A defaced statue of Queen Victoria lies after being toppled during a rally on Canada Day in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada July 1, 2021.
(Picture: REUTERS)Statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II have been toppled in Canada amid growing anger over the treatment of indigenous people.
Protesters in Winnipeg chanted “no pride in genocide” before pulling down the statues of the monarchs.
The protests come as a recent discovery by a Canadian indigenous group found 182 human remains in unmarked indigenous Canadian graves at a residential school.
They were recovered from a former Catholic-run school near Cranbrook, British Columbia.
More than 150,000 native children were required to attend state-run Christian schools.
At the schools, they were prevented from speaking their native languages in order to assimilate into Canadian society.
Around 6,000 young people are thought to have died in these schools as a result of being subjected to rape, beatings, verbally abuse and malnutrition.
Students were also housed poorly built, poorly heated and unsanitary facilities.
The schools were first opened under the reign of Queen Victoria and closed in the 1970s.
The tearing down of the statues took place on Canada Day on 1 July.
It’s an annual celebration that commemorates the country’s founding by British colonies in 1867.
Before the statues were pulled down, the statue of Queen Victoria was smeared in red paint while a sign saying “we were children” was also left by protesters.
The British government have condemned the statue topplings.
“We obviously condemn any defacing of statues of the Queen,” an official spokesperson said.
“Our thoughts are with Canada’s indigenous community following these tragic discoveries and we follow these issues closely and continue to engage with the government of Canada with indigenous matters,” they added.
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has yet to publicly comment on the statues being pulled down.
But he did tweet out his condolences after the discovery of the unmarked graves, and in his Canada Day message acknowledged that for some, the date is “not yet a day of celebration.”
Today’s finding adds to the growing number of unmarked burial sites discovered near residential schools across Canada. Words always seem to fall short at moments like this. But to the Ktunaxa Nation and Indigenous peoples across the country, know that we’re here for you.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 30, 2021
Meanwhile people reacted to the statue toppling on Twitter and shared their thoughts about the protest.
Some people pointed out that there was a reason behind pulling down the statue of the monarchs.
Not sure how someone can look at this (context: mass grave after mass grave of Indigenous children uncovered) and think about the destruction of property rather than the sheer scale of the misery the British empire inflicted. That feels sociopath lite to me https://t.co/676E4niWp4
— Muna (@Muna_Mire) July 2, 2021
This post doesn't bother to mention that Indigenous activists did this after the rediscovery of over 700 (!) unmarked child graves. 700 KIDS.
— Surer Mohamed (@surermohamed) July 2, 2021
"Statues" discourse in the UK only works through this kind of decontextualization. The statue is the least important part of this action. https://t.co/W3h6tMA3e1
So many indigenous people have been used and abused over the years and this shouldn’t be forgotten. Colonisation and eradicating of native people, cultures, languages etc has consequences. Some take a long time but it’s time to listen #Canada #NoPrideInGenocide https://t.co/Kf6Xyr7tKt
— Iain Hodgetts (he/him) (@mrhodga) July 2, 2021
While conservatives were not impressed with the stunt.
This is not the road to reconciliation. Reconciliation builds up our country. Actions like this tear down and destroy. I believe in Canada - and that includes our ability to meaningfully address our past, while securing a future that includes everyone.https://t.co/Jo7LxWQJiU
— Erin O'Toole (@erinotoole) July 2, 2021
Where are the damn police? Why were these barbarians allowed to do this? Why are they not all in jail now? https://t.co/8DF0RYhfQb
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) July 2, 2021
Thugs and vandals must be held to account, otherwise we’ll see more of this, as we did in the UK and USA.
— Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) July 2, 2021
Democracy is weakening.
Political violence has been normalised.
These anti-Western, anti-white protestors are simply criminals. https://t.co/9L09Q696v3
Elsewhere others have compared it to events last year, where a statue of slave trader Edward Coulson was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol, UK.
Canada have downloaded Bristol's energy pic.twitter.com/oi9FtsLCOD
— frannie-ann 🇯🇲 (@fairythxtmother) July 2, 2021
Same as with the Colston statue that was pulled down in Bristol, all monuments to slavery, genocide and racism need to go. We can't glorify a broken, shameful and bigoted past
— Coaldust - Fully Vaxxed! - Harmony over Hate🛡️ (@HoovesAreBetter) July 2, 2021
Tear them all down https://t.co/V0NrqznJdg
It's good to see people pull down the statues of Queen Vicoria. She represents a colonial system that caused immense damage and murdered so many
— Jon Harding (@_i0n) July 2, 2021
There is no difference between statues in Canada, Bristol or Oxford. Imperialists and slavers were never a local phenomena.
In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called the residential schools system “cultural genocide”.
