Willow River Centre advocate aims to reopen Kitchener’s Queen Victoria statue discussion – CityNews
May 1, 2024
The conversation about removing the Queen Victoria statue downtown Kitchener was put on the back burner after a consultant, hired by the city, received hate mail from the community and left.
Local advocate for the Indigenous community and co-director of Willow River Centre, Bangishimo, started the conversation with fellow co-director Amy Smoke, but said everything has since stalled.
“Amy and I did the best that we could to our ability to follow up with the city to see what their plans were to continue the conversation regarding the conversation the Queen Victoria statue and we received no response from the people at the city,” Bangishimo said.
“At this point, it’s just been stalled; it’s been put on pause. You know, I’m hoping the city will do the right thing and continue to host the remaining conversations with the community and hire another consultant.”
They want to talk about why the region is still honouring these types of colonial figures, and get multiple opinions about what the community wants done with the statue.
