Sir Wilfrid Laurier Memorial

Cultural Origin of Subject: Quebec

A native of Quebec, Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the first francophone prime minister of Canada. In his memorial, erected much later than those that surround it in 1953, Laurier’s figure faces south towards the United States to commemorate his pursuit of free trade policies with that nation and turns its back on the nearby Boer War memorial as a sign of Laurier’s disapproval of that war, which was unpopular among French Canadians. Laurier’s monument was constructed directly across the street from the more opulent statue of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, in a symbolic face-off with this prominent source of Anglophone nationalist pride who had angered French Canadians by allowing the execution of the French-speaking Métis secessionist Louis Riel, whom Laurier had defended in court as a lawyer. Although Laurier is a symbol of French Canadian identity, his monument is intended to honour his efforts as prime minister to mediate the opposing interests of French and English speaking Canadians.