, put him somewhere else, you can put plaques, or commission artists to put information on the plaque but you’re missing a learning opportunity,” he said.

“I think the bigger issue is: do Canadians from coast to coast want to have that discussion about Sir John A. Macdonald, his role? I’m not personally a fan of removing statues of anybody. I think if anybody wants to put up a statue of somebody who’s a cultural hero, so be it as long as you can justify it. … But I do think people need to have a discussion of ‘who are your cultural heroes?'”