Quebec municipalities offer to house Samuel de Champlain statue from Ontario
A handful of Quebec cities are vying for a controversial 4-metre bronze monument of the 17th-century explorer that has been in storage since 2017, after Orillia, Ontario considered melting it down.
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A handful of Quebec municipalities and organizations are offering to take a controversial statue of Samuel de Champlain from an Ontario city in Simcoe County.
The nearly four-metre-tall bronze monument of the 17th-century explorer and founder of Quebec City was removed from a park in Orillia, Ontario, and placed in storage in 2017 following debate over its colonial imagery.
Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac said a wave of offers poured in after the city recently raised the possibility of melting the statue down. McIsaac said he received more than a dozen expressions of interest, mostly from Quebec municipalities and franco-Ontarian communities.
The municipalities of Champlain and Lévis, both in Quebec, are among those hoping to give the statue a new home. But for now, the statue stays in storage as city council continues to debate its future.
