![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dr.-Stanley-Vollant-1024x768.jpg\")
Dr. Stanley Vollant wants to see changes made to the Jacques Cartier monument-fountain in Saint-Henri. (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\nAn 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.<\/p>\n
Dr. Stanley Vollant wants to see two elements changed from the fountain in the Saint-Henri park: its effigies and its plaque.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter told me, \u2018hey daddy, what are those monsters that are spitting out water?\u2019 recounted Vollant, who lives across from the monument-fountain. \u201cAnd I took a look and it was Indigenous faces, very hideous Indigenous faces spitting out water. And I said to my daughter, Beatrice, \u2018this is us. This is us, those monsters are us.\u2019 And she said, \u2018why they despise us as monsters?\u2019 I said, \u2018that\u2019s history, my love, and we have to change that history.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Vollant is not looking for the fountain to be destroyed or removed but simply changed. He wants the Indigenous effigies removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Stanley Vollant wants to see changes made to the Jacques Cartier monument-fountain in Saint-Henri. (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n
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: \u201cHe took possession of the entire country in the name of his master, the king, and called it New France.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the second element Vollant would like altered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an insult for Indigenous people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe never gave up our land. We never surrendered. We never had lost a fight for that land. So for us, it\u2019s an insult.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/plaque-1024x768.jpg\")
The plaque on the Jacques Cartier monument-fountain in Saint-Henri. (Gareth Madoc Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Vollant feels the City of Montreal should gather a committee to rewrite the plaque.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo something that would be respectful of Indigenous people on the plaque that says \u2018he took possession of this land.\u2019 But I think there\u2019s ways to say it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a written response to CityNews, the office of the Sud-Ouest borough mayor said it has been in touch with Montreal\u2019s Commissioner for Indigenous Relations, Randy Legault Rankin, to \u201creflect on the matter and what can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d the borough mayor\u2019s office wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
Dr. Vollant is hoping a middle ground can be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to maybe change the narrative and to do some change and that will be a compromise with Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the process of reconciliation. It\u2019s working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n
Add CityNews Montreal as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n
![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782077411_500_google-trusted-badge.png\"){kind=icon}