Willow River Centre advocate aims to reopen Kitchener’s Queen Victoria statue discussion

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.

Bangishimo said they are a child of a residential school survivor adding that they don’t understand how they are supposed to heal, sitting on a bench, staring at the Queen Victoria statue.

“If you’re going to be a part of this healing journey which we call reconciliation, which takes both sides to be a part of that journey, then the city needs to prove that, they need to do the work.”

Bangishimo said if they bring the matter back to council, they would be interested in delegating in regard to the removal of the Queen Victoria statue in Victoria Park.

“We do want to have these sessions be hosted so we can hear everyone else’s opinions as well — because you know everyone’s voice matters.”

They said the process with the city has been frustrating and slow.

“We’re at the point now where enough is enough, we want to start seeing some action, we want to see some actual change take place within Kitchener-Waterloo,” said Bangishimo.

They added that currently, there is a lot of hurt and trauma in the community at Willow River Centre and want to see the city do the right thing.

“You know, they can show up all they want to our events with their orange shirts taking their selfies – let’s move beyond that; let’s move beyond awareness and conversation and actually, let’s start making some change.”

In a statement to CityNews, the City of Kitchener said the conversation will come back to council in 2024, but no specific timelines have been made.

“Staff continue to review and evaluate next steps with this project using an evidence-based, equity-centred and equity-informed approach.”