Sir John A. sculptor says adding Indigenous figure would make 'pretty neat piece'

The sculptor who created the bronze Sir John A. Macdonald bench statue in Charlottetown says he would be glad to work on a project that would add an Indigenous figure to the artwork.

Mike Halterman, a 63-year-old sculptor based in Colorado, said it would probably take about a year to complete, but would be "a pretty good project."

Duringa telephone interview with CBCNews, he said: "I think it will be a pretty neat piece in the long run. There's plenty of room on the bench, I do believe."

Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, is a polarizing figure because of his connection to the establishment of the residential school system, which subjected generations ofIndigenous children toisolation from their families and abuse at the hands of school staff.

The downtown Charlottetown statue has been a source of controversy in recent years as Canada works toward reconciliation.

The artworkhas been vandalized at least four times since the summer. Many people have called for its removal. On Monday, Charlottetown council agreed to adopt five recommendations submitted by the Epekwitk Assembly of Councils, a group representing the Mi'kmaw First Nations of Abegweit and Lennox Island.

There's plenty of room on the bench, I do believe. Mike Halterman

Among the recommendations is adding an Indigenous child or elder, and filling in the empty space on the bench to discourage photo ops.

Council also agreed to instruct whoever is making the changesto consult with a Mi'kmaw artist.

Halterman said those recommendations are all doable, adding that he would welcomethe chance for collaboration.

"I need all the research and info that I can get to get it right for them," he said. "It was great working with people behind it the first time around it, in '08 I believe it was, and I'm sure it'll be the same."

Not a simple fix

But it won't be a simple fix, he stressed.

"They'll have to send everything back to me and then I'll have to fit an original model to that bench of what they want and then make moulds on it, tear it all back apart, cast it, put it back together and weld it back on the bench."

He'll also have to fix the damage to the Macdonald figure that was left behind after the repeated rounds of vandalism.

"It'll need to be cleaned up and sandblasted," he said. "I'll just have to restore it."

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