New statues coming to the Prime Ministers Path

The statue of former Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, inspired by his famous wartime photograph at the First Quebec Conference, sits along the Prime Ministers Path in Baden. File photo

Submitted to the Gazette

Four new bronze portraits of Canadian Prime Ministers will be unveiled on Saturday September 12 at 2:00 p.m. on the Prime Ministers Path in Baden. The Path is located in a park adjacent to national historic site, Castle Kilbride.

British Columbia artist, Nathan Scott, has named his grouping The Unfortunate Four. They are Sir John Abbott, Sir John Thompson, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, and Sir Charles Tupper. Scott will be present at this public unveiling to describe the sculpting process and explain why he chose this title.

These four prime ministers take their place on the Prime Ministers Path along side five previously existing statues that have been returned to the site.

The Prime Ministers Path is operated by Createscape Waterloo Region, a registered Canadian charity that supports the arts in this region.

Createscape Chair, Don Bourgeois, has said that "Understanding Canada's history is a foundation to guiding how we build our future together as Canadians." Standing face-to-face with a life-sized portrait of Kim Campbell, Lester Pearson or Sir Robert Borden helps bring history to life for the visitor. The PrimeMinistersPath.ca website provides a multitude of resources that invite an in-depth investigation into Canadian history. More will be added to the website as the project progresses.

Bourgeois is pleased to announce that Six Nations of the Grand River is collaborating with the Prime Ministers Path Advisory Committee in identifying and developing historical educational material for the website that will accurately portray how the lives of First Nations peoples have been affected by the policies and decisions of prime ministers from confederation to the present.