ELIZABETH STATUE REINSTALLED

A bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth that was toppled on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature has been repaired and put back in place. The three-metre-high statue was one of two monuments hauled to the ground on Canada Day in 2021 by demonstrators following the discovery of suspected unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. The statue landed face-first when it was toppled and was damaged in several areas, but remained intact. Charles Brunet, the owner of the company that restored the statue, says it was a lot of work but he is happy the queen is back where she had stood. He said the face was pushed in, the body was scraped, and the whole statue had to be sandblasted and recoated. Protesters also toppled a larger statue of Queen Victoria, which was damaged beyond repair and has not been replaced.