Base from damaged statue on Legislative Building grounds being removed

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This article was published 07/11/2022 (1079 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The base that has sat empty since the larger-than-life statue of Queen Victoria was knocked down and decapitated on Canada Day in 2021 in front of the Manitoba legislature is being removed.

On Monday, a piece of heavy equipment was being used to remove the final remnant of the statue knocked off its pedestal by emotional demonstrators following the discovery of hundreds of potential unmarked Indigenous graves at former residential school sites.

The province is working to clear the space in front of the Legislative Building and is removing the base, a government spokesman said Monday. Rows of tiny orange flags set down in front of it in memory of the children who died at the schools that were rife with abuse remain untouched.

“No decisions have been made about the space,” the spokesman said.

“In the interim, this maintenance work will be done to protect the pedestal until a final decision on its future is made. The work is expected to take about two weeks.”

The provincial government has already said the cost of repairing the Queen Victoria statue is prohibitive. There have been calls for the statue — in its current damaged state — to be displayed publicly as part of Manitoba’s history. The government spokesman said no decision has been made yet about the statue’s fate.

— Staff