Landmarks & Monuments Review: Honouring Our Indigenous Roots

As part of the City’s Indigenous Landmarks and Monuments Review, the City’s Indigenous Relations team is seeking community feedback on high-priority landmarks and monument sites that were identified as potentially problematic by Indigenous knowledge keepers, elders, and Indigenous community members as part of the Honouring Our Roots Circle of Experts.

The identified five high-priority sites in Hamilton are as follows:

1. Queen Victoria monument (Gore Park, west end facing James St.)
2. Augustus Jones statue (King St. E. at Jones St. in Stoney Creek)
3. The United Empire Loyalist site (front of 50 Main St. E.)
4. Sir John A. MacDonald monument site (Gore Park, King St. at Hughson St.)
5. Formerly Ryerson Recreation Centre (251 Duke St.)

This project aims to provide a more equitable, balanced and inclusive representation of Indigenous peoples’ histories and contributions in Hamilton and, in the spirit of reconciliation, contributes to the education about the history of colonialism in Canada.

Completed to Date

As part of this on-going project some steps have already been taken:

Renaming of Ryerson
In June 2022, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board renamed Ryerson Elementary School "Kanétskare Elementary School”. On May 24, 2023, Council approved the renaming of the attached Recreation Centre to “Kanétskare Recreation Centre”, which was done in November 2023.

Temporary Signage
In June 2023, temporary signage was placed at the Sir John A. MacDonald, Queen Victoria, Augustus Jones, and United Empire Loyalist monuments to inform the community of their identification as potentially problematic for Indigenous people and to gather the true history behind them.

Remaining High-priority Sites

The City has created a public education and engagement project to gather feedback on 3 of the 4 remaining high-priority monuments:

• Queen Victoria site - Gore Park, west end facing James St.
• Augustus Jones site - King St. E. at Jones St. in Stoney Creek
• The United Empire Loyalist site - In front of 50 Main St. E.

The Sir John A. MacDonald monument site (Gore Park, King St. at Hughson St.) will be covered in the second phase of this project.

How You Can Participate

Provide your feedback by attending one of the in-person engagement sessions or participating online by watching the Landmarks & Monuments Educational Video on Indigenous Perspectives and completing the online survey.

If you are unable to watch the video, please read the Indigenous Perspectives Educational Video Summary before completing the survey.

NOTE: The Indigenous Perspectives Educational Video shows images of the United Empire Loyalist monument statue and the War of 1812 garden plaque. The concerns about this site pertain specifically to the War of 1812 memorial garden plaque and the missing Indigenous stories surrounding these conversations. The current concerns are not associated with the United Empire Loyalist Statue.

Landmarks & Monuments In-person Engagement Session Schedule
All sessions running from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

• Tuesday, October 1: Aboriginal Health Centre
• Wednesday, October 2: Six Nations Community Hall
• Thursday, October 3: Wards 1 & 2 - City Hall(Hybrid session)
  • Location: Room 192
  • Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
    Meeting ID: 246 163 830 151
    Passcode: oT6n9x
• Tuesday, October 8: Wards 12 & 14: Ancaster Rotary Center
• Wednesday, October 9: Ward 13 - Dundas Town Hall
• Thursday, October 10: Wards 9 & 11: Valley Park Community Center