Rumours are swirling that Halifax’s famous Wave sculpture might be moved to make way for a new museum enclosing the HMCS Sackville.
The Wave has been a fixture on the Halifax Waterfront since 1988 but it hasn’t been without controversy.
An online petition asking city officials to make the Wave safer circulated on social media this summer after a three-year-old boy fell off the structure.
Children (and some adults) have been climbing the Wave for years - ignoring the signs asking people to keep off the sculpture - and the petition was mostly met with skepticism.
Now, Wave enthusiasts are expressing concerns over its possible relocation.
“It’s for the kids, the families,” says one waterfront visitor. “They love it. That would be terrible.”
However, officials with the Halifax Waterfront Development Corporation say the relocation rumours are just that – rumours.
“What I can tell you is that the Wave is an integral part of the waterfront experience,” says Andy Fillmore, a spokesperson for the Halifax Waterfront Development Corporation.
“No one at Waterfront Development, and I don’t think Halifax residents, would be interested in moving it away from the water.”
The head of the committee discussing the museum enclosure for the HMCS Sackville says he doesn’t know where the rumours are coming from, as the Wave sculpture hasn’t even been discussed.
Donna Hiebert, the artist who created the sculpture, says she would take legal action if the Wave were moved to a different location.
“Those rights protect the work of art so it can’t be changed, in this case, moved, because it’s a site-specific work of art.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw
