A handful of Quebec municipalities and organizations are offering to take a controversial statue of Samuel de Champlain from an Ontario city in Simcoe County.
The nearly four-metre-tall bronze monument of the 17th Century explorer and founder of Quebec City was removed from a park in Orillia, Ont., and placed in storage in 2017 following debate over its colonial imagery.
Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac says a wave of offers poured in after the city recently raised the possibility of melting the statue down.
McIsaac says he received more than a dozen expressions of interest, mostly from Quebec municipalities and franco-Ontarian communities.
The municipalities of Champlain and Lévis, both in Quebec, are among those hoping to give the statue a new home.
But for now, the statue stays in storage as city council continues to debate its future.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
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