Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919)
Sir Wilfrid Laurier served as Canada's first Francophone Prime
Minister from 1896 to 1911. During his premiership Canada experienced
growth and prosperity. Under his administration, Alberta and
Saskatchewan joined Confederation, the last British troops were
withdrawn from Canada and the Royal Canadian Navy was founded.
In 1922, plans began for a statue of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The
competition for designing the monument received 40 entries from
artists around the world. The winning entry was that of Joseph-Émile
Brunet, a young artist from Montreal who would later become
one of Quebec's foremost figure sculptors.
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