Norman Bethune
This statue of Norman Bethune, a gift from the People’s Republic of China, was installed in 1977. See the Montreal Arts Public website for more details: https://artpublic.ville.montreal.qc.ca/en/oeuvre/monument-a-norman-bethune/
Norman Bethune lived in Montreal for eight years, from 1928 to 1936 and became a renowned thoracic surgeon. During this time his commitment towards social and humanitarian causes took shape. He later went to Spain, during the Spanish Civil war, to and operated the Canadian Blood Transfusion Unit. In 1938 Bethune travelled to Yan’an in the Shanbei region of Shanxi province in China. There he joined the Chinese Communists insurgency led by Mao Zedong, and performed emergency battlefield surgical operations on war casualties and established training for doctors, nurses, and orderlies. He contracted septicaemia (blood poisoning) and died of his wounds on November 12, 1939. For more information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Bethune
John Molson Building
Kitty corner from the square, on de Maisonneuve Boulevard, are large maple leafs adorning the John Molson School of Business building of Concordia University. You can see them from the square.