TIMELINE: Rocky road to creating the Prime Ministers Path

The Prime Ministers Path has been mired in controversy from the very start.

The goal was to create statues of 22 former Prime Ministers to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation.

Instead, the project was bogged down by public debates, vandalism, protests, consultations and indecision.

In July 2025, almost a decade after plans were first announced to bring the project to Wilmot Township, council decided on a final plan for the Prime Ministers Path.

Here’s a timeline of events leading up to that announcement.

2013

A group of private citizens raised money to create bronze statues of former Prime Ministers.

The statues were meant to stay in Waterloo Region. The first prospective location identified was Victoria Park in Kitchener. City council rejected the plan after strong opposition from the community.

2015

Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) offered to host the statues on its Waterloo campus. Months later, however, they backtracked. The university removed the Sir John A. Macdonald statue when a petition started circulating about the Prime Minister’s role in creating the residential school system.

“Erecting bronze statues of people essentially celebrates them, rather than trying to provoke dialogue or anything else,” WLU professor Jonathan Finn, who started the petition, said at the time. “This seemed to be just a pure celebration of Prime Ministers, which to me seems 20 to 30 years out of date.”

2016

Councillors in the Township of Wilmot unanimously approved the installation of the project at Castle Kilbride in Baden. It was now being called the Prime Ministers Path.

The decision by council was made without public consultation. Les Armstrong, who was the mayor, said residents were not asked to weigh in because the township would not have to pay for anything. They were, he insisted, only providing a place where the statues would go.

At the time, the project coordinator said the life-size figures were always meant to highlight the positive and negative parts of Canada’s past.

“We want to look at not just our Prime Ministers, but the successes and failures of our country and how it influences all of us looking towards the future,” explained Jim Rodger, then co-ordinator of the Prime Ministers Path Project.

The first statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was installed.

2017

Three more statues were added to the Prime Ministers Path. They were Sir Robert Borden, William L. Mackenzie and Lester B. Pearson.

2018

A statue of Kim Campbell was added to the Prime Ministers Path.

2020

In the spring, red paint was thrown over the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald. Over the next few months, protests and sit-ins were held to bring attention to his controversial past.

In July, Wilmot council voted in favour of creating a public engagement process. First Peoples Group was retained to design and lead the effort.

A staff report, presented to council in August, outlined three options for the Sir John A. Macdonald statue. One was removal and relocation to a township-owned facility. The estimated cost was between $$9,650 and $10,650. The second option was to remove the statue and put it in a rented storage facility at a cost of $11,750 to $12,750. The third option was to move the statue to the northern portion of the Prime Ministers Path. The report said that had an estimated cost of between $7,500 and $9,500.

Council ultimately decided to remove the Sir John A. Macdonald statue and put it in storage.

Four other figures, slated to be installed on the Prime Ministers Path, are postponed due to the pandemic. Those statues included John Abbott, John Thompson, Mackenzie Bowell and Charles Tupper. The installation was postponed again so the township could review the project.

2021

Mayor Les Armstrong was given a one-day pay suspension following comments made in the media about the Prime Ministers Path. It was his second code of conduct violation stemming from council’s decision to remove the statues. Armstrong told a newspaper the outcome was dictated by “outsiders” and that the majority of residents wanted to keep the project. At a council meeting, the township’s integrity commissioner said he was free to criticize the move, but elected officials cannot publicly disparage the decision or question the motives of councillors.

First Peoples Group, an Indigenous advisory firm out of Ottawa, complied a report following a public consultation process.

“Based on what we have heard, First Peoples Group advises the Township of Wilmot Council to consider immediately removing existing statues related to the Prime Ministers Path and to discontinue any future expansion or investment in the Prime Ministers Path as it exists today,” the group’s recommendation said.

Council voted unanimously in July to remove the remaining statues and permanently put an end to the project. Days later, they were gone from the property. The township said the statues of Sir Robert Borden, Kim Campbell, William Lyon Mackenzie King and Lester Pearson were placed in storage, along with the one of Sir John A. Macdonald. The statues of Sir John Abbott, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Sir John Thompson and Sir Charles Tupper were never installed. The township said it was a “symbolic” move towards “reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and work towards community cohesion and healing.”

2022

Wilmot elected an entirely new council, including Natasha Salonen who took over as mayor for Les Armstrong, who had previously announced his retirement. All of the newcomers were new to municipal politics.

2024

Council put forward a motion to revisit the Prime Ministers Path project and get feedback from the community on next steps for a permanent plan for the statues.

A staff report, presented in February, detailed the mounting costs of keeping the statues in storage.

“The cost of this storage is $661 a month and we’ve spent about $23,000 in between 2020 and 2024,” CAO Sharon Chambers said.

Council asked for more information on alternative storage locations, as well as options for community engagement in the process.

In November, a consulting firm was brought in to hold the first of many public meetings on the issue. Residents said they supported the Prime Ministers Path but wanted the project to put greater emphasis on education and insight.

2025

According to the township, $162,177.37 was spent on the Prime Ministers Path between the start of 2020 and end of 2024. The federal government provided a grant of $45,000, while the remaining $117,177.37 was paid through the tax base. The township also shared the following breakdown of costs:

• $12,657.41 for legal advice in 2020
• $29,205.12 for statue storage from 2020 onward
• $29,408.64 for statue removal in 2020 and 2021
• $45,792 to the First Peoples Group for the first round of public engagement in 2021
• $45,114.20 to LURA Consulting for the ongoing PMP Engagement Project

In April, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre brought his federal election campaign to Breslau.

“We have an imperfect past, but we don’t fix that by tearing it all down,” he said. “We should add new statues.”

The comments elicited cheers from those gathered at the rally.

In May, Wilmot council reviewed a report with six recommendations for the future of the Prime Ministers Path.

They were, as follows:

1. Create an independent committee, which does not report to council, to determine the project’s next steps and ensure diverse voices are represented
2. Seek out public and private grants for the project (so no operational funds are used)
3. Include Indigenous and other diverse voices in the process
4. Future installments should keep education in mind (context and critical reflection)
5. Displays should invite engagement, not just passive interactions
6. Project should “actively support truth-telling, healing and long-term reconciliation goals”

The report also stated the budget for community engagement had already outstripped its initial estimate. The expected budget was set at $60,000, however, the total cost of engagement came in at $102,367.

On July 28, council delivers its “final” decision on the Prime Ministers Path. They said all of the statues will be reinstalled, including the one of Sir John A. Macdonald. Council also explained that a volunteer-led and independent committee would oversee the project and development of the educational content. As no additional municipal funds would be provided, the project will have to rely on private donations, partnerships or grants. Council also suggested the Prime Ministers Path should be renamed.