Controversial Toronto statue that has been hidden for 5 years is coming back

After five years out of public view, the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald at Toronto's Queen's Park is set to make a return.

The statue, which has stood near the Ontario legislature for over a century, was enclosed in a protective box in 2020 after being repeatedly vandalized during nationwide protests confronting Canada's colonial past and role in residential schools.

The move to uncover the statue was approved early this month by Ontario's Board of Internal Economy, which makes decisions and provides direction on financial and administrative matters of the House of Commons, particularly concerning its premises and services.

According to the board's May 12 meeting minutes, members agreed "that the (protective) hoarding around the Sir John A. Macdonald statue be removed as soon as cleaning is completed, and the existing signage be erected once complete."

The statue was vandalized repeatedly in 2020. Photo: fotografiko eugen/Shutterstock.com.

The monument to Canada's first prime minister was installed in 1894, three years after his death. While MacDonald is widely recognized as a key figure in Canadian Confederation, his legacy is deeply divisive, especially his central role in establishing the resident school system, which forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families and inflicted lasting trauma on generations of Indigenous peoples.

During the summer of 2020, amid global protests against racism and colonialism sparked by the murder of George Floyd in the U.S., the statue was vandalized multiple times, prompting then-Speaker Ted Arnott to order it boarded up for its “own protection.”

In 2022, Premier Doug Ford's government passed legislation placing the monument's future under the authority of the Board of Internal Economy. Current Speaker Donna Skelly said the statue is expected to be unveiled this summer, and encouraged both those who support and those who oppose its presence to visit Queen's Park. Similar monuments have been removed and relocated in cities across the country over the past few years.

Government House Leader Steve Clark also noted that a legislative committee is looking into how to better reflect Indigenous representation at Queen's Park.