Tag: statues

Montreal Committee Says John A. MacDonald Statue Shouldn’t Be Reinstated

A City of Montreal committee has recommended that a toppled statue of Sir John A. MacDonald not be reinstated. The committee criticized MacDonald for his role in residential schools and said he represented a colonial vision. The statue in downtown park Place du Canada was toppled in August 2020 amid protests calling for the defunding of…


British Culture Secretary Gives Grade II-listed Status to Cecil Rhodes Plaque at Oxford

British culture secretary Nadine Dorries has granted listed status to a plaque commemorating the industrialist and colonialist Cecil Rhodes at a University of Oxford college. The Oriel College memorial in Oxford, has a plaque of Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) on the outside wall,  just around the corner from the much-contested statue of the British mining magnate…


Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Roman Statues Under Norman Village Church in England

An archeological dig in Buckinghamshire is dredging up artifacts from England’s remote past—ahead of a high-speed rail that’s laying the groundwork for UK’s rapid land-transportation future. Researchers from high-speed rail project HS2 unearthed at Stoke Mandeville a set of remarkable Roman busts from beneath what was once a Norman village church. The HS2 research team are calling…


History Is Being Altered Without Due Process, UK Report Warns

Public history is being altered in the UK through removing statues, renaming streets, and changing school curricula without a rigorous and non-partisan process, a British conservative think tank has warned. A paper (pdf) written by broadcaster Trevor Phillips and released by the Policy Exchange think tank on Monday said there has been “widespread national concern…


Queen Victoria Is Not Hitler or Stalin, and It Matters

Commentary When people vandalize a statue, for instance of Queen Victoria, I confess to a malevolent urge to leave it there as a squalid monument to their utopian vision, as it once was a dignified one to the society they repudiate. It would just make things worse in a “broken windows” manner, encouraging disorder and…


‘They’ll Be After Something Else Fairly Soon’: Regina Park’s Macdonald Statue Latest to Go

News Analysis Regina city council’s vote to remove Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue from a prominent city park is the latest in a trend of removing monuments honouring Canada’s founder as well as his name from buildings that leaves some historians and others concerned. Brian Giesbrecht, a retired judge and a senior fellow at the…


Girl’s Push for More Female Statues in Public Spaces Garners State Government Support

The Queensland government has thrown its backing behind a nine-year-old girls push to have more female public statues, pictures, and plaques across the state. In a post on Facebook, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called Malia Knox, a “young woman making big changes.” “Thanks to Malia’s advocacy, we’ve amended the framework for monuments to make sure diversity…


Queensland Government Backs Young Girl’s Push for More Public Female Statues

The Queensland government has thrown its backing behind a nine-year-old girls push to have more female public statues, pictures, and plaques across the state. In a post on Facebook, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called Malia Knox, a “young woman making big changes.” “Thanks to Malia’s advocacy, we’ve amended the framework for monuments to make sure diversity…


Museums Shouldn’t Be Pushed Around by the Left on Statues: UK Culture Secretary

Museums should not be bullied by left-wing campaign groups into removing statues and rewriting history, British Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has said. Dowden highlighted the risk of museums being “pushed around by unrepresentative campaign groups, principally from the left.” These left-wing groups “put bullying pressure on institutions to rapidly change their approach, to remove our…


UK Statue Toppling Suspects Plead Not Guilty of Criminal Damage

Four people who were charged for allegedly toppling a statue in Bristol during last year’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests have pleaded not guilty. The four people, who appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday, were accused of damaging the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century merchant, which was toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest in…