{"id":27894,"date":"2020-11-06T11:28:39","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T16:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=27894"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:03:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T17:03:16","slug":"great-canadian-achievements-mural-should-be-expanded-for-diversity-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/great-canadian-achievements-mural-should-be-expanded-for-diversity-council\/","title":{"rendered":"“Great Canadian Achievements” mural should be expanded for diversity: Council"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Great Canadian Achievements Mural has been a landmark on the southeast corner of Yonge and Wellington for nearly 20 years. First dedicated in November, 2001, the mural highlights more than 30 moments and individuals who have left an indelible mark on our history \u2013 from Queen Elizabeth II signing Canada\u2019s 1982 Constitution to television icon Mr. Dressup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, according to Councillor Harold Kim, there are a few areas where the mural falls short and a second mural should be considered to represent the full Canadian tapestry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a view shared by Aurora Council as they unanimously signed off on a motion put forward by Councillor Kim to look into locations for a second mural celebrating the nation\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In bringing forward his motion, Councillor Kim said there is a \u201clack of diversity on the mural despite the fact there were\/are many Canadians of racialized backgrounds who made significant contributions to the building of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a fantastic mural, it is unique in York Region, and perhaps elsewhere, and it celebrates Canadian achievements from all groups,\u201d said Councillor Kim last week. \u201cYou have Canadian topography in Niagara Falls, James Gladstone, the first Aboriginal Senator\u2026it is a great mural, but our country is getting older\u2026 and as we celebrate our history, those who contribute to our history is growing in numbers and those contributors come from all walks of life and all racialized groups. Let\u2019s continue and let\u2019s have another segment of the mural. There is insufficient space to add to the mural in its current location, so I would like staff to investigate other opportunities and locations in Aurora and, perhaps, think outside the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would like staff to\u2026find another location to create another mural and have the public contribute to who or what could be placed in the second mural to celebrate diversity, to celebrate the Canadian spirit, and I think it would be a great, encouraging project — especially in this COVID pandemic that we\u2019re in, It would be excellent to get together as a community of Aurora and work on a common project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Kim\u2019s motion received the widespread support of Council, although Councillor John Gallo expressed some misgivings on the wording of the motion, particularly the reference to \u201cCanadians of racialized backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn no way am I suggesting the Councillor is making this assumption, but when I first read [the motion] I think it is important to say that in no way were the original designers of that wall intending on omitting any \u2018Canadians of racialized backgrounds.\u2019 I have never liked that term, but any diversity, I think to be fair to the designers of that, I don\u2019t believe\u2026they would have purposefully omitted anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a good\u2026opportunity to expand on what they did. I think, again, \u2018Canadians of racialized backgrounds\u2019 doesn\u2019t sit right with me. I think we\u2019re far more similar than we are diverse, but I support it and I am looking forward to what staff comes up with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillors Sandra Humfryes, Michael Thompson and Rachel Gilliland said they too were interested in seeing the potential locations municipal staff will be bringing forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it is a great idea to showcase diversity,\u201d said Councillor Gilliland. \u201cThis could be a refresh [of the current mural] and it doesn\u2019t hurt to ask the property owner. I think it would be nice [for a second mural] to be by the Rainbow Crosswalk for inclusivity at our four corners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas was on a similar wavelength, adding that it would be worth approaching the property owner on the southwest corner of the intersection to gauge their interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe they would be willing to do an extension of what is already there so we have a mural on both sides,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Kim noted that there was \u201cno intent to imply that the original artists planned to exclude anyone\u201d but are reflective of \u201cthoughts\u201d from two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith each time period, people had different thoughts, trends were different,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were no negative thoughts on my mind, it is just now in 2020 things have changed and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAVE YOUR SAY \u2013 What Canadian achievements and difference-makers would you like to see represented on a new mural? Send your thoughts to brock@lpcmedia.ca.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Canadian Achievements Mural has been a landmark on the southeast corner of Yonge and Wellington for nearly 20 years. First dedicated in November, 2001, the mural highlights more than 30 moments and individuals who have left an indelible mark on our history \u2013 from Queen Elizabeth II signing Canada\u2019s 1982 Constitution to television […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2020-11-05-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7fU","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 12:29:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}