A number of monuments across Hamilton, Ont. characterized by some local Indigenous residents as a source of pain and harm will get signs this week acknowledging they are “problematic.”
City officials say the signs will be installed as early as Monday and indicate that politicians are aware of their existence and that “further action and consultation” is needed at the sites.
The first markers expected to show up this week include:
- the Sir John A Macdonald monument in Gore Park near King and Hughson Streets
- the Queen Victoria monument in Gore Park facing James Street
- the Augustus Jones statue on King Street East at Jones Street in Stoney Creek
- Sites commemorating the United Empire Loyalists at Main Street East and Dundurn Park
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The temporary signs, which come a little more than a year after city council voted for indicators to explain historical context, will be in three languages English, Mohawk and Anishinaabe.
About $17,000 is expected to be spent to create and implement the signage developed in consultation with elders, historians, artists and leaders from the Indigenous community.
In 2021, councillors upheld a committee vote against removing the Sir John A. Macdonald statue from Gore Park in the city’s downtown core despite the statue being splashed with red paint on one occasion and covered up with a black cloth on another.
Only three of 14 councillors voted in favour of taking down the statue amid ongoing calls from local Indigenous residents.
The politicians did support a review of Hamilton’s landmarks and monuments with costs via the tax stabilization fund.
Other Canadian cities, among them Kingston and Charlottetown, removed statues two years ago in light of the role of some figures in establishing the country’s residential school system and the damage that his policies have done to Indigenous people.
The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
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