The statue of Notre Dame D’Afrique (Our Lady of Africa) is located in front of the Richelieu-Vanier Center in Richelieu-Vanier Park along Boulevard Pères-Blancs, not far from Beechwood Cemetery. It was first built in 1955 by the African Missionary Society, which owned the land the park now sits on, according to Vanier Museopark. The priests were known as the White Fathers and chose the Virgin Mary as their patron in 1938. In Africa the Virgin Mary is often depicted with dark skin, and this was the case with the statue at Vanier until someone recently repainted the face and hands white. This image of the statue (date unknown) appears on waymarking.com. (waymarking.com) The city is responsible for the maintenance of the statue. In a statement emailed to CBC, the city said it did not authorize the repainting and that it “appears to be vandalism.” Ottawa police and the city’s corporate office were notified and plans are underway to hire a firm specializing in monument restoration. “Work has since begun to restore and paint the statue,” Dan Senier, the city’s general manager of recreation, cultural and facilities services, said in the city’s emailed announcement. “As no contract has yet been awarded, we do not have a timeline for the completion of this work at this time.” The city is responsible for maintaining the statue in Richelieu-Vanier Park. (Buntola Nou/CBC) After being sworn in as Rideau-Vanier’s new councillor, Stéphanie Plante said it’s not the first time monuments that reflect different communities in the region have been vandalized. He pointed out when Annie Pootoogook Park was vandalized shortly after it was renamed to honor the late Inuk artist. “We want to make sure that Rideau-Vanier, because it includes a lot of vulnerable populations, reflects the people who live there and that we preserve our historic landmarks,” he said. “If the population wants to take it down or rename it, I’m absolutely open to that kind of discussion. But as far as I know, this is probably another one of many instances in our ward where people feel they can be creative with infrastructure of our city”.
