00:00:00.440I should not be able to stand here. I'm standing in Coochiching Park in Aurelia, Ontario, where there should be a magnificent monument to one of the great heroes of Canadian history, Samuel de Champlain.
00:00:10.920The father of New France, a founder of Canada, this country would not exist without him.
00:00:15.800For more than a century, this monument overlooked the shoreline and welcomed visitors to this beautiful city.
00:00:21.400Today, it sits in storage. Now, the mayor says the statue is at risk of being destroyed completely.
00:00:27.180I think it runs the danger of either being melted down or being used to just never come back.
00:00:33.980This has sparked a national outrage in a serious discussion on the legacy of Champlain.
00:00:39.120Was he some evil colonizer responsible for genocides who must be completely erased from Canada's history?
00:00:45.780Samuel de Champlain was a great man of Canadian history.
00:00:48.420A true renaissance man, a sailor, an artist, an explorer, a soldier, a diplomat, an entrepreneur, and a leader.
00:00:54.580He was a visionary who helped lay the foundation of the Canada we know and love today.
00:00:59.900Champlain's legacy is extraordinary, yet far too few Canadians know his story.
00:01:04.040He did not come to Canada as a conqueror.
00:01:07.120In fact, he saw the problems with this style of colonization during his experience in the Spanish colonial system.
00:01:12.380Rather than conquest, enslavement, or subjugation,
00:01:15.420Champlain took a completely different approach to relations with the First Nations in Canada.
00:01:19.820An approach that would actually define Canadian identity.
00:01:23.380Champlain pursued alliances, trade partnerships, diplomacy, intermarriage, and military cooperation.
00:01:29.060He would work alongside the First Nations tribes and forge relationships based on mutual interest
00:01:34.020and mutual respect. Champlain would win their support by traveling alone and unarmed into
00:01:39.540tribal councils. He sought to understand their languages, learn their customs, and fought beside
00:01:44.500them in battle. In so many ways, Champlain stands as an example of the kind of reconciliation we
00:01:51.540should aspire to today. But now the local First Nations group, the Chippewas of Rama, claim
00:01:57.220territorial authority and want to prevent the statue from being restored. They claim the monument
00:02:01.900perpetuates harmful narratives of colonialism and oppression. The problem is Champlain actually got
00:02:08.380here first. And when he arrived, it was a different indigenous group living here. You see, the Rama
00:02:15.340didn't just sprout out of the dirt. Like all people, they were part of historical migrations,
00:02:19.060alliances, and conflicts that shaped modern Canada. Champlain arrived here in 1615 during
00:02:24.420the first known European journey into what is now Ontario. At that time, it was not the Rama
00:02:29.540who lived here, it was the Huron-Wendat, who maintained large permanent settlements unlike
00:02:33.780anything the Europeans had encountered on the continent. To secure the alliance and trade
00:02:38.100relationship necessary to establish a permanent French presence in Canada, Champlain joined his
00:02:42.660Huron-Wendat allies in their conflict against the Mohawk. In their culture, allies fought together.
00:02:48.580For generations the Huron-Wendat had been terrorized by their rivals to the south and
00:02:52.500sought the support of the technologically advanced French. Champlain agreed. He traveled
00:02:57.140for weeks by foot and canoe deep in enemy territory alongside a coalition of First Nations tribes,
00:03:02.340developed their tactics and arguably won the battle on the spot with a single shot from his
00:03:07.060arc bus killing or injuring two Mohawk chiefs. Their first encounter with firearms the Mohawks0.94
00:03:14.340fled in terror. But Champlain emerged from the campaign injured. Unable to risk the return trip
00:03:20.820to France before winter, he remained in Canada with his Huron allies through the harsh season.
00:03:25.860The Huron-Wendats nursed him back to health. This is the legacy of Samuel de Champlain. Mutual
00:03:31.940respect, understanding and sacrifice. A willingness to build enduring bonds between people.
00:03:38.980Too often our history is presented as a simple story of heroes and villains.
00:03:42.820Indigenous people are portrayed as entirely virtuous, while European settlers are portrayed as entirely wicked.
00:03:48.820History is obviously more complicated than that.
00:03:51.760Canada was built through conflict, cooperation, and compromise.
00:03:55.120The story of Champlain embodies that entirely.
00:03:58.240Real reconciliation must be grounded in truth, not selective memory.
00:04:01.980It requires us to acknowledge the full complexity of our shared past and to respect the contributions of all those who helped build this country.
00:04:08.760That is why preserving this monument matters, because even according to these
00:04:13.080First Nations activists, something comes before reconciliation. Truths. The question
00:04:19.440before us is not whether every chapter of Canadian history was perfect. The
00:04:23.740question now is do we want to tell the truth about Canadian history? Are we
00:04:27.520going to be a society that accepts and respects our history and learns from it?
00:04:31.040Or are we going to allow activists and vandals to decide which parts deserve to
00:04:35.580be remembered. The Champlain monument in Orillia must be restored. His legacy must
00:04:41.400be protected and future generations must be allowed to learn the history that it
00:04:46.200represents. Samuel de Champlain represents our shared history. He
00:04:50.340represents the relationship between English Canada and French Canada. He
00:04:53.860represents the alliances and cooperation between European settlers and indigenous
00:04:57.660peoples that helped lay the foundation of this country. And he reminds us of the
00:05:02.120courage, determination, and vision required to build Canada.
00:05:06.040That is why Champlain's monument must be restored,