Empty Vancouver statue base highlights lack of monuments devoted to women

An empty statue base has been installed at Vancouver’s Canada Place to draw attention to how few monuments feature women, and to encourage a celebration of their accomplishments and stories.

On Monday — just in time for International Women’s Day — the YWCA Metro Vancouver installed an interactive art piece called ‘Reserved for Her.’

The organization estimates that Canada-wide, only 12 per cent of permanent, public statues commemorate women.

“We know that it’s a really powerful moment in history right now where we’re asking a lot of questions about whose stories get told and why,” explained Amy Juschka, director of communications and advocacy.

“This is really an opportunity for us to invite people whose stories often don’t get told, especially Indigenous women, black women, women of colour to step on, step forward and tell their stories.”

During the month of March, the YWCA will be inviting local women advocates, entrepreneurs, inventors, artists to step up onto the statue base and tell their stories. A social media campaign will share them online to raise awareness of local women working to make a difference.

Joleen Mitton, who is Cree from Alberta, is the founder of Indigenous Fashion Week. She was there for the unveiling.

“I think it’s a beautiful idea to raise awareness for women,” she said.

“Growing up I never saw women statues. It’d be nice to get an Indigenous person on a statue at some point.”

Mitton references the recent toppling of the ‘Gassy Jack’ statue in Vancouver as one example of a wider discussion and debate around who we commemorate in Canada and why.

Place names and monuments that celebrate colonial figures who were instrumental in the genocide of Indigenous people and the residential school system are being reconsidered and removed. In recent years, a statue of Justice Matthew Begbie outside the New Westminster courthouse was taken down, as was one of Sir John A. MacDonald at Victoria City Hall. Ryerson University in Toronto announced last year it would be changing its name.

“It just shows you we’re going a different direction here. It’s nice to see,” Mitton said.

With files from OMNI News.