A statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II represents colonialism and oppression, says Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa.
The NDP deputy leader expressed opposition following an announcement from the governing Progressive Conservatives Wednesday that a statue of the late Royal is expected to installed on the grounds of Queen’s Park by the fall.
Legislative Affairs Minister Paul Calandra learned about the stalled project in 2022 and had the government allocate $1.5 million to move the project forward.
Mamakwa said he feels that a process should be followed when considering which statues to erect on the grounds of the provincial legislature in Toronto.
“The queen represents the Crown, and the Crown is the one that signed the treaties for First Nations across Canada,” he said. “What's also concerning is that they haven't made any decisions yet on how [to follow up] on calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
Mamakwa is referring to a 2015 request from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to install a provincial residential schools’ monument to honour survivors and children who were lost to their families and communities as a result of the residential school system.
Mamakwa feels a statue of Queen Elizabeth II does not belong at Queen’s Park because the residential school system in Canada and Ontario forcibly separated children from their families and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture.
“We have to acknowledge the children that never came home, our ancestors that never came home because of Indian residential schools,” Mamakwa noted. “And those are some of the atrocities of the real history of Canada, the real history of Ontario when we talk about [the] residential schools.”
The statue was originally conceived in 2017, marking the 150th anniversary of Confederation and the Queen’s Sapphire Jubilee.
