The statue that once stood outside Victoria City Hall may not be staying in storage much longer.
The city will be holding Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues in the upcoming months, with the focus on two key questions: 'Where is the best place to put the statue of Sir John A MacDonald?' and 'What do we need to do to learn about reconciliation in Victoria?'
Mayor Lisa Helps says the City Family wants to have the statue placed with more context added, so as not to erase history, but expand on it instead.
"What we heard very clearly from both Nations is that a broader story of John A. MacDonald needs to be told. And so, I think the imagining, at least from the Nations, but again I don't want to speak for them and I do want to hear from the community, is that when the statue is re-situated, there will be some other piece put in conversation with it in some way."
Helps says pending approval of the city's strategic plan, she hopes the discussions can begin soon.
"We'll work with the Nations, with the City Family, with our engagement department, with the person that we hire in my office to be Head of Strategic Operations. The dialogues will be run out of the Mayors office, that's what council has directed. But what I imagine is people coming, sharing a few meals, sitting around tables, and having a conversation to start."
She adds that Victoria was built on someone else's homeland, and the Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues will "ask all of us to grapple with 'How do we move forward with reconciliation at the same time as we continue to live in this wonderful city'."
Helps is unsure where the statue could go, and will have to wait until after consultations before any decisions are made. She says the option of donating the statue isn't off the table, but it was originally a gift to the city, and city staff are looking into the logistics of whether or not it could be donated to the Province or a different city.
The statue was taken down in August as part of an act of reconciliation by the City of Victoria.