Wilmot council addresses controversial Prime Minister’s Path project

Wilmot residents may get to weigh in on the township’s controversial Prime Minister’s Path.

The project, which was supposed to include statues of Canada’s Prime Ministers next to Baden’s Castle Kilbride, was revisited at Monday night’s council meeting.

“I know this is a sensitive topic,” said Coun. Harvir Sidhu. “There’s no perfect solution in my mind.

"My personal opinion aside, I want to have as much communication from the residents as possible just to hear what they want."

Coun. Kris Wilkinson wants staff to look at options for a permanent plan for the statues, as well ways to get the community’s feedback on the future of the project.

“This motion is designed to reopen and restart that conversation,” he said. “We want this township to heal, and reach a resolution that is agreeable.”

The other councillors agreed, adding that the Prime Minister’s Path was a topic that came up repeatedly during the last municipal election.

Coun. Lillianne Dunstall said residents she heard from were frustrated with the township’s approach.

“They felt totally excluded from the decision-making process,” she explained.

Wilkinson also mentioned a possible referendum, an idea that raised questions for Coun. Steven Martin.

“A referendum could be problematic,” he said. “My personal opinion is that a referendum would further create a divide, rather than help the community come together.”

Council unanimously agreed to ask staff to prepare a report for their next meeting on Feb. 26.

HISTORY OF THE PROJECT

The Prime Minister’s Path was never completed.

Statues of all the Canadian Prime Ministers were supposed to line the path next to Castle Kilbride, but only six were installed on the grounds.

The project stalled in 2020 due to controversy surrounding the Sir John A. Macdonald statue.

Red paint was thrown onto the statue multiple times.

Police were notified on Sunday morning that the Sir John A. Macdonald statue in Baden had been defaced.

There were also sit-ins and protests in favour of – and against – its removal.

Macdonald’s statue was later removed from the Prime Minister’s Path.

The former site of a controversial statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, which was removed after a council vote. (Dan Lauckner / CTV Kitchener)

Council voted to axe the project in the summer of 2021.

The statues of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Sir Robert Borden, Kim Campbell and Lester Pearson were also placed in storage after the vote, along with the remaining Prime Ministers that had never been installed on the path.

A report, by the First Peoples Group, was presented to council in 2021.

“We’re not saying eliminate, melt them down, all that, nobody is saying that,” Guy Freedman, president of the group, said at the time. “They’re saying let’s find a better way to tell a better story.”

The Indigenous advisory group recommended the immediate removal and discontinuation of the project.