The City of Victoria appears to have acted first and asked questions later when it removed an information plaque near the summit of Beacon Hill Park.
The plaque was removed recently by city staff after a resident complained about it, although a city spokesperson could not specify what exactly the complainant was concerned about.
In a statement, the city said the plaque had been temporarily removed while the city assessed the wording on it.
“No decision has been made about the future of the plaque,” the city said.
A city spokesperson said “staff made the decision to remove the plaque and we are looking in to how and why that decision was made.”
The city is also trying to determine what exactly on the plaque triggered the complaint.
The Friends of Beacon Hill Park Society, founded in 1989 to preserve and maintain the park, believes it may be because of the way the plaque was worded.
The text on the plaque reads: “When Victoria was settled in 1843 this area was a natural park. It was reserved in 1858 for a park by Sir James Douglas Governor of the colony of Vancouver Island and given in trust to Victoria by the province of British Columbia, in 1882 it was so named from two beacons placed on the hill in 1846 to mark the position of Brotchie Ledge. Area is 154 acres.”
Tom Epplett, president of the society said the comma after “British Columbia” might be the problem, since it creates some ambiguity and to some readers might suggest the park was established before the trust was created in 1882.
The park was established in 1882 through a 75-hectare Crown grant to the City of Victoria under a trust providing that it was for the use, recreation and enjoyment of the public.
“Depending upon how you read the comma, it slightly changed the context of the information,” he said. “So I understand why they removed it. My personal view is I enjoyed it because when I would take walking tours or guests up there, I would stand them in front of the plaque and they would read it and then it created a conversation around the history of the park and First Nations and how it’s all evolved.”
Epplett said he hopes the plaque will be fixed and returned at some point.
Some commenters on social media were having a field day with the plaque’s removal. Some noted the plaque said nothing about the Indigenous people who stewarded the area before settlers arrived, while others argued the removal was tantamount to erasing history.
The City of Victoria doesn’t have a date for when the original stone monument was installed, but estimates the plaque was created between 2011 and 2014.
According to the city, there are three other stone monuments in the park, though the writing on them has been etched rather than having a plaque attached.
One of them was unveiled Oct. 6, 1963 commemorating Queen Elizabeth II presenting colours to the 1st battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry on July 17, 1959. Another that was unveiled July 21, 1956 commemorates King George VI presenting colours to Pacific Command of the Royal Canadian Navy on May 30, 1939, the first time the King presented colours outside of the U.K. The third stone was unveiled Oct. 2, 1965 and commemorates the Princess Royal presenting colours to the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) on June 16, 1962.
