Kitchener council votes to proceed with ‘equity-driven’ feedback process for Queen Victoria statue

Following the finance and corporate services committee meeting on June 8, Kitchener city councillors voted in favour of three items for the future of Queen Victoria's statue on Monday night. 

The three approved items include:

• Directing city staff to launch an equity-driven community engagement process to gather ideas and feedback from the community
• Launching a public education process around the history related to Queen Victoria, the statue and its impacts
• Commissioning a new temporary public artwork that recognizes Indigenous Peoples on the site while the engagement process occurs

While many delegations presented to the committee on June 8, Monday night's meeting allowed delegates to present, as long as it remained new information. 

The only delegate to present to city council was Kitchener citizen, Barb Van Dam who spoke in favour of the statue.

“The throwing of red paint at Queen Victoria's statue resulting in tax payers dollars being spent on clean up is using the colonial tactics of the past — force rather than dialogue.” 

Van Dam went on to add her belief that keeping the statue in place left room for discussion about our collective history, and suggested that removing it would result in a lack of public discourse. 

After the delegation — two councillors, Ward 1 Councillor Scott Davey and Ward 3 Councillor John Gazzola, who both previously opposed part or all of the considerations for the statue changed their positions during the meeting. 

“I voted against the staff recommendation at the committee, I will be supporting it now. I was convinced that the outcome of the equity-driven approach would have almost certainly resulted in the removal of the statue and discounted any other ideas,” said Councillor Scott Davey. 

Davey added his support of Ward 6 Councillor Paul Singh's amendment to add Indigenous artwork beside the statue. 

Councillor John Gazzola said after some clarification, he would support all three items.

“I will support all three [items], the second [item] deals with public education. We can never have enough of all of that.” 

In terms of a timeline on the now-approved installation of Indigenous artwork set to be placed beside the statue, city staff member, Elin Moorlag Silk explained it's still being worked on by staff.

“We have been working on a strategy towards implementation of that amendment and we don't have an official update yet but, it's something staff are working on.” 

After a final count, Kitchener city council voted nearly unanimously in favour of all three items with only one, Ward 9 Councillor Debbie Chapman being opposed. 

The equity-driven community engagement process and public education process is set to follow a four phase approach that could potentially take 8-12 months.