Quebec City has covered an “offensive” mosaic depicting the city’s founder, Samuel de Champlain, meeting with an Indigenous chief.
Quebec City’s Mayor Bruno Marchand ordered the mosaic to be covered and removed from the city hall’s reception area, citing a desire to advance reconciliation and inclusivity.
Marchand’s order follows a recommendation from Quebec City’s advisory commission for an inclusive city.
“The reception room at City Hall should be a welcoming place for everyone. That is why we have decided to act on the commission’s recommendation,” said Marchand in French.
“It is also in the spirit of the agreement with the Wendat nation. We will remove the mosaic from the reception room in the coming months and until then, it will remain hidden.”
The mosaic was created in 1950 by Quebec artist and mosaicist Walter Del Mistro to commemorate the founding of Quebec City in 1608.
The mosaic depicts Samuel de Champlain —an explorer who is recognized as the founder of Quebec City —meeting Indigenous chiefs alongside his crew. The mosaic depicts Champlain as standing on an elevated surface, looking down on the Indigenous chiefs, one of whom is kneeling.
Reconciliation activists argue that the mosaic depicts the Indigenous chiefs in a position of subservience to the French explorers, and is thus offensive.
Leader of the Quebec Conservative Party Eric Duhaime slammed the mayor for ordering the removal of the mosaic, identifying the move as yet another concession to the woke cause and the erasure of Quebecois history.
“Wokeness is at its worst. Erasing history, who we are, in the name of superficial inclusion and diversity,” said Duhaime in French.
“There are all sorts of ways to reconcile with the First Nations. Covering a historical mosaic with a sheet is not one of them. Shame on Mayor Bruno Marchand and his administration. It’s not by trying to erase where we come from that we know where we’re going.
In response to a commenter who claimed that the mosaic has no place in the municipal government building, Duhaime said that cancel culture does not advance reconciliation and only makes inter-community tensions worse.
“Cancel culture only heightens tensions between our communities and does nothing to contribute to reconciliation,” said Duhaime in French.
“Wokism divides Quebecers among themselves. We must take history into account if we wish to progress, not deny or erase it.”