The Orillia Champlain monument controversy, Part I

Prior to 2017 anyone viewing Orillia’s Samuel de Champlain Monument would have noticed its artistic beauty and historical references. The work of English artist Vernon March, it was unveiled in 1925 at Couchiching Beach Park before an approving crowd of 10,000, including three Indigenous Chiefs. Its main purpose was to improve frayed relations between French and English Canadians by commemorating the 300th anniversary of Champlain’s arrival in the region. As well, it was to celebrate the spread of Christianity and the establishment of commerce via the fur trade in New France. Thus, under Champlain’s 16-foot bronze statue were figures of a missionary and a fur trader with Indigenous figures beneath them. The monument was taken down in 2017, supposedly for “cleaning,” and has since become the centre of controversy. To promote reconciliation a working group was then created that included members of Rama First Nations, the Huron-Wendat Nation, Parks Canada, and the City of Orillia. It …