Sam Returning Soon
By John Swartz
UPDATED: link to livestream added.
He’s coming back, almost. The statue of Samuel de Champlain is being returned to the City of Orillia. Exactly when is not determined, but it will be sooner than later.
On Friday Mayor Don McIsaac announce by way of a Facebook post an agreement with Parks Canada has been reached to return all three components of the monument, though only the main piece, Champlain, will be reinstalled.
Orillia council has an item on their agenda about this at their meeting September 22. The meeting starts at 12:45 p.m. and it’s the last item of the reports portion of the meeting. You can watch it online .
The monument, sculpted by Vernon March, and the land it is on are owned by Parks Canada. They have agreed to return the statues without charge and transfer ownership to the City without cost (understandable since it was transferred to Parks Canada at no cost).
Parks Canada has appraised the plot’s value at $428, and while they intend to transfer ownership of the land to the City, the process may take a year or more. Until then they propose a license agreement with the City.
There are conditions, which are similar to ones the City’s working group came to:
- That the Samuel de Champlain Monument be re-installed with only the central figure of Samuel de Champlain atop the plinth and that this installation occur immediately.
- That the First Nations figures along with the figures of the Fur Trader and Missionary be the subject of further consultation with First Nations. It is the hope of the Samuel de Champlain Monument Working Group that future work, with the aim of re-imagining their presence in the immediate vicinity of the original Monument, will result in a meaningful and concrete example of Reconciliation.
- That the text of the original Monument’s “in-set plaque” be updated so that it will honour the original intent within the context of contemporary knowledge and wisdom.
- That additional interpretive signage/pieces be developed and created with the participation of First Nations representatives to tell a historically accurate story of Samuel de Champlain and his relationship with First Nations
The pedestal Champlain was on has been destroyed and will have to be designed and built. The motion council has includes direction for a budget relating to the return; transportation costs of $90K, site restoration (the pedestal) $25K, legal land conveyance $5K and a contingency of $30k, for a total of $150K.
This does not include any cost for addition interpretive elements that may be installed.
Mayor McIsaac said at this time there is no concept or design for reinstalling the side pieces and interpretive elements.
First it has to be figured out what to do with the side pieces, which have been the focus of much anger and condemnation of the monument, particularly the side pieces. There has been some disapproval of the Champlain figure as being colonial, but it is documented he fought with the Wendat against the Iroquois, his injuries tended to by the Wendat, and invited to stay the winter with them. The people used as models for the side pieces were members of what was called at the time the Rama Reserve and the clay model was created in the downtown building destroyed by fire last January.
The mayor also said he is happy the lion’s share of returning the monument looks like it is behind the City.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia) Main: Orillia’s Champlain Monument as it looked in 2016
