In the context of Statue of Alexander Wood, explain the Removal and destruction of the History.
On June 8, 2021, the CWVBIA submitted a letter to Toronto mayor John Tory demanding that the statue of Wood be removed. The letter criticized Wood's status as a founding member and treasurer of The Society for Converting and Civilizing the Indians and Propagating the Gospel Among Destitute Settlers in Upper Canada, a group that raised funds for mission schools. Among these schools was the St. John's Missionary to the Ojibway, which was later absorbed into Canada's residential school system and became the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. The CWVBIA's letter came amid renewed public focus on Canada's residential school system, prompted by the discovery of unmarked graves at the sites of several former residential schools in 2021. In their letter, the CWVBIA wrote that allowing the statue to remain would send a "clear message to the two-spirit community that racism is being allowed to continue, and in fact being iconized in Toronto".The statue was removed and destroyed on April 4, 2022. The statue itself was broken up and moved into a dumpster, while the statue's granite podium stood was removed and the area it once occupied was filled with concrete. The removal was undertaken without advance notice, or consultation with the city or community groups. While the circumstances surrounding the authorization of the destruction were initially unclear, the CWVBIA confirmed in a statement after the fact that the removal was undertaken at their direction, and that the group had hired a contractor to remove the statue in March 2022. According to Toronto City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, whose ward includes Church and Wellesley, the statue was owned by the CWVBIA and thus did not require city authorization to be destroyed.
Church Shingwauk Indian Residential School John Tory Church and Wellesley discovery of unmarked graves Kristyn Wong-Tam mission school Upper Canada Ojibway two-spirit residential school system Toronto Shingwauk