An Innu surgeon in Montreal is urging city officials to make changes to the Jacques Cartier monument-fountain in the Sud-Ouest borough, calling it insulting to Indigenous people.
Dr. Stanley Vollant wants to see two elements changed from the fountain in the Saint-Henri park: its effigies and its plaque.
Vollant first noticed the effigies of Indigenous faces during the summer of 2020 when his daughter, who was five years old at the time, brought them to his attention.
“My daughter told me, ‘hey daddy, what are those monsters that are spitting out water?’ recounted Vollant, who lives across from the monument-fountain. “And I took a look and it was Indigenous faces, very hideous Indigenous faces spitting out water. And I said to my daughter, Beatrice, ‘this is us. This is us, those monsters are us.’ And she said, ‘why they despise us as monsters?’ I said, ‘that’s history, my love, and we have to change that history.’”
Dr. Vollant is not looking for the fountain to be destroyed or removed but simply changed. He wants the Indigenous effigies removed.
“I think as a group we can find something much better and also maybe to remove those gargoyles that are Indigenous people, put something else without destroying this beautiful fountain,” he said.
Dr. Stanley Vollant wants to see changes made to the Jacques Cartier monument-fountain in Saint-Henri. (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)
The monument that was completed in 1893 commemorates the life of Jacques Cartier. One of the four plaques on it, referring to his life, reads: “He took possession of the entire country in the name of his master, the king, and called it New France.”
That’s the second element Vollant would like altered.
“That’s an insult for Indigenous people,” he said. “We never gave up our land. We never surrendered. We never had lost a fight for that land. So for us, it’s an insult.”
The plaque on the Jacques Cartier monument-fountain in Saint-Henri. (Gareth Madoc Jones, CityNews)
Heritage Montreal says like other commemorative monuments in Montreal, they came from a time where history was written and read differently from the way things are seen and lived today.
Vollant feels the City of Montreal should gather a committee to rewrite the plaque.
“Do something that would be respectful of Indigenous people on the plaque that says ‘he took possession of this land.’ But I think there’s ways to say it.”
In a written response to CityNews, the office of the Sud-Ouest borough mayor said it has been in touch with Montreal’s Commissioner for Indigenous Relations, Randy Legault Rankin, to “reflect on the matter and what can be done.”
“We are looking for a way to contextualize the statue and to explain its colonial past. We are in the beginning of this process and wish to consult our local organizations and involved citizens like Mr. Vollant,” the borough mayor’s office wrote in an email.
Dr. Vollant is hoping a middle ground can be found.
“We have to maybe change the narrative and to do some change and that will be a compromise with Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people,” he said. “That’s the process of reconciliation. It’s working together.”
Keep it Factual
Add CityNews Montreal as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.
