All of the statues on this list, originally posted on my Substack, were removed between 2020-2022.
For readers who wish to take concrete action, I recommend the formation of statue committees in your town or city. These committees can petition local governments to commission new statues of great Canadians. Don’t despair of the wave of statue topplings, work to create new statues!
- Title: A Canadian Conversation (erected in 2015)
- Location: Baden, Ontario
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.
- Removal: Put into storage in September 2020 after a vote by Wilmot Township Council.
- Location: Montreal, Quebec (erected 1895)
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.
- Removal: After being repeatedly targeted by vandals, it was toppled in August 2020 during a Defund the Police protest.
- Location: Regina, Saskatchewan (erected 1966-1967)
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.
- Removal: Regina City Council voted 7–4 to put the statue into storage while a new location is determined. It has been in storage since April 2021, and it is unclear whether it will really be put back up.
- Location: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (erected 2008)
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.
- Removal: Charlottetown City Council voted to remove the statue in June 2021, after protesters gathered for a vigil.
- Location: Toronto, Ontario (erected 1887)
- Figure: Egerton Ryerson, Canadian educator, author, editor, and Methodist Minister.
- Removal: Toppled by protestors in on June 6th, 2021 in the aftermath of the Kamloops residential school story.
- Title:Â Holding Court
- Location: Picton, Ontario (erected 2015)
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister
- Removal: After initially voting to leave the statue in place in November 2020, the Council voted to remove it and place it in storage on June 9th 2021.
- Location: Kingston, Ontario (erected 1895)
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister
- Removal: On June 16th, 2021, Kingston City Council voted 12-1 to relocate the statue from City Park. It was moved to Cataraqui Cemetery, a pre-Confederation graveyard in which John A. Macdonald is buried.
- Location: Lebret, Saskatchewan (erected 1927)
- Figure: Joseph Hugonard, a Catholic priest who served as first principal of the Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School in 1884.
- Removal: An aboriginal protest camp was set up at the site demanding the statue’s removal. The Archdiocese of Regina agreed, and the statue was removed in June 2021.
- Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba (erected 1904)
- Figure: Queen Victoria, who ruled the British Empire from 1837-1901.
- Removal: Toppled during a protest on Canada Day 2021, splattered with red paint and beheaded. The head was thrown into the Assiniboine River. There are no plans to replace the statue, which has been damaged beyond repair.
- Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba (erected 1970)
- Figure: Queen Elizabeth, who reigned from 1952-2022.
- Removal: Toppled during the same Canada Day 2021 protest that the Queen Victoria statue was felled. The government plans to restore the statue.
- Location: Victoria, British Columbia (erected 1976)
- Figure: James Cook, British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain, who sailed thousands of miles across uncharted territory and mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in great detail.
- Removal: On the night of Canada Day 2021, the statue was toppled by protestors and thrown into the Harbour.
- Location: Hamilton, Ontario (erected 1893)
- Figure: John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister
- Removal: In July 2021, the Hamilton City Council voted 12-3 not to remove the statue in Gore Park. On August 14th 2021, the Hamilton Indigenous Unity Rally protested against this decision outside Hamilton City Hall. After the rally, protesters marched to Gore Park and toppled the statue.
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