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OTTAWA — A city in central Ontario is calling for the return of an iconic monument to explorer Samuel de Champlain that has been a centrepiece in the city’s laid-back waterfront landscape for nearly a century.

Parks Canada, which owns the structure and the land it once sat on, has delayed its return for more than a year as a working group studied what to do in response to complaints about how it portrays Indigenous people.

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Orillia city council voted last week to have the monument reconstructed in its original form, but accompanied by something that better reflects both its historical context and current sentiments toward reconciliation.

The city’s mayor, Steve Clarke, is hoping Parks Canada sees what he sees — “a wonderful educational opportunity.”

“It needs to recognize our whole history, and that is the great and the good, but it’s also the bad and the ugly,” Clarke said in an interview.

“And I think that’s what we’ll end up having coming out of this.”