City of Kingston Report to Council Report Number 21-181 To: Mayor and Members of Council From: Paige Agnew, Commissioner, Community Services Resource Staff: Jennifer Campbell, Director, Heritage Services Date of Meeting: June 16, 2021 Subject: Considerations related to the Statue of John A. Macdonald in City Park Council Strategic Plan Alignment: Theme: Corporate business Goal: See above Executive Summary: In July of 2020 Council approved four actions in relation to the History and Legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald in Kingston and staff have been advancing these actions with support from First Peoples Group in the time since. With the announcement on May 27, 2021 that 215 children had been found buried in unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, voices are coalescing across Canada to demand action from all levels of government to uphold past commitments to reconciliation. Over the last several weeks in Kingston, calls from Indigenous community members and non-Indigenous allies have renewed in asking that Council take clear action and remove the Sir John A. Macdonald statue from City Park. Other residents have called for the statue to remain in place and for Council to recommit to the addition of interpretive plaques/text to expand the historic narrative shared in relationship to the statue. The purpose of this report is to provide Council with additional information about the evolving discussions around Sir John A. Macdonald, his history and legacy and specifically in relation to the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in City Park. Included in this report are two (2) options for Council’s consideration in regard to the Sir John A. Macdonald statue located in City Park. One of the options for consideration originated from the June 14th meeting of the History and Legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald Working Group. Through a talking circle format, the working group Report to Council Report Number 21-181 June 16, 2021 Page 2 of 11 developed and confirmed core considerations for Council. This was a consensus building process. This report also includes correspondence received from Kingston residents in relation to this highly complex and political discussion. Staff are seeking direction from Council on how to move forward. Recommendation: That Council consider the following options in relation to the Sir. John A Macdonald statue in City Park: Option 1: That the statue in City Park remain in place, and the Sir John A. Macdonald History and Legacy Working Group continue to develop interpretive plaques/panels to be placed near the statue that share a more complete history of Macdonald and his legacy. Or Option 2: That the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in City Park be removed within a week being understood that: a. the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald be placed into temporary storage at an existing City storage site; and b. staff be directed to develop a multifaceted engagement and consultation plan that includes consideration of potential sites for the Sir John A. Macdonald statue to be moved to, consideration of new interpretive intentions for its previous location at City Park and a timeline for the completion of this consultation, to be provided to Council for consideration at the August 10, 2021 Council meeting; and That staff be directed to develop amendments to the terms of reference for the Sir John A. Macdonald History and Legacy Working Group as appropriate in relation to the direction approved by Council at the June 16, 2021 Special Council meeting. Report to Council Report Number 21-181 June 16, 2021 Page 3 of 11 Authorizing Signatures: Paige Agnew, Commissioner, Community Services Lanie Hurdle, Chief Administrative Officer Consultation with the following Members of the Corporate Management Team: Peter Huigenbos, Commissioner, Business, Environment & Projects Not required Brad Joyce, Commissioner, Corporate Services Not required Jim Keech, President & CEO, Utilities Kingston Not required Desirée Kennedy, Chief Financial Officer & City Treasurer Not required Sheila Kidd, Commissioner, Transportation & Public Works Not required Report to Council Report Number 21-181 June 16, 2021 Page 4 of 11 Options/Discussion: Background Over the past four years and with direction from Council, staff have been working with Kingston residents on a number of initiatives focused on expanding, recontextualizing and rebalancing the stories and histories shared across the City of Kingston. These initiatives have many drivers; accountability, commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, reconciliation, social justice and making Kingston an inclusive space where community are invited to learn and engage through commemorations, monuments, public art, museums, community programming and educational programming. These Council-approved initiatives are unfolding through projects and programs like Engage for Change, ‘Your Stories, Our Histories’, the City Commemorations Policy, the City of Kingston Heritage Fund, the City of Kingston Public Art Program, and actions and initiatives increasingly pursued though the work of various City Departments. Starting in 2019, the ‘Your Stories, Our Histories’ project was expanded to include focused opportunities for community members to offer input and direction on the history and legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald in the Kingston context. At that time, the core focus of the consultation was to identify where and through what opportunities the City of Kingston could build and share a more inclusive presentation of Sir. John A. Macdonald, his specific relationship to Kingston, his role as the first Prime Minister of Canada and the legacy around him as a figure today, all of which requires a truth-based critical examination of his and his governments policies, with a specific focus on Indigenous peoples, reservations and land dispossession and residential schools. The work concluded with a series of actions presented to City Council in July of 2020. The actions Council approved at that time were understood to be a series of next steps in a continuing process of community learning as well as a real demonstration of Council’s continued commitment to a shared path of reconciliation. The actions Council approved were also framed in coordination with a number of initiatives underway through the Engage for Change Project. In its third and final phase, Engage for Change remains focused on responding to priority needs that have been identified by members of the local Indigenous community. Engage for Change also expands on the commitment of the City of Kingston to continue a shared path of reconciliation which includes continuing to build on the strong relationships with Nations and to honour and support Indigenous ways of knowing and governing in the business processes of the Corporation of the City of Kingston. When taken as a whole, the initiatives underway with Indigenous community members and partner organizations are an intersecting and systems-based response to the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the shared commitment with community to collaborate on what reconciliation means for the City and for the many communities who live here today and have lived here since time immemorial. Report to Council Report Number 21-181 June 16, 2021 Page 5 of 11 Symbolic, Substantive and Systemic Actions Previous recommendations approved by Council in relation to Engage for Change as well as specific actions around the history and legacy of Macdonald through ‘Your Stories, Our Histories’ were organized into three categories of action – changes that are (1) symbolic, (2) substantive and (3) systemic. On one end of the continuum symbolic actions are those that can often be taken quickly and that demonstrate a commitment to meaningful change and to amplifying the voices that have been marginalized through colonial systems. These actions show that the City of Kingston is willing to change the current conversation and influence how people perceive the city and all facets of our shared history. Moving along the continuum is a deeper commitment on the part of the City of Kingston to making changes that are substantive, both internally and externally; these changes can include for example investments in community space(s)/places. At the other end of the continuum exists the commitment to more significant, longer-term and labour-intensive systemic changes that require the City of Kingston to evolve how it does business to ensure that greater equity, diversity and inclusion are achieved through its policies and practices. It is important to keep the continuum of change in mind when considering actions related to the history and legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald. Symbolic actions reference and reinforce commitments to substantive and systemic actions and changes. Updates on Actions Relating to Sir John A. Macdonald History and Legacy Kingston remains widely recognized as Sir John A. Macdonald’s hometown and is uniquely positioned to engage with his history and legacy from a local perspective and in ways that resonate nationally as well. It is in that context that four actions were supported by Council on July 8, 2020 (Report Number 20-159). Actions approved by Council at that time included: replacing the book plaques adjacent to the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in City Park and the Engine 1095 in Confederation Park with interim notices that indicate new text is under development to tell a more complete and inclusive account of their histories in a Kingston context (Complete), confirming the City’s