Other statues have faced public justice

There’s still a lot of reaction about the Macdonald statue. Here, Le Devoir enumerates six other monuments in Quebec that have come to grief: in Montreal, the head of the King George III statue that used to adorn Place d’Armes was thrown into a well in 1775 – it’s now in the McCord Museum, but the article doesn’t say what happened to the rest of the statue; several other attempts have been made to damage or blow up Macdonald, including the removal of its head in 1992; the monument to Dollard des Ormeaux on the northwest corner of Lafontaine Park was daubed with the word “Assacin” this summer. The other instances noted are also interesting, but were in Quebec City.

Was the original Macdonald head found and replaced, or was a new one made? I don’t remember.

The Journal also has a list, including the memorial plaque to Maisonneuve that came down not long ago on Place d’Armes because of its boast about the city founder killing the Mohawk chief with his own hands. Some of the others on its list aren’t exactly controversial, Wilfrid Laurier and George-Étienne Cartier having been men of their time, but not notably evil. They list the James McGill statue, too.

Then there was the memorial plaque to Jefferson Davis, taken down three years ago.