Irony among the statues

I believe your letter writer Phil Earle in his excellent letter about the heroes of Carbonear (The Shoreline July 7, 2023) was referring to French army and navy commander Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville. This seventeenth century military mad man was an early proponent of “ethnic cleansing.” He was responsible for a brutal massacre in New England in 1690 prior to his excursion to Newfoundland. Ultimately, he died a few years later of a sickness in the Caribbean.

Your readers may not know that d’Iberville is held in the highest regard in Canada. There is in central Ottawa very prominent the Monuments of Valiants which depicts the greatest 14 military men and women in Canadian history. Of the statues depicted there is the big hero this d’Iberville.

I am not in favour of tearing down statues for any reason or rewriting history into woke history. However, I point out the irony of the statues of the truly greatest Canadian Sir John A MacDonald being removed while the statue of d’Iberville still stands proud in our nation’s capital.

Robin Reid

St John’s