A St. Catharines City Councillor says she bring forward a motion to take down a monument in front of city hall.
Karrie Porter tells CKTB after a discussion with the Anti-Racism Committee, she will pursue removing the statue of Private Alexander Watson, and she will also request that the city’s equity committee review naming policies.
The statue was put up in 1886 and was originally was meant to be erected at his burial place in St. Catharines but instead was put up downtown at the request of local citizens at the time.
Porter thinks the statue should be moved to his cemetery.
"We should be changing our opinion, history is not static, we need to keep an open mind and question our past."
Watson lived in St Catharines for a time and died in 1885, fighting on the side of the Canadian government in the deciding battle in the North-West Rebellion.
I support the request to remove.
— Walter Sendzik (@WSendzik) June 17, 2020
One community member has launched an online petition to remove it, saying it's the image of Canada’s ongoing genocide of First Nations, Métis, and Indigenous peoples.