Photograph by Bob Brink
John Cabot Statue, 1971
by Hans Melis
Sculpture
(Bronze)
Confederation Hill, St. John's
100 Prince Philip Dr., St. John's, NL A1B 3R4
This photo shows the statue of John Cabot wrapped in orange on September 30, 2025 as part of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation rally organized by First Light.
"This pedestal honours John Cabot and a story called "discovery". Indigenous peoples were already here with law, language, and governance.
The Cabot story helped crowns and maps claim these shores without consent.
Policies that tore children from families and crushed language amount to genocide.
We wrap to re-contextualize celebration as public reckoning and a commitment to care."
Public art is powerful - every monument is a choice about what we uphold.
Artist bio
Hans Melis was born in the Netherlands in 1925. He studied at the Academies of Fine Arts in The Hague, Munich and Dresden. He emigrated to Canada in the 1958 and became the official sculptor of Newfoundland under Joey Smallwood.
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