The nearly $23,000 spent so far on relocating the Sir John A MacDonald statue from Victoria City Hall has come out of the city’s reconciliation budget.
In a report to the committee of the whole on Sept. 20, Mayor Lisa Helps and Councillor Marianne Alto asked for $6,000 from the 2017/2018 city budget for reconciliation to host Orange Shirt Day in Centennial Square on Sept. 30. In the same report, they listed projects that have used the reconciliation funds in the last two years, totalling $32,757. Most of that amount — to the tune of $22,976 — was spent removing the MacDonald statue in August.
Bill Eisenhauer, who works for the City of Victoria, confirmed the amount was up to date. He said the city currently doesn’t have a final total for the statue’s removal as they wait for some costs to be approved.
“It’s being stored in a city facility, so we’re not renting a place,” Eisenhauer said of storage costs for the statue. The cost for relocating and reinstalling the statue would be depended on the process and work surrounding community discussion, he added.
He does not have an itemized break down of the $22,976 total, such as how much was spent on security and police presence.
