Protesters crash Calgary’s Winston Churchill monument unveiling

Protesters carrying signs with troubling quotes attributed to Sir Winston Churchill crashed a statue unveiling of the wartime leader in Calgary.

A nine-foot tall, bronze monument honouring the former United Kingdom prime minister was erected this spring in front of the McDougall Centre.

But its official reveal on Thursday was interrupted by a handful of protesters.

History grad student William Gillies was one of the people showing their displeasure.

“Statues aren’t history,” he told CTV News. “They’re political statements, and this one is on public property. Churchill was a public figure and his legacy is open to fair debate.”

Controversial views

News of the monument in 2022 was greeted by some vocal opposition because of recent revelations about Churchill.

The former PM carried troubling views on both race and colonialism, saying some races are stronger than others and that white Christians are “higher-grade.”

Many historians believe he prioritized white European lives during his time in office.

Thursday’s protesters wrote out some of his quotes about Indigenous people and women, among others, on large signs.

And they’re not alone in their opposition to the figure.

Other statues of Churchill have been defaced multiple times, including in his home country and Edmonton.

‘Larger than life’

The statue is meant to honour the work of the U.K. leader and has been put up in a province he enjoyed visiting in the late 1920s. It faces the eastern slopes, a place he said he loved.

The province kicked in $60,000 to prepare the monument site, but most of the legwork was done by the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Calgary. It has been fundraising for years to erect the statue.

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is a member and was on hand for the ceremony.

He calls Churchill the “greatest leader of the modern era.”

“The historical achievements of this man is without precedence in all of human history, and any objective reading of human history has to see it that way,” he told CTV News.

“I think it’s important as some people try to cancel our history, that we remember great individuals like Churchill.”

Kenney worries the site may be a target for vandalism.

“Anything worth doing is probably controversial,” he said. “But if you want to seek absolute perfection amongst great historical figures, then we won’t remember anybody.”