Charlottetown gives green light to monument, but some councillors call for new policy

PEIA new monument is being installed in Charlottetown, though it sparked a call for city council to develop a policy outlining how and where similar installations should be placed. ‘Once we have a policy in place… we’re tickety-boo,’ says deputy mayorMarilee Devries · CBC News · Posted: Sep 24, 2025 6:26 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoCharlottetown council voted 7-3 in favour of installing a monument commemorating victims of the 1930s Ukrainian famine known as the Holodomor at Confederation Landing on the city’s waterfront. (Tony Davis/CBC)A new monument is being installed in Charlottetown, though it sparked a call for city council to develop a policy outlining how and where similar installations should be placed.The monument will commemorate the Holodomor, the Soviet-orchestrated mass famine that killed millions of Ukrainians between 1932 and 1933.It will be placed at Confederation Landing, near the waterfront. No date has yet been set for the installation. Charlottetown council voted 7-3 in favour of the placement during a meeting Tuesday. The councillors who voted against the motion said they want Charlottetown to create a policy that would allow the placement of monuments to be decided by an application process instead of a decision from council.Coun. Alanna Jankov was among those who voted against the monument placement, saying she wants a monument policy in place first. (Zoom)Coun. Alanna Jankov, who’s also the city’s deputy mayor, was among the three who voted no.”We do not have a monument policy, so therefore I felt it was important that we put it on hold until we actually have a policy in place,” she told CBC News. “And as I explained last night with council, this was not a ‘no.’ This was a ‘not yet.'”It was, to me, very important that we have some guiding principle around how and why we decide on a monument.”Joining Jankov in voting against the motion were councillors Mitch Tweel and Julie McCabe.Notice of motion next monthJankov plans to bring a notice of motion to council next month in hopes of creating a policy where applicants will be vetted through a formalized process. “Fairness and consistency, transparency and trust, long-term stewardship, protecting community values…. All of those things I think should be considered in a policy,” she said. “Once we have a policy in place like we have with other things, like naming streets and installing artistic pieces… then we’re set, we’re tickety-boo.”At the council meeting, Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown suggested that the policy should be developed collaboratively. “I think we should be working with our two sister communities, Cornwall and Stratford, and develop a policy that’s for the whole region,” Brown said. ABOUT THE AUTHORMarilee Devries is a journalist with CBC P.E.I. She has a journalism degree from Toronto Metropolitan University. She can be reached at marilee.devries@cbc.caWith files from Tony Davis