Sculptor Ken Lum’s The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader, in storage since 2016 and likely to stay there (Photo: Ken Lum/KenLumArt.com).

Throughout history public art has been controversial, and no form of art is more public than sculpture.

Edmonton’s iconic Walterdale Bridge seen from the south, where artist Ken Lum’s sculptures will not be displayed as once planned (Photo: Jeff Wallace – WherezJeff/Creative Commons).

Naturally, publicly displayed sculpture in Alberta was bound to get caught up in the ideological culture wars of the early 21st Century. 

So it was an interesting coincidence that yesterday, a day after lame-duck Premier Jason Kenney announced he would soon have a sculpture of Winston Churchill to shove up Calgary’s nose, the City of Edmonton decided to leave another in storage out of concern it could be interpreted “as a celebration of colonization.”

The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader – actually two bronze sculptures that were commissioned in 2012 by the city and the Edmonton Arts Council to be installed at the south end of the iconic Walterdale Bridge – has now been transformed into another set of creatures entirely.

That is to say, two large and heavy white elephants on which the city had spent $375,000 by the time they were completed.

“While some audiences may find the artwork thought provoking, for others it may cause harm and induce painful memories,” the city said in a news release. “For this reason, it is not considered inclusive to all Edmontonians.”

Artist Ken Lum (Photo: Ken Lum/KenLumArt.com).

The artist, Vancouver-born Ken Lum, now a professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s school of design, was not happy. He disputed the city officials’ concern, saying in an email to media that “perhaps the city is not ready for a real dialogue about its colonial past and the condition of coloniality that continues to mark the present. That was my intention with the work, not to celebrate colonialism as the city suggests.”

Earlier this month, he told the Aboriginal People’s Television Network that his goal was to depict the troubled relationship between the settler state and Indigenous peoples. 

He told APTN he believes a non-Indigenous artist was chosen for the project because “the city was wanting an artist with engineering and infrastructure experience to be a part of the bridge design as well as the public art.”

The sculptures – one 10 feet tall – have been in storage since 2016, when they were completed by Mr. Lum. They will remain there until someone can figure out what to do with them. 

It is tempting to portray this as a tale of two cities, but it’s really about two levels of government: a city council that leans progressive, and which is bound to be accused of suffering from a surfeit of sensitivity, and a province that unquestionably brings an excess of insensitivity to every issue. 

Given its inherently political nature, a surprising amount of public sculpture ends up in storage, outright exile, or subject to modifications to hide very public private parts, all of which happened to Regina’s statue of Louis Riel, which disappeared from public view the same year Mr. Lum completed his work on The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader.

Athabasca University board to meet today

Alberta Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).

After a week during which Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides is reported to have personally called every member of the board of Athabasca University, board members are scheduled to meet this afternoon. 

Presumably Dr. Nicolaides has a plan in mind to square the circle of his original admittedly impossible demand that 500 AU employees be required to move to the town of 2,800 souls 145 kilometres north of Edmonton and President Peter Scott’s determination to continue with a completely different plan to convert the distance-education institution to a virtual entity existing mostly in cyberspace. 

Whatever the board decides to do, fallout is likely. 

Public Interest Alberta sponsors a better essay contest

In response to the brouhaha over the Alberta Legislature’s embarrassing and ham-handed essay contest for young women, in which one of three winning entries turned out to be a screed replete with sexist and racist themes, Public Interest Alberta has announced an essay contest of its own. 

Alberta Associate Status of Women Minister Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).

Unlike the Her Vision Inspires disaster by Associate Status of Women Minister Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk and her Parliamentary Secretary Jackie Lovely, which prompted thousands of face-palms but only garnered five entries, the Edmonton-based progressive group hopes to gather considerably more essays answering two questions: 

–       What does a just future for all look like in Alberta? 

–       How do we ensure a future with economic, social, and climate justice at the core?

The contest is open to young people aged 14 to 30 regardless of gender and entries can be submitted in a variety of formats, including 500-word essays as in the provincial competition.

There will be three prizes, gift certificates of $250, $100 and $50 to Glass Bookshop, an independent Edmonton-based book store focused on Canadian writing with special attention paid to LGBTQ2SIA and IBPOC writers.

Submissions can be emailed or arrangements made for delivery here. The deadline for entry is Sept. 16 at 11:59 p.m. 

UCP hopefuls Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, and Todd Loewen perform to expectations

Judging from the lively commentary on social media last night about the UCP leadership “debate” sponsored by an Alberta separatist group and a far-right video blog site, the three candidates who showed up performed pretty much as you would have expected given their audience and political predilections. 

Journalist Jeremy Appel (Photo: David J. Climenhaga).

You could watch the event online for $7, but that would be $7 too much for a couple of very bad causes, so I thought I’d save it for a yuppified coffee this morning and just go by what commentators made of sterner stuff than I am had to say about the performances by Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, and Todd Loewen. 

“Smith, Loewen, and Jean make it clear that the real purpose of replacing RCMP with a provincial force is not to combat rural crime, or exercise autonomy from Ottawa, it is to have the police report to provincial govt and not enforce federal gun laws,” tweeted Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt

“Not just report,” added University of Calgary Law professor Martin Z. Olszynski. “They made very clear that they have no problem meddling in specific enforcement matters, eg staying charges against their buddy pastors. Apparently, interfering w/ attorney generals & prosecutorial discretion is only a problem when it’s Trudeau doing it.”

“Danielle Smith just said she wants to Uber-ize Alberta’s health care system in case anyone outside AB is wondering how the UCP leadership race is going,” said environmentalist and researcher Emma Jackson

Observed independent journalist Jeremy Appel: “BJ agrees that there should be no sex Ed. But he says kids should be taught scientific, biological facts.” 

Mr. Appel has promised to report on the event on his Substack today. 

And, really people, I think that’s all we need to say about that right now. 

Join the Conversation

33 Comments

  1. This happened to show up on online editions of Postmedia newspapers. It’s rather telling. We do know that Postmedia has been an avid champion of supporting these pretend conservatives and Reformers for many years.
    https://buffaloproject.ca/

  2. Yes, statues can be tricky, especially these days. However, I suspect the Bison not as much as his companion or maybe the issue is also the people left out. Of course perhaps its simpler when you are in charge of the government and don’t care much about feedback anyways, partly because you are on the way out, so you just proceed regardless.

    Yes, some of the UCP candidates are really focused in getting a provincial police force, despite the fact it is not that popular, even in the more conservative parts of the province. Obviously, it would cost a lot of money, take a lot of effort to implement and we’re not sure what it would accomplish other than maybe give more power to some provincial politicians who probably shouldn’t be trusted with it.

    Of course the money wasted here would then probably have to be found elsewhere, particularly when roller coaster energy prices inevitably start to go the other way. So Ms. Smith seems already be coming up with an agenda to spent less on health care. That didn’t go so well for Kenney or us the last time, but hey she is all about recycling bad ideas usually in an even worse way. At least she is consistent in this.

    It seems to me the UCP is getting even more disconnected from the mainstream and reality, or perhaps their leadership race just amplifies this underlying tendency of theirs.

    While I don’t think Kenney was much better, I think at times he was at least aware of the political damage the kooks could do and so occasionally tried to reign them in, although it often seemed half hearted and not that effective. At this point the UCP bison herd seem to be stampeding towards somewhere not good, unrestrained. Perhaps that could some day be represented in a statue or some other (satirical?) work of art.

    1. Love the analogy of the buffalo herd stampeding – and we have a monument in this province to that dynamic. It is called Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump. I’m sure back in the day, that the lead buffalo were running along, thinking “its a glorious day, only a few little people off to the sides and behind us, clear path ahead, nothing in our way, lots of buffalo behind me supporting me, protecting me from those little people.” And then, when the buffalo saw the cliff, too late, the impetus of the herd behind them pushed the to their deaths. Wonder what their last thought was as they went over the edge. Buffalo are generally considered to be pretty dumb animals. The UCP herd is foolishly pushing its wannabe leaders to greater folly.
      I’m hoping we’ll be enjoying buffalo steak soon.

  3. How can a statute depicting the early fur trade 200 years ago “induce painful memories?” Are there time travellers in our midst? I’m all for coming to terms with our colonial past but you can only ride that horse for so long. History is what it is, deal with it. The only thing you can change is the present and that’s it.

    The rest of us continue to walk on eggshells for fear of offending a small band of self-proclaimed woke activists who I seriously doubt speak for the majority of Native People. A couple days ago the RC church in Fort Chip was burned to the ground. In interviews the chief was clearly upset and left no doubt who was behind it. An integral part of the community’s history had been stolen and the locals had no say.

    1. The buffalo fur trader depicted in the statue is clearly a Victorian, and thus more recent than 200 years ago. He would have been part of the effort to eliminate bison from the Prairies, which took away the natives’ livelihoods. This is likely a much more recent collective memory and not a good one.

    2. FWIW, I respect your willingness to leave your echo chamber.

      re: “History is what it is, deal with it. The only thing you can change is the present and that’s it.” I genuinely don’t think you understand what you are saying here. Indigenous people accepting your viewpoint and following your logic could lead to considerable civil unrest. If you were Indigenous, this statement may appear to you as saying:

      “Canada’s history of breaking its own laws to extralegally occupy your sovereign territory while pillaging your resources, creating ecological devastation and inflicting atrocities upon you is not going to change, the only thing you can change is the present.” Doesn’t that sound like an incitement to violence? I strongly suspect that if these atrocities, and others like them, had harmed (rather than benefitted) you and the people you love, you would be less willing to glibly skate past them. JMO of course.

      re: “The rest of us continue to walk on eggshells for fear of offending a small band of self-proclaimed woke activists” *eye roll* first of all, right wingers are not “the rest of us” they are a “dangerously coddled antisocial fringe minority who seem to enjoy some forms of immunity from the law.” Second of all… right wingers are tiptoeing on eggshells for fear of offending people? Are you listening to yourself? Come on! You don’t see me claiming to be afraid to advocate for taxing the wealthy, do you? Of course not, I do basically nothing else! Remember back in the good old days, when people could disagree about politics without needing to use moon logic to invent a reality that allowed them to be right and their opponents to not just be wrong, but also be idiots? *sighs wistfully* I never knew how good we had it…

      Nobody has ever proclaimed themselves ‘woke,’ ‘woke’ is a negative evaluative term created by Rupert Murdoch’s Super Profitable Totally Legal Hate Speech Engine to be used to trivialize and suppress a perspective that, if unchecked, may cost Rupert some money.

  4. On the matter of the efficacy of public art, I understand there’s an abundance of art that was commissioned by the Nazis in storage in Germany. Arno Breker was a prolific artist, creating dozens of monstrous sculptures of the Nazi ideal of the human body. Drawing heavily of classical themes and references, he created stirring examples of the perfect, Aryan being. Of course, all his works are highly derivative and copied over and over again. Easy money for Arno.

    In front of Quebec’s National Assembly there used to be a huge statue of Maurice Duplessis. That is until it was removed by more thoughtful people ( Thanks Rene Levesques) So all this begs the question why public art? The answer is plain to see: idiots with public funds.

  5. “While some audiences may find the artwork thought provoking, for others it may cause harm and induce painful memories,” the city said in a news release. “For this reason, it is not considered inclusive to all Edmontonians.”

    Yes, in the 21st century leading edge disaffected and easily offended, nouveau chic ‘wokester’, inclusivity Kindergarten culture one must always be so very careful to not “cause harm and induce painful memories”. Surely, a lifetime of trauma is just one statue away.

    Nevertheless, what every city desperately needs is a statue similar to the following:

    https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/penis-satan-statue-public-art-history-vancouver-1945590

    Think of the possibilities, i.e., for example, the same statue with the face of your favourite, or not so favourite, politician displayed at City Hall, or the Legislature, or . . . The huffing and puffing of the red faced, vein popping, irate and easily offended gasbags would be priceless.

    SUBTLE HINT: “The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s. It was founded on December 31, 1967. They employed theatrical gestures to mock the social status quo, such as advancing a pig (“Pigasus the Immortal”) as a candidate for president of the United States in 1968. They have been described as a highly theatrical, anti-authoritarian and anarchist youth movement of “symbolic politics”.

    1. Uh, THE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY TRAUMATIZED It’s called 200 years of colonialism and dispossession, and we are still finding the bones of little babies. If you’re not sensitive to the issue, you’re a terrible person, and you should sit down and read the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Whose authors, by the way, were casually threatened by armed police with dogs when they released the report, literally right in the chamber. What’s to be sensitive to? Who could possibly be upset by the continuing slow motion genocide of their people ?

      Settlers. They don’t know. They don’t want to know. They think they don’t have to know. They will never understand because they are willfully ignorant and hateful.

      1. Born on third with their boot on someone else’s throat, think they hit a home run in a fair contest.

      2. Please provide proof of you’re assertion that “[Truth and reconcilliation report] authors, by the way, were casually threatened by armed police with dogs when they released the report, literally right in the chamber. ” Thanks.

        1. I’m mistaken, it was the MMIW report, which was even more heinous. It was widely publicized on Twitter at the time but I do not have a citation, I don’t have a Twitter anymore either. Believe me or not, it happened.

          Regardless, does anyone reading this blog really need examples of colonial violence in so called Canada, even recently ? I really hope not.

      3. <<<>>> . . . . So you say . . . See above . . .

        1. “A woman known as Kolyma1, who lived in northeastern Siberia about 10,000 years ago, shares about two-thirds of her genome with living Native Americans.” “Indigenous Americans, who include Alaska Natives, Canadian First Nations, and Native Americans, descend from humans who crossed an ancient land bridge connecting Siberia in Russia to Alaska tens of thousands of years ago.”

        https://www.science.org/content/article/closest-known-ancestor-today-s-native-americans-found-siberia

        2. “Siberia (/saɪˈbɪəriə/; Russian: Сибирь, tr. Sibir’, IPA: [sʲɪˈbʲirʲ] (listen)) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.[2] It has been a part of Russia since the latter half of the 16th century, after the Russians conquered lands east of the Ural Mountains.”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia

        3. Putin called and said he wants ‘his’ land back.

        4. Ura!

        “”Ura” or “Hura” is the battle cry of the Russian Armed Forces, as well the Soviet Armed Forces and Red Army that preceded it. Its usage dates back to the Medieval era, derived from the Mongolian phrase hurray, meaning “to move” or “to attack”.”

        1. 1)North America was colonized via Siberia tens of thousands of years ago
          2)Russia conquered Siberia hundreds of years ago.
          3)Therefore, North America belongs to Russia.

          This is why we should be teaching logic in schools.

          1. “You live on stolen land.” ” Settlers. They don’t know.”

            See above.

            Settler: “One who goes to live in a new country.”

            The nuanced ‘logic’ suitably mirrors what was, and what is commonly presented as ‘fact’, nothing less, nothing more. Apparently, the youngsters, who are always out ‘to prove something’ simply do not understand that art of subtlety, intellectual or otherwise. Too bad, I suppose.

          2. alkyl: maybe I understand? Looks like some of the confusion is coming from the word “settler.” Another way the word can be defined is “a non-Indigenous person who came and settled in a land that had been inhabited by Indigenous people until they were violently displaced.” FWIW I took A little bird’s use of the word “settler” as meaning “squatter/occupier/invader/pillager/thief,” not as meaning “immigrant,” it’s possible I misinterpreted them though, in my experience when an Indiginous person calls you a “settler” they are directly challenging your self-perception as a “good person,” no idea whether A little bird is or not, that’s just how I read the sentence. JMO. Sorry I came across as disrespectful, I didn’t think you were posting in good faith at the time, my apologies.

    2. I have to admit to finding ‘penis Satan’ to be absolutely hilarious, thanks for that link. Please note the key dissimilarity between something that is obviously intended as farce and has never harmed anyone, and statues which glorify the authors of colonialism. If Satanists were a real thing that had harmed people (as opposed to a fantasy for extremely sheltered people to go into hysterics over), IMO those people would be within their rights to say ‘WTF?’

      I’ve posted extensively about the problems with the term ‘woke’ so let me try a different tack. I recently learned something neat about the ‘political compass’ – left and right refer to two different things at once! Most of us are aware that the farther left an idea is, the more it leads towards dispersal of wealth, and the farther right an idea is, the more it leads towards concentration of wealth. At the same time, the farther left an idea is, the more people it includes in society, and the farther right, the fewer people. It is possible to be “left” in one way and “right” in the other, and when that happens, the political compass “cancels out” the “leftness” and “rightness” and puts these ideologies in the centre! This is one of the main criticisms of the political compass, actually.

      If we were to imagine a 3 dimensional political compass, we could have the X axis showing ‘more or less concentration of wealth,’ the Y axis showing ‘authoritarianism/libertarianism’, and the Z axis showing ‘how many people get to have personhood*.’

      For extreme examples of the Z axis, someone all the way to the left would believe that everyone in society has equal value and equal rights with no exceptions at all, and someone all the way to the right would believe that only one person’s rights matter (closest historical example I’m aware of is ancient Egypt, where the Pharoah was literally God and they were the only person whose thoughts, feelings and beliefs mattered).

      At any rate, you seem more literate than most people I see using the phrase ‘woke’ so I thought you might find that thought provoking. FWIW, the value system you are dismissing as “kindergarten culture” is, charitably** interpreted, about granting personhood to as many people as possible, and the term “personhood” was not invented by kindergarten teachers, but by philosophers and lawyers: *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personhood

      I offer this insight not to change your mind, but hopefully to help you avoid casually dismissing ideas that have more substance than would seem to be the case to someone who consumes primarily right-wing media. Most of the people Tucker Carlson calls “wokies” probably support withholding personhood from some people, for some reasons (ie: maybe child molesters don’t get granted personhood), just as they probably support some level of economic disparity for some people for some reasons (ie: maybe doctors should get paid more than panhandlers). Just a thought.
      **https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity

  6. Oh, well. Police are losing the war on ghost guns anyways. Might as well stop pretending that they can do anything about it. Before you know it, people will be demanding a 3D printer registry, and we can’t have that, can we? Besides, as we all know, guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Kindly engage the parking brake on your Bentley, lest it roll across the street into your neighbor’s driveway if you are taken down by a hitman in Calgary.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-police-3d-printed-guns-shootings-1.6562076

    As for the 97 shootings so far this year in the southern city, it sure is nice to know that this is not a gang war or anything. C’est la vie.

  7. The real issue behind the story of The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader is that city administration has spent 10 years, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and mountains of volunteer and community time, and still came up with an outcome that is worse than nothing because it is both wasteful and unnecessarily divisive. Even in 2012, our community wasn’t so backwards that this outcome was unforeseen and unforeseeable. (For example, by 2011 the imagery of the mural in the Grandin LRT station was changed as a step towards reconciliation with indigenous people who rightly found the original depiction hurtful). Now in response to the debacle, City leaders have pulled out their playbook lines about their disappointment with the situation, citizens are expected to shrug their shoulders and forget, and meanwhile no one is accountable and little will be done to do better next time. The failure of The Buffalo and the Buffalo Fur Trader isn’t a symptom of a changing culture or progressive vs conservative politics, rather it the inevitable outcome of (yet another) failed City process.

    1. The greatest waste of the Iveson era was everything that could have been achieved if they weren’t so far up their own ass they can’t see sunshine. Worth noting that Ivey and a lot of the most terrible folks are gone now. We can do better, and this is what good governance looks like. Same idea w the gondola. They’re not perfect but this administration is a radical improvement over the last one.

    2. lmfao the first time I saw that triptych at Grandin station I was absolutely floored. Took pics thinking ‘I can’t believe Albertans are displaying this unironically.’

  8. “perhaps the city is not ready for a real dialogue about its colonial past and the condition of coloniality that continues to mark the present. That was my intention with the work, not to celebrate colonialism as the city suggests.”

    What a self-serving load of disingenuous BS. We remember Gretzky crying as he left town, and we remember Gretzky hoisting Cups. Which one did we build a statue of? Statues aren’t about remembering the past, they are about celebrating the past. Two thumbs down for this artist who, presumably, would see nothing wrong with getting paid to make statues of Confederate soldiers.

  9. Here’s a two word entry:

    – What does a just future for all look like in Alberta?
    Unlikely
    – How do we ensure a future with economic, social, and climate justice at the core?
    Guillotine?

  10. Beyond strange that politicians are charging citizens to watch their debates. Personally I think there should be rules against that.

    1. All Canadian conservatives are nothing but grifters these days. It’s obvious to anyone who isn’t bamboozled by their bad faith BS.

  11. Apparently none of these people have spent any time in Rome like I have or statues wouldn’t shock them. What does shock some us is still watching mindless seniors who claim that masks don’t work so they refused to wear one. Just too dumb to understand that masks were the only defence our doctors and nurses had in the ICUs at the height of the pandemic before the vaccines came out and if they hadn’t been smart enough to wear one they would likely all be dead today. I spent 14 days in three different hospitals in June 2020 and had two surgeries and was terrified that I might catch it while in the hospital. Three days after I was released from the Misracordia hospital it was closed down because of the huge number of cases. I consider myself lucky.

  12. Off-topic, but Mr. Shandro has been serving up some unintentional dark humor. From: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/provincial-police-force-would-be-a-billion-dollar-boondoggle-rural-municipalities/ar-AA116y6q?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=5e675157b7f92d9ed61e1c6497035108
    “Alberta Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Tyler Shandro said a provincial police force would be a better option than the RCMP for the protection of rural and Indigenous communities.”

    First of all, obligatory chuckle for the idea that Mr. Shandro cares about Indigenous communities. Second of all, Mr. Shandro was slightly less wrong than normal. Not trying to throw shade at individuals serving in the RCMP, but the institution was literally created to oppress indigenous folks. Obviously the idea of a provincial police force is laughably absurd, but I can’t help but think that if anyone, even the UCP party, started a new Police force in 2022, it is hard to imagine they could get away with creating an institution as inherently hostile towards the existence and rights of Indigenous folks as the RCMP (once again, I’m describing the institution, not the people inside of it).

    I dunno, funny to me that he could manage to be accidentally kinda right even while intending to be not only wrong, but laughably, shamefully wrong.

    1. While we here in Alberta shudder at the prospect of an Alberta provincial police that is really just a UCP private army, in The Rest of Canada there is serious discussion about the role of the RCMP, and potentially ending its provincial policing contracts in favour of limiting it to national-level law enforcement: national security and counter-terrorism, complex white-collar and financial crime, organized crime, high-level drug trafficking, and so on.

      Readers are no doubt aware that Ontario has the Ontario Provincial Police, or OPP. Québec’s provincial police force is called ‘la Sûreté du Québec’, or SQ — for those whose French is even weaker than mine, ‘Sûreté’ means ‘safety’, but in this context should probably be interpreted as “[department of] public safety”.

      If this were to come to pass, Alberta — like all the other seven (6½?*) provinces that contract with the RCMP for rural policing in lieu of having their own provincial forces — would be forced to create a provincial police service no matter who is in government.

      *The “½” here is Newfoundland & Labrador, with its quasi-provincial police — the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary — which polices parts of the province, while the RCMP covers the rest. It’s not entirely clear to me where the boundaries are …
      https://www.rnc.gov.nl.ca/

  13. The minister of advanced education should also consider move parts (e.g., adult learning) of its ministry’s offices to the town of Athabasca. This will help the town to keep Athabasca University in Athabasca.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.