Committee rejects sculpture of French-language advocate Georges Forest because it has 'too much beard'

A new statue planned for Winnipeg's Provencher Park to honour St. Boniface activist Georges Forest has been postponed indefinitely, after the committee overseeing the projectrejected the work because, they say, it lookstoo old and has too much facial hair.

The committee's chair, Marcien Ferland, said all five members of the board rejected the work by Winnipeg sculptor Miguel Joyal.

The piece is "too old," has "too much beard," and the "wrong facial angles," said Ferland. The bust also lacks "character [and] personality," he said.

Forest, who died in 1990, became famous in the 1970s for defending French language rights in Manitoba. He fought an English-only parking ticket all the way to the Supreme Court in 1979, whichstruck downa 1890 law that had made the province unilingual.

• CBC ARCHIVES| 1985:4,000 Manitoba laws declared invalid

Ferland, who knew Forest personally,said the committee provided Joyal with a photo and asked him to "faithfully" reproduce it in three dimensions.

Joyalended up usingmultiple photos, including one from Forest's widow, to construct his piece in his ownstyle, he said.

I've been doing this for 40 years and I've never been treated like this everin my life.- MiguelJoyal, sculptor

"It's too far removed from the photo which we provided him with," Ferland said of the sculpture. "The committee is dissatisfied with the production."

For decades,Joyalhas worked at the Festival du Voyageur making snow and ice sculptures. Perhaps his best-known work, though, ishis statue ofMtisleader Louis Riel, which stands outside the Manitoba Legislaturenear the Assiniboine River and replaced an earlier, and controversial, statue in the same spot.

From the CBCArchives: Joyal's Riel statue is unveiled in 1996:

A new statue of Louis Riel

29 years ago

Duration 2:16

The provincial legislature unveils a new, dignified statue of Riel to replace the controversial old one.

Working with the Forest statue committee has been "a real nightmare" so far, Joyal said.

"I've been doing this for 40 years and I've never been treated like this everin my life."

Joyalfirst began working on astatue forthe committee five years ago. He first created a full-body figurine of Forest with his arm on a parking meter but it was rejected becauseit would be too costlyto bronze.

Joyalcompleted his scaled-down bustof Forestin January.

Since then, he has already taken a first stab at redoing the work after the committee raised concerns, including one aboutForest's abundant facial hair.Joyal saidhetoned down the beard, which then required him to change Forest's head, and put more emphasison the statue's eyes after the committee complained they were too soft.

"I did the changes that were expected of me and I did it in good faith. I spent an extra month on this piece," he said.

"I can't go on doing this. This could last forever."

Ferlandsaid even nowwith the changes, Joyal's statuedoes not look like Forest. The committeeplanned tounveil it to the public June 13 but that ceremony has been cancelled and postponed indefinitely.

The committee needs a break to think about its next steps, Ferland said. They are considering whether to abandon Joyal's work entirely and commission another artist to do the Forest statue.

The estimated cost of the sculpture is $50,000. Ferlanddid not say how much has already been spent on the project.