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First People’s Group recommends removal of Prime Ministers’ Path project in Baden

People sitting in the park and listening to Cheyanne Thorpe discuss the negative impacts of the Sir John A MacDonald statue, which stands behind her.
A photo of the sit-in protest at the location of the Sir John A MacDonald statue in Baden, Ontario. Cheyanne Thorpe is speaking to the crowd. Photo by Dan Kellar.
Dan Kellar - CKMS - Kitchener • ON | 08-07-2021
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Host: Namish Modi

The First People’s Group formally recommended that the Township of Wilmot remove all the existing statues on the Prime Ministers' Path in Baden ahead of an upcoming special council meeting next week. 

The path has statues of former prime ministers including Sir Robert Borden, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Lester Pearson and Kim Campbell.

The First People’s Group advised the township on June 30. The final decision will be up to council.

Over the past couple months, the First People’s Group has engaged the public in terms of the future of the path. There was a large response to the engagement with 461 responses in the community engagement forum.

The debate over the future of the path became more contentious following the discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at former residential school sites all over Canada.

CKMS spoke with Guy Freedman, president of First People’s Group, on July 5. 

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of  this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

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