Statue project of former prime ministers called celebration of ‘dead rich white lawyers’

The seemingly patriotic idea of building a set of 22 bronze statues to celebrate Canada's former and present prime ministers appears doomed to fail following public backlash that suggested it was just another way to celebrate rich, white men.

A project being considered by Kitchener, Ont., city council had intended to mark the country's 150th anniversary in 2017, but the $2.2 million project received vast disapproval in a recent public survey.

The project was proposed by two local residents and would see 22 bronze statues placed in the city's Victoria Park. Already, $1 million of private money has been pledged and $300,000 of public money was being requested. But after a poll found that 79 per cent of citizens opposed the statue project, Coun. Frank Etherington announced he would ask council to abandon it.

"For a variety of reasons, 1,773 out of 2,299 respondents said they do not want to see the statues anywhere in Kitchener," Etherington wrote in a recent blog. "Based on these overwhelming results, I will ask councillors to consider a motion Feb. 24 that will end any further consideration of the statue project."

The results of the disapproving survey were posted online and included hundreds of personal comments in opposition to the project.

Here are a few quick hits from the list of comments:

• "pointless and indulgent"

• "aesthetically unappealing"

• "pointless propaganda"

• "superficial in its intent"

• "Artistically banal"

• "unduly jingoistic"

"The world doesn't need more statues of dead rich white lawyers," wrote on respondent.

Another wrote, "It's 2013. A park full of statues of white men? Really? We need to be bold and celebrate all kinds of Canadian leaders. PMs get enough attention."

As outdated as the concept appears to some, it is apparent organizers had taken pains to make the project seem sleek and modern. Well, as modern as statues of a bunch of old fogeys can be.

A vision strategy suggests there would be an interactive feature to encourage people to take "selfies" with the statues; the statues would also include "Easter eggs" that hinted at the subject's party affiliation, home town and clues about their greatest moments.

The statues would also be crafted to allow for the wearing of hockey jerseys at important moments, such as during the Olympics or while the local minor league team is in the playoffs.

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The focus of the statues wasn't just about having the statues exist, but also about using the statues to ensconce Kitchener as a historical tourist destination.

"Why should the youth of this area have to go to Ottawa to see something like this? For once, why shouldn’t others come to Kitchener and Waterloo region instead?” Coun. Berry Vrbanovic said when the project had earned the approval of the city's planning committee in December.

The idea of a complete statues set of country leader hasn't been done in Canada before, but there is precedent elsewhere.

Rapid City, South Dakota, is known as The City of Presidents thanks to its collection of life-size bronze statues of all the U.S. presidents.

The collection has made Rapid City a bit of a tourist attraction for history buffs. Well, that and its proximity to Mount Rushmore. Perhaps more the latter than the former.

Australia has its collection of busts of former prime ministers displayed at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in the state of Victoria. The display is known as Prime Minister's Avenue. Notably, local organizers have decided not to make a second bust of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who previously held power and returned to the post last year after beating Julia Gillard in a leadership challenge.

That decision, notably, matches what Kitchener had planned for handling repeating prime minister Pierre Trudeau. And William Lyon Mackenzie King; and Arthur Meighen. And Sir John A. Macdonald. Boy, we have made a habit of returning to old leadership, haven't we?

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Precedent aside, the people have spoken. Seventy-seven per cent said they didn't want the project built anywhere in Kitchener and 78 per cent said the city shouldn't invest a single dollar in the project.

Of the 79 per cent who said they did not even support the concept behind the statue collection, one of the primary issues was that it appeared “tone deaf” to local values.

Kitchener's Victoria Park is an Ontario heritage conservation district and, as several people pointed out, sits on land borrowed from the First Nations community.

"Bronze statues glorifying dead white men is just another way to uphold colonial patriarchy and is not an appropriate way to honor this land or acknowledge Kitchener's settler status," one wrote.

A large number opposed to the project also pointed out that celebrating the government leader is more of an American concept. Prime ministers are not elected by the people, they are elected by the parties and the people simply choose which party holds the most power.

To celebrate those leaders as heroes undermines the way our government works and instead confuses it with the American system.

Better to leave the idea for Rapid City, South Dakota, it seems. But if that's the case, where will Kitchener hang its hockey jerseys?

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