The Kingston City Council voted after a long meeting on Wednesday night to move the statue of Canada’s first prime minister from the city park to the nearby Katalaki Cemetery, where the father of the Union was buried.

Mayor Brian Patterson said at a virtual meeting: “I don’t know I have encountered a problem where the two parties are far apart.”

This committee and the wider community have been talking about In recent years, the vitality has increased How to know Macdonald’s hometown His achievements and racist policies, Including centralizing and expanding the boarding school system.

As the discovery was announced last month An unmarked cemetery believed to be the remains of children near a regular boarding school in Kamloops, British Columbia

‘Sincere gesture’

There were three options before Parliament on Wednesday: keep the statue in a park about one kilometer west of the city hall, remove the statue and temporarily store it in a warehouse, or remove it and eventually move it to the cemetery.

In a meeting that lasted more than five hours, 12 representatives attended the board of directors, and the members heard concerns about “cancellation” and a desire to add more information about the location of the statue in the park.

The lawmakers also heard about the huge damage caused by the boarding school and the fear of some aborigines in front of the monument.

Natasha Stirrett, an assistant professor of colonization and boarding at Carleton University, said: “I would say that John A’s removal was a gesture of goodwill.”

She said she was shocked by the alarmist tone of some people who advocated keeping the statue.

Before the vote, she said: “The removal of the beautification of John A…. shows that we intend to move forward in a way that respects and respects our dignity.”

“A plaque [statue] Don’t do it. We don’t want to be targeted by our murderers. “

A group of activists led by aboriginal people Since Thursday, people have gathered around the sacred flame of the statue, Vowed to stay until it was taken down.

This group, called The revolution of the heart, Demanding that the monument be replaced with a memory of more than 150,000 children who were forced to enter boarding schools.

Although the city council finally voted to move the statue, some people were disturbed by the decision to move the monument to Cataraqui Cemetery-this choice has not yet been submitted to the working group that decided on the choice of the statue.

“It seems very hasty, and it seems very risky,” Kuhn said. Peter Stroud (Peter Stroud), he supports the temporary storage of the statue before deciding on a new location.

Others support moving the statue because they are worried that the statue will be damaged if action is not taken as soon as possible.

Patterson, who supported moving the statue to the cemetery on Wednesday, said that his opinion was mainly through Murray Sinclair And hope to see the dialogue continue.

He once said the city park statue in June 2020 Will not be deleted.

Statue to be displayed “in a different context”

Patterson said that the decision to move the statue to the cemetery does not mean that it cannot be moved again in the future, but that it is a promise not to keep the statue indefinitely.

He said that moving it to the cemetery would allow the statue to be displayed “in another part of the community, in a different environment, in a different environment.”

Before moving to the cemetery, the motion needs to be negotiated with the local indigenous people.

At another meeting on Wednesday night, the Limestone District School Board in the area voted Renamed Sir Kingston John Macdonald Public School, Temporarily use Kingston East Public School.

Anyone affected by the lingering influence of boarding schools and those affected by the latest report can get support.

A nationwide Indian boarding school crisis hotline has been established to provide support to former students and those affected. People can call the 24-hour national crisis hotline: 1-866-925-4419 for emotional and crisis referral services.