Long to Reign Over Us

OUR STORIES IN STONE PART 2 Long to reign over us Some Ottawans were upset at the realism with which the king of beasts was portrayed. PHOTOS BY CHRIS MIKULA, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Along came a In 1901, a statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled welder to with much pomp and ceremony on a knoll on the west side render the lion of Centre Block. It is there still, a constant reminder of Canada’s anatomically monarchist attachments. corrected. Monuments celebrate happy, glorious ties between crown and city BY ROBERT SIBLEY Ottawa was a brawling frontier town of tachments. a few thousand. Its biggest claim to fame Today’s walk is devoted to these at- f statues could talk, the regal figure — apart from being a major source of tachments of Crown and city, at least as standing on Parliament Hill could lumber for the British navy — was its represented on Parliament Hill. The Hill speak volumes about Ottawa’s ties muddy streets. Still, 40 years later, Ot- contains three monuments commemo- to British royalty. tawa was a bit less muddy, and citizens rating the royal presence — the statue of I In 1857, Queen Victoria ended sev- wanted to show their appreciation for Queen Victoria, one of Queen Elizabeth eral years of acrimony among colonial the Queen’s decision. The year 1897 II, and, sadly neglected, a block of mar- Canadians by selecting Ottawa as the marked the 60th year of Victoria’s reign, ble that was the cornerstone of the origi- new capital of the united Province of and a statue was proposed to mark the nal Parliament Building. Canada. Many were appalled at the occasion. I park myself on a bench to admire Queen’s choice. A British MP referred Duly sculpted by Louis-Philippe Queen Victoria, resplendent in crown, sarcastically to the town as “Westmin- Hébert, it was unveiled in 1901 with much sceptre and robes of state, her head held ster in the wilderness.” An American pomp and ceremony on a knoll on the high as she gazes across the city she newspaper was sardonic in its approval, west side of the Centre Block, home to the plucked from obscurity. On the pedestal opining that the “invaders would in- House of Commons and the Senate. It is below the Queen stands a large muscular evitably be lost in the woods trying to there still, on a granite pedestal surround- lion, a “vigilant guardian of the flag, ter- find it.” ed by trees, benches and pathways, a con- ritorial dominion and national honours,” Such skepticism was not unreasonable. stant reminder of Canada’s monarchist at- as Hébert put it at the time. PHOTOS BY CHRIS MIKULA , THE OTTAWA CITIZEN The statue of Queen Elizabeth II was first proposed in 1987 to mark both the Queen's 40th year as Canada’s monarch and Canada's 125th year as a nation. A young jogger stops to rest on a near- gorical symbol of Canada. She’s dressed by bench, checking the pulse in her neck in peasant-like clothing with a gorget of with her fingers. A middle-aged Chinese armour around her neck. On her head is a couple, cameras dangling around their mural crown with the coats of arms of necks, walk up one of the paths. They the provinces. take pictures of each other in front of the The woman seems unbalanced on her monument, and spend a few moments feet. She looks up at the Queen, her right looking up at the Queen. arm extended to place a laurel wreath at Perhaps they, like myself, admire the royal feet, her left arm extended be- Hébert’s handiwork: the intricate realism hind as if to keep her balance. I see what of the creases and folds of the Queen’s the authors of a 1986 National Capital robes, the fierce-faced lion with its claws Commission brochure on the Parliament unsheathed. Hill statues meant when they wrote: There is a sad story about the lion. Af- “Wind-blown and unsteady, she is per- ter it was unveiled, some Ottawans of del- haps an emblem of a still uncertain na- icate sensibility were upset at the realism tion.” with which the king of beasts was por- After saying goodbye to Queen Victo- trayed. A sensitive bureaucrat ordered ria, I troop along the driveway that curves the alteration of offending parts. Along around the back of the Centre Block to came a welder to render the lion anatom- my favourite “monument” on the Hill — ically corrected. a green-stained, weather-worn block of Next to the sopranoed lion is the white marble cut more than a century- draped figure of a young woman, an alle- and-a-half ago from a quarry along the 2 4.3 metres long and 1.5 metres wide. It cost $600,000. And, finally, it’s only the second statue of a monarch memorial- ized on Parliament Hill — compared to 15 politicians — and, apparently, is the first equestrian statue anywhere of Her Majesty. British Columbia artist Jack Harman and his son Stephen sculpted the monument of the Queen astride the RCMP horse Centenial — a gift to Her Majesty to mark the Mounties’ centennial in 1973. (The only reason I could find for the horse’s name being deliberately mis- spelled — one “n” instead of two — was so neither horse nor Queen would be as- sociated with 100 years ago, or some such bureaucratic silliness.) There is a stillness to the monument, a kind of quiet and timeless solidity. Yet, at the same time, it possesses a dynamic quality, a sense of movement. The Queen holds the reins loosely but firmly. The horse’s right foreleg is raised as if moving forward. There’s a playful swish in the thick tail. I can pick out the details of a crown and shield on the saddle straps and harness and the buttons on the Queen’s cape with their royal insignia. She looks, well, regal and commanding, gazing into The cornerstone of Parliament: In chiselled letters worn by time: ‘Laid by Albert the distance. Edward Prince of Wales on the first day of September MDCCCLX.’ The statue was first proposed in 1987 by Bill Tupper, the former Tory MP for upper Ottawa River valley. It is the origi- Nepean-Carleton, to mark both the nal cornerstone of Parliament, and, to my Queen’s 40th year as Canada’s monarch mind, a potent symbol of the city’s British and Canada’s 125th year as a nation. Sur- heritage. prisingly, perhaps, Tupper’s private mem- The first thread of that bond was wo- ber’s bill passed unanimously in the ven nearly 150 years ago when the Prince House of Commons and Senate. Of of Wales visited Ottawa. course, there were a few carpers — closet It had been three years since the republicans, no doubt — who, in the prince’s mother picked Ottawa to be the words of one curmudgeonly cynic, capital. Her 19-year-old son, the future thought the statue was “really useless.” A King Edward VII, was shipped over to ce- New Democratic MP, Rod Laporte, as- ment her decision. It was the first official sumed he was speaking for ordinary royal visit to Canada. Canadians when he was quoted as saying, Chiselled on the stone’s face: “This cor- “It’s fine to have a statue of the Queen. It nerstone of the building destined to re- has some value but, with the economic ceive the Legislature of Canada was laid condition of the country, it’s poor timing.” by Albert Edward Prince of Wales on the I prefer the attitude of former York- first day of September MDCCCLX” — Simcoe Tory MP John Cole, who defend- Saturday, Sept. 1, 1860, to be precise. Some rededicated the cornerstone for the new ed the statue’s symbolic value. “There is a of the lettering has worn away. Parliament building that was built after lot of tradition here,” he said. It seems The next major royal visit wasn’t until the original structure burned to the most Ottawans agreed. Thousands gath- 1901, when the Duke and Duchess of ground earlier in the year — the same ered on Parliament Hill on June 30, 1992, Cornwall and York — later King George stone his brother Edward had laid 56 to cheer the Queen as she tugged on a V and Queen Mary — came to town. Ot- years earlier. lanyard to unveil the statue. tawa’s 60,000 citizens pulled out all the It’s a short stroll from the cornerstone I like the idea that this monument of stops, with at least half the city’s popu- to the northeast lawn between the Cen- Queen Elizabeth, like that of her great- lace gathering on Parliament Hill on Sept. tre Block and the East Block where I find great-grandmother on the other side of 21 to cheer as the duke unveiled the statue the statue of Queen Elizabeth II on horse- the Hill, will be here long after our con- of Queen Victoria, who had died in Janu- back. I take a seat on a bench in the shade temporary concerns — billions bailing ary of that year. of a large maple to study the monument out bankrupt car companies, for instance Fifteen years later, on the “first day of as I flip through my research notes. — have been forgotten, reminding us of September MDCCCCXVI (Sept. 1, 1916),” Here are a few facts: The bronze statue our more meaningful connections. 1 as an additional inscription relates, is four metres tall and 1 ⁄2 times larger Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught than life.

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