/ #sparks street 

Sparks Street bear sculpture to be moved

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_ (Photo by Randy McDonald via Flickr ) _ _ (press release) _ **

 Ottawa

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 Territorial Prerogative

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, the bronze sculpture of a mother bear, will be relocated to its new home at the corner of Sparks Street and Metcalfe Street over the course of three days; September 27 starting at 7 a.m. until September 29 at 7 p.m. The sculpture’s new location will allow residents and visitors to take pictures of the statue with the Parliament buildings in the background.








With the move, the mother bear will be reunited with a bear cub and three salmon that were part of the original artwork, but were removed to protect them from potential damage due to weather, equipment and vehicles. The salmon and cub have been integrated back into the artwork by Tamaya Garner, wife of the statue’s creator, Bruce Garner.








The bear’s relocation will allow for the preparation of the future site of the Lord Stanley’s Gift Monument, which will be unveiled in December 2017 at the corner of Elgin and Sparks streets, just steps from where Lord Stanley of Preston (the sixth Governor General of Canada) gifted the Stanley Cup 125 years ago. The monument is expected to become a prominent new landmark in Canada’s capital.








Residents are invited to attend a presentation by the eight finalist design teams that were chosen following a national design competition.

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 Date:

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Thursday, September 22

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 Time:

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5 to 8:30 p.m.

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 Location:

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Canada Council for the Arts, Âjagemô Gallery, 1



 st



floor, 150 Elgin Street, Ottawa








Residents can also view the finalist designs on Thursday after 5 p.m. on the public art competition website:

[

 lordstanleysgift.com

](http://lordstanleysgift.com/)

. Residents are encouraged to share their views on the designs by emailing



 hello@lordstanleysgift.com



. The deadline for comments is October 7.








The finalists were selected from the 40 entries reviewed by a jury of eminent Canadians, highly respected in the fields of public art, culture, history, and hockey. The winning design will be announced on October 25.