Stored Champlain statuary in Orillia vandalized, pieces cut with power tools

‘Criminals used various power tools and removed some portions of the statuaries and caused damage where unsuccessful attempts were made,’ say city staff

The iconic and controversial Samuel de Champlain monument, currently being held in storage in Orillia, has been vandalized and badly damaged.

“On Oct. 19, staff became aware that criminals had entered the storage location in an unauthorized manner and vandalized the Champlain monument statuaries,” according to a memo to city councillors issued today. 

“It appears that the criminals used various power tools and removed some portions of the statuaries and caused damage where unsuccessful attempts were made to cut through the material.”

Staff immediately called the OPP and city bylaw officials, who initiated an investigation, which remains ongoing. 

“The investigation has identified an individual of interest who the OPP is seeking now. Further, the investigation resulted in the return of a portion of the bronze that had been removed,” notes the memo.

City staff were asked if the famed bronze statuary was being stored inside or outside at the time of the vandalism, how many of the seven bronzes were damaged and how many, if any pieces, are missing.

While those questions were not answered directly, Angela Grenier, the city’s manager of customer service and communications, sent OrilliaMatters the following statement.

“The city takes incidents of vandalism seriously and immediately reported this to the Ontario Provincial Police. Given this is an ongoing police investigation, no additional information will be disclosed to the public or media beyond what was already provided in the council information package on Oct. 23,” said the brief statement.

The memo concluded by saying that staff will continue to monitor the situation with OPP and bylaw, and report when additional information is available.

Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac told CTV he was “extremely disappointed” about the vandalism that he said caused “extensive” damage.

“I believe the residents of Orillia deserve an explanation of how this was allowed to happen, what the full cost of the damage will be, and what steps will be taken to protect what remains,” he said in a statement to CTV News.

Questions sent to the OPP were not answered in time for publication of this article.

It’s been a season of discontent and outrage over the monument and its legacy.

Orillians were shocked when the Champlain sculpture was returned to the park May 21 by McIsaac, the sole remaining member of the Champlain Monument working group, who said he was following council’s direction by “storing” the monument in the park.

He made the unilateral decision without informing his council colleagues or city staff.

Within an hour of cranes dropping the figure of the French explorer back on the cement plinth near Lake Couchiching, a crowd gathered and Krystal Brooks spray-painted ‘Rama said no’ on the base. She was arrested and charged with mischief.

Brooks was recently exonerated and is running for council in Ward 1 in Monday’s municipal election.

City council held a special meeting on May 29, where the majority of council decided to remove the Champlain figure from the park and place it in “neutral” storage. That decision was not supported by Mayor Don McIsaac or Councillors Ralph Cipolla and Whitney Smith, now a mayoral candidate.

A public statement from Rama First Nation soon after communicated its disapproval, saying the process alone has been “harmful” to the Indigenous community.

But that wasn’t the end of the shenanigans.

In July, The Dominion Society of Canada, a far-right group, came to Orillia to rouse support for the return of the statuary by making a video on the plinth and conducting a door-to-door campaign as part of a survey of residents.

Orillians came out to protest against the group when members had gathered at the park prior to the door-to-door campaign. The Society eventually left the city and haven’t been heard from since.

The statue’s removal from Couchiching Beach Park in June also hit the national news with articles in major daily papers in Ontario and Quebec. Following that, the city received a surge of interest from people, groups and entities interested in purchasing the monument, particularly from Quebec.

Orillia received at least 20 expressions of interest and at least 13 offers to purchase the statuary from art collectors and various groups in Quebec, who celebrate Champlain. None of the offers to purchase the statuary were accepted.

“While I remain of the view that the Champlain monument should stay within the city’s ownership, I believe it is important that council be made aware of the interest that has been received,” McIsaac said in a council memo June 21. 

Earlier, McIsaac and council were successful in bringing the 1925 Vernon March, seven-figure monument back under city ownership from Parks Canada, which had been storing it since it took it down in 2017 for cleaning.

A working group had been established in 2025 with the mayor and two councillors to bring forward a plan to reimagine the monument in a new, more culturally sensitive way.

But when that report was brought to council in April, the plan was turned down. Reasons given included the $1 million price tag. Council also determined that the timing was not right due to past trauma around colonialism and more recent racist harm being felt by neighbouring Rama.