The recent removal of a statue of Canada’s first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald in Victoria has stirred up controversy right across the country.
This inspired several cities including Belleville in eastern Ontario, to reach out to Victoria’s mayor and offer to bring the statue to their city.
Retired Belleville resident, Tom Empey, was born and raised in the city and says, “I don’t think Sir John A. deserves to be strapped to a palette and hidden away in a warehouse.”
WATCH: Kingstonians react to removal of Sir John A. Macdonald statue in B.C.
Empey is very passionate about the community that he lives in and his Canadian roots. And that’s what inspired his recent letter to Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps. He asked her if Belleville could have Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue that was taken down in Victoria last Saturday.
“I just don’t like to see history like this tossed aside on the altar of political correctness. It just didn’t sit right with me,” says Empey.
Over a Skype interview, Helps told CKWS, “There is no other story except that he is on the front steps on city hall saying he was the first prime minister of Canada with no other context.”
Victoria City Council voted in favour of removing the statue to respect the local First Nations community so they wouldn’t be reminded of the role Sir John A. played in the residential school system.
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Empey isn’t the only one interested in the 635-kilo monument. Ontario PC house leader and MPP for Bay of Quinte, Todd Smith, also reached out.
“We have these statues — you can’t erase our history. Sir John A. Macdonald was the first prime minister of Canada, says Smith.
But Helps says the city plans to put the statue in storage.
“That’s the last thing that we should be doing is locking our history in a black room,” Smith said.
However, Helps added, “The whole purpose of removing the statue is that we can have a conversation with the community and with the nations about how best to tell the complex story.”
Empey was hoping to bring Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue to Belleville and had suggested Jane Forrester Park as a possible location for the monument.
Empey says he’s even willing to pay for the statue, out of pocket, if the Victoria mayor changes her mind.
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