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Gatineau relocates Samuel de Champlain monument as other cities remove statues of the explorer
A city in Quebec has reinstalled its monument to Samuel de Champlain in a new location, almost a decade after it was originally taken down for maintenance.
The monument to the French explorer was relocated to the parc de la Francophonie, in Gatineau, Que., on Thursday. Previously, the statue was installed at the intersection of promenade du Portage and rue Laval until 2016, when it was removed during construction work in downtown Gatineau.
In an email to National Post, written in French, a spokesperson for Ville de Gatineau said that “several relocation sites were considered” for the monument, and the new site was “chosen based on several criteria.”
These included its city centre location near the Ottawa River, which was the waterway used by Champlain, and the soil composition that makes it suitable for a sculpture of this weight and size.
The relocated statue, which was created by artist Jérémie Giles in 2001, is currently without its sword, but Ville de Gatineau says restoration on this part of the monument will be carried out in August.
Meanwhile, Chief Jean-Guy Whiteduck of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinābeg First Nation in western Quebec told Radio-Canada that his community had not been consulted over the monument.
“There should be a plaque that recognizes the fact that he wasn’t an explorer and he had the assistance of the First Nations to show him our territory and gave him permission,” he said.
“We guided them through our territory, allowed them to go through our territory — at the time he needed our permission — so he didn’t discover anything.”
The reinstatement of the monument comes as other Canadian cities face questions over their statues of the 17th-century explorer and founder of Quebec City.
In May, the city council in Orillia, Ont., voted to remove their statue of Champlain owing to the controversy that surrounds the historic French explorer, as well as instances of vandalism.
The monument, which was originally erected in 1925, had previously been taken down by Parks Canada in 2017 for restoration amid reconciliation discussions, and was only briefly returned to its plinth by Mayor Don McIsaac.
“The vast majority of Orillians want the monument returned. They’ve done surveys. They’ve done all sorts of reach outs and people want it returned,” McIsaac, who voted against removing the statue, said in an interview at the time .
“That is not reconciliation. You should leave it up. It’s history. You should use it as part of your journey forward.”
Meanwhile, Orillia Councillor Janet-Lynne Durnford, who voted in favour of removing Champlain’s statue, said in an interview that the statue was part of her childhood landscape.
“It was there in the park and it’s a beautiful park that we all use frequently. And I remember playing around it and, I just have this lovely sensory memory of the warmth of the bronze in the sun and climbing on the sculptures as I think every kid did,” Durnford said.
“But even when I was younger, I remember feeling uncomfortable with parts of the monument, and I never understood why the Indigenous men were positioned sitting below the priest holding the raised cross.”
Ville de Gatineau told National Post that the relocation of their city’s Champlain monument was officially confirmed in 2024, and that “there is no connection between the sculpture’s relocation and the statue removed from Orillia.”
Elsewhere, Ottawa’s Champlain statue was moved to a less prominent location when the National Capital Commission (NCC) redeveloped Nepean Point (now called Kìwekì Point).
Garry Meus, a senior landscape architect with the NCC, said at the time that the decision was made “as a result of the various comments and concerns raised during the various workshops and site visits with Algonquin community members and federal stakeholders.”
Samuel de Champlain, born in 1567, is known as the “Father of New France,” starting with the founding of Quebec City in 1608. He helped build New France’s economy through fur trading and agriculture, forging alliances with Indigenous groups including the Huron-Wendat, the Montagnais, the Odawa and the Nipissing.
In 1609, 1610 and 1615, he fought alongside Indigenous groups including the Huron-Wendat against the Iroquois.
He was named Governor of New France in 1620, but he and New France itself were captured by the British in 1629. Both were returned to France in 1632. He died on Christmas Day, 1635, at the age of 68.
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