Denis Coderre John A. Macdonald statue

Coderre vows to restore John A. Macdonald statue on Truth and Reconciliation Day

The mayoral candidate spoke about the statue today at the same site where the Every Child Matters event was taking place.

Former Montreal mayor and 2021 mayoral candidate Denis Coderre chose the first ever National Truth and Reconciliation Day to promise to restore the statue of John A. Macdonald in Place du Canada, which was toppled in Aug. 2020. Though Coderre has previously mentioned this intention, he spoke about the John A. Macdonald statue again today (alongside his team’s plans on Indigenous affairs) at a press conference where the statue once stood — the same site where the Every Child Matters event to commemorate survivors and victims of the residential school system was also taking place this afternoon.

“He should come back. There should have explanatory plaques, and interpretation centres where we learn history. We must give a voice to those who suffered under John A. Macdonald.”

—Denis Coderre, on Truth and Reconciliation Day

Though residential schools only became a reality after his death, Canada’s first prime minister conceived of the idea for the system, which took Indigenous children from their homes to be robbed of their language and culture. As revealed by the Truth and Reconciliation report in 2015, these children were widely abused, and a large number of them never returned home, as further evidenced by the discovery of mass graves on the grounds of several residential schools in Canada this summer.

For more about Denis Coderre’s campaign platform, please visit the Ensemble Montreal website.


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