Victoria City Mayor Lisa Helps has announced on her city election campaign page that the city will be removing the statue of John A. Macdonald from outside city hall. This, in keeping with the city's formal process of reconciliation with the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, whose homeland the city is founded upon.
She says the statue will be removed so that the family members and other Indigenous people do not need to walk past this painful reminder of colonial violence each time they enter the doors of their municipal government.
In addition to being the first Prime Minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald was a key architect of the Indian Residential School system.
A new release this morning says the statue will be removed Saturday, August 11th and a plaque installed. The release says the statue will be stored safely in a city facility, but there is no word on where it will go after that.