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Canada Day protesters topple statue of Queen Victoria in Manitoba

Canada Day, a celebration of Canada’s founding proved to be anything but a celebration.

Statue of Queen Victoria in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building. Image courtesy of Eminoro & Simon Villeneuve CC SA 2.0
Statue of Queen Victoria in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building. Image courtesy of Eminoro & Simon Villeneuve CC SA 2.0

Canada Day, a celebration of Canada’s founding proved to be anything but a celebration, as calls for Canadians to spend Canada Day reflecting on the country’s racist history took center stage.

For weeks, after the finding of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at former residential boarding schools, many Canadians questioned why there was any reason to celebrate Canada Day, owing to the country’s racist past and its treatment of First Nations people.

That feeling of remorse all came to a head on Thursday when thousands of people in Winnipeg took to the streets to honor victims of residential schools and rally in support of Indigenous communities.

APTN News

The rally ended with the toppling of a statue of Queen Victoria that has stood for more than a century in front of Manitoba’s legislative building.

The statue was brought to the ground and covered in red handprints, even as teens and young adults whooped and hollered, rushing to take selfies atop the fallen statue.

Margaret Clearsky, whose mother attended a residential boarding school, stood quietly watching the scene, reports the Winnipeg Free Press.

“I can feel the energy,” she said. “It’s powerful and profound,” her niece Tracy Clearsky agreed.

Clearsky said the energy she felt was pride. Her mother attended residental school at Pine Creek, and Clearsky grew up feeling the consequences. Now, things are changing. “I’ve lived my whole life to be united with my people.”

The statue of Queen Victoria was commissioned in 1904 in recognition of her Diamond Jubilee. It was she who reigned over Canada when treaties were first negotiated with First Nations and the federal government adopted the residential school system as policy.

According to the BBC, a statue of Queen Elizabeth II on the grounds of Government House, the official residence of the lieutenant-governor, was also toppled.

A survivor of a residential school, Belinda Vandenbroeck, said she felt no remorse about the toppling of the statue, which she had had no part in.

“She [Queen Victoria] means nothing to me except that her policies and her colonialism is what is dictating us right to this minute as you and I speak,” Ms. Vandenbroeck said.

Catholic churches have also been targeted across the country, with several on Indigenous land burned to the ground. A century-old Catholic church in Alberta was burned Wednesday, and police say a Thursday fire at a church in Yellowknife, Yukon Territory, appears suspicious, the CBC reports. 

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We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend Karen Graham, who served as Editor-at-Large at Digital Journal. She was 78 years old. Karen's view of what is happening in our world was colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in humankind's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, "Journalism is merely history's first draft." Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.

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