Making Friendly on the Statue Removal Front
November 11, 2022 Original Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Is there anyone else out there, in or near the Tri-City area or Grand River Country as a whole, who has developed a peculiar affection for Cavaliere Raffaele Zaccaquini's sculpture of Queen Victoria and the Lion?
I mean the landmark public art work that has graced Kitchener’s Victoria/Willow River Park for 111 years without much controversy until recently, when it became the object of the same kind of desecration that led to the removal of the statues of John A Macdonald and various other prime ministerial personages in Baden. This statue, originally commissioned as a memorial in the wake of Victoria’s death, now appears to be on the verge of meeting the same fate.
I love it as a monument and an artifact in part because it seems so incongruous with our times and with the dominant culture, which generally follows the rebellious Bostonnais / Virginien storyline: “The redcoats are coming!” “Live free or die!” “Sic semper tyrannis!” -- that sort of thing.
My fondness for this work has evolved over time, to the point where I started to feel estranged from both the modernizing mainstream and from conservationist voices. It certainly isn’t the kind of patriot love that would move me to swell the full chorus of “Rule, Britannia!” or the “Maple Leaf Forever.”
This is an affection peculiar to a Dutch boy who was born in a city reduced to rubble by Hitler’s Wehmacht; brought to this hemisphere on an old passenger ship; went to Queen Elizabeth primary, Calvin Christian and Trenton High schools; who loved rock’n’roll, collected stamps, grew his hair long, joined the freaks, moved to Ottawa, and eventually ended up living in what was still Berlin, Canada when said monument was erected, and who along the way earned a doctorate in the History of the United States and taught Atlantic World 1400-1800 at the University of the West Indies. Only a pilgrim whose wanderings have taken such a route could feel exactly the way I do.
Peculiar as it may be, the feeling is genuine, deep and abiding: I can move myself to tears almost at will thinking about that monument, with all its associations and connotations. There’s little or no nostalgia involved. No fear or remorse either: This isn’t a lament for an outmoded conception of belonging. On the contrary, it is what the statue could signify for the future that moves my heart and stirs my soul.
I’ve come out of the closet with my peculiar way of looking at things in some of my recent writings (see links below), but my musings on this and related subjects haven’t attracted much attention or commentary. That’s OK. I’m not looking for approval or permission. I’m also not interested in converts, followers or pupils. Finding a friend here and there would fill my cup to the brim.
I am, however, firm in my conviction that Kitchener, Waterloo-Wellington, Grand River Country, Ontario and Canada would be far better off if we found a way to reconcile Victoria’s ongoing physical presence in bronzed effigy, right there where she has always stood, with all that we aspire to be, individually and collectively as a city, province and nation state, over the next 111 years.
That conviction is the source of what could be described as an ambition or a sense of mission.
You’ve heard of the “culture wars”? More commonly associated with the revolutionary republic to the south, the culture wars phenomenon is part of the story of how those ill-fated prime ministerial statues tore the Wilmot community apart and, in the election last month, interrupted the careers of three very capable municipal leaders. Wilfrid Laurier University, as a body politic, has never fully recovered from battle lines drawn over those same statues, combined with the fury that ensued when, shortly afterwards, a teaching assistant ran a video clip of a renegade U of T psychology prof protesting certain trends in contemporary pronoun usage.
Well, after seeing, from these and other examples, how there are more than enough warriors to go around, I began thinking about starting a late-in-life career in the service of cultural peace.
I mean real peace, not triumph or defeat, not a negotiated settlement or “deal”, not compromise, not judgment, not retribution. I mean the kind of peace that is the product of reconciliation in the root sense: a “restoration of union or friendship after estrangement or variance,” from “re-" meaning “again” plus conciliare -- "make friendly.”
I’m almost embarrassed to say it: I’d like to make this kind of work my business.
So, minding my business, I was interested to learn that the outgoing Kitchener City Council had directed city staff to begin an “‘equity-driven process … exploring the history and impacts of the Queen Victoria statue located in Victoria Park” through “community engagement activities to unpack multiple perspectives and options related to its future,” including providing “opportunities for the public at large to provide input.”
The City has contracted Jay Pitter Placemaking, “an award-winning practice mitigating growing socio-spatial divides across numerous North American cities,” to develop an engagement strategy, some “public education resources” and eventually help put together “a staff report that will include equitable placemaking recommendations to guide the future of the statue.”
I missed the first step in the process, a live “Ask Jay anything” session conducted via Instagram on November 1st. I did manage to sign up for the “Community Discussion: Witnessing Circle” that was originally scheduled for Thursday, November 10 at the Kitchener Market. This has now been postponed to November 24.
I’m keen to hear what people say. Will there be anyone there who thinks the way I do? If so, should we bear witness? If not, should I stand up alone? The contract with the City of Kitchener stipulates “prioritizing the voices of Indigenous, Black and racialized community members.” This old white resident of Atlantic European origins (he/him;us/ours) is close to bursting with pent-up testimony, and ready, not to shout my peace refrain, which would be inappropriate, but to ring it out from the rooftops, as gently and sweetly as I can manage. But maybe it’s better to just listen at this point.
The “exploring the history and impact” aspect of the project is especially intriguing. I can contribute something to the conversation about the larger contexts, over time and geographic space: our continent, the Atlantic World, that vast empire Victoria was charged with being the “mother” of, and all the other empires that came and went before and after her long reign, with reference to some of the traces they have left for us to contemplate, from the Pyramids of Giza to the Halls of Montezuma. The ultimate context is the whole wide world of human life, and what we’ve up to here on God’s Green Earth over the millennia.
The big picture is one dimension -- two, actually, the historical and the geographic. But there is also the immediate to consider -- the here, past, present and future. I’m eager to learn more about the story of this particular statue, in this particular Canadian community. I want to know about the personalities involved: the women who led the project, the artist, the civic leaders, the residents or citizens of a prosperous town that was about to become a city.
The statue was presented as a gift to the community. How was it received at the time? I’ve heard that German-speaking residents were enthusiastic; Victoria in bronze was joining a bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I, whose son had married her oldest daughter. Anglicans would have rejoiced, certainly. Victoria was not only the head of state and commander-in-chief, but also their equivalent to a pontiff. But what did Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterans, Methodists and Swedenborgians think about it? What about the descendents of the founders, who were pacifists? And black citizens of the town, did they celebrate with everyone else?
This was an initiative led by a relatively new, made-in-Ontario association of women, honouring a woman as a woman: “A Model Wife and Mother -- Beloved, Admired, Revered.” How did the women of Berlin feel about it, not just well-to-do, public-spirited types like the Daughters of the Empire, but the women who cleaned their houses or worked in the factories?
What about the young boys of Berlin, far too many of whom would soon be sacrificing their lives to defend the Empire against a defiant German fatherland with Victoria’s grandson at its head?
What role did the statue and what it symbolizes play in the lives of the people that came to Kitchener later, generation after generation? And how have those lives lived shaped us, and our capacities for dealing with the challenges before us?
I was disappointed when I heard the Witnessing Circle had been postponed, but also relieved. This is not the kind of issue that can be properly dealt with at a couple of picnic gatherings. I can’t possibly summarize what’s on my mind and in my heart in what would be my fair share of time at a two-hour public meeting. If 20 of us show up, we’d get 5 minutes each.
The way I see it, fundamentally it’s not about the British Empire per se, but about the settlement of Upper Canada, where even the Indigenous presence began with refugees fleeing the ravages of war. It’s about Canada under 155 years of home rule, and it’s about the hemisphere since Europe’s Atlantic powers began claiming and invading. But what we’re really talking about is the future of the human race on Earth.
So let’s take our time. November 11, a day dedicated to remembrance, is a good starting point. This is when the dark days of the year begin in earnest, a time to start turning on our lights, literally and metaphorically. Today is also Martinmas, when the growing and harvesting season finally ends, and therefore a time for arranging future employment before settling in for winter.
Spring will arrive in stages: Groundhog Day/Candlemas; Lunar New Year; Black History Month; the vernal equinox; Nowruz, the Roman and Persian New Year; Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, Good Friday, Easter; April Fools; Earth Day; Arbour Week; May Day … up to what is still Victoria Day / Fête de la Reine in these lands, and the beginning of another gardening season.
That leaves ample time to do the work that needs to be done. If we do it right, we‘ll be able to celebrate May 24, 2023 in Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada like never before.