The statue of a First World War soldier that has stood sentinel at Portage and Main for more than a century is to be relocated.
The almost three-metre high bronze statue, which was unveiled by the Bank of Montreal on Dec. 5, 1923, in front of its main branch at the time, is slated to be placed among veterans’ tombstones in Brookside Cemetery, which was designated a national historic site last year.
The statue commemorates the 231 bank employees who died in what was then known as the “Great War.” It has been at the corner in all but two years: in the late 1970s it was moved so the underground concourse could be built.
KEN GIGLIOTTI / FREE PRESS FILES
The bronze soldier at Portage and Main is set to be moved to Brookside Cemetery.
Now, with construction to reopen the intersection to foot traffic just weeks away, a city report says the statue needs to be moved or there won’t be enough room for pedestrians at that corner.
The city believes the best option is to relocate the statue, which straddles the city’s right of way and the former bank’s property, to Brookside Cemetery’s Field of Honour, where more than 10,000 veterans are buried.
The Manitoba Métis Federation, which took ownership of the statue after buying the Bank of Montreal a few years ago, has agreed to gift the statue to the city, and move it to the cemetery, while the city will look after it in perpetuity.
“Fittingly, the War Monument memorializes fallen soldiers from (the First World War) and the Field of Honour was created for the internment of veterans returning from (the First World War),” states a city report for Wednesday’s property and development committee.
Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg, said the move has her organization’s blessing.
“If it can have a respectful home, it makes sense,” said Tugwell.
“It would be the poster child of what they should have done at the Air Canada Window Park.”
Tugwell was referring to the recent demolition of columns and balustrades that had been incorporated into the Portage Avenue park when it was created in the mid-1980s.
Heritage advocates were shocked by the destruction of the pieces: columns that had been part of the Northern Crown Bank, built in 1908; a column from the McIntyre Block, erected in 1899; and balustrades from the Devon Court Apartments from 1909.
The city said the cost to move them, and colonialism, played a part in the demolition.
KEN GIGLIOTTI / FREE PRESS FILES
The statue in front of Portage and Main’s Bank of Montreal building commemorates the 231 bank employees who died in the First World War
Métis federation president David Chartrand said he only agreed to allow the statue to be moved once he was convinced it would be in “a respectful place.”
“We have a big, big passion for veterans, whether World War 1, 2 or now,” said Chartrand.
“We talked about how we can save this statue and continue to honour it – and then came the rebuilding of downtown. We met with the Royal Canadian Legion for Manitoba and Ontario and we decided Brookside Cemetery will be a very beautiful location for it. It will have less bustling traffic and more peace.
“But, it if wasn’t going to be in a place of honour, I would have fought to defend it and keep it where it is.”
Coun. Sherri Rollins, chair of the property and development committee, which also oversees the cemetery, said “it will have the most beautiful home.”
“Yes, it is sad when things are moved, especially ones Winnipeggers care about and see every day, but we’ve done it before. I think this is so great and Brookside is such a beautiful space.”
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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