The National Monument to Canada's Mission in Afghanistan
Canadian war memorials take many architectural and artistic forms, they can be Cenotaphs (Literally "empty tomb") often in the form of obelisks or vertical pillars where the monument serves as symbolic grave site for fallen soldiers buried overseas, triumphal Arches and figural groups such as the National War Memorial in Ottawa, modernist sculptures as the Vimy Memorial in France, as well as landscape memorials like commemorative parks.
Contemporary memorials sometimes expand beyond traditional combatants to reflect a diversity of service and cultures. Examples of this school would include monuments dedicated to peacekeepers and Afghanistan war veterans.
Canada's National Monument to the Mission in Afghanistan, to be located at LeBreton Flats in Ottawa, has been mired in controversy surrounding design selection overrides, perceived political interference, and the exclusion of veterans.
More than 40,000 Canadians in uniform and hundreds of civilians and government officials served in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. They joined the United Nations-mandated coalition of dozens of countries in the international fight against terrorism. It was the longest combat deployment in Canadian history.
While in Afghanistan, 158 Canadian Armed Forces members, a diplomat, four aid workers, a government contractor and a journalist lost their lives. Thousands of Canadian Armed Forces members and civilians were also injured—physically and psychologically.
The National Monument to Canada's Mission in Afghanistan was designed to recognize the commitment and sacrifice of Canadians who served in Afghanistan, and the support provided to them at home by their families, peers and communities.
Originally committed to around 2014, the monument is not scheduled for completion until late 2028, frustrating veterans who felt the multi-decade wait already delayed proper national recognition.
The design chosen draws on elements of healing from the Medicine Wheel and takes the form of a circular, sacred space of safety, a “home base” of reflection, memory and contemplation. It is made up of four portals, where an interior area is the sanctuary where the fallen are remembered. Inscribed on the walls of three of the quadrants is the year, names of the fallen and maple leaves, in several rows. The fourth southeast quadrant wall facing the direction of Afghanistan is dedicated to fallen Afghan Allies. In the center, four bronze flak jackets stand draped on crosses—utilitarian yet poignant reminders of protection.
The goal of the monument is to create a powerful opportunity to honour and reflect, and to seek balance and healing, for all Canadians.
Critics from the veteran community have argued that the ceremony and the Indigenous-focused design (featuring items like generic helmets and flak jackets) did not match the mood, memories, or actual gear worn by the more than 40,000 Canadians who served in the 2001–2014 deployment.
As well, although originally committed to around 2014, the monument is not scheduled for completion until late 2028, frustrating veterans who felt the multi-decade wait already delayed proper national recognition.
To add to the controversy in 2021 the federal government bypassed the unanimous choice of an expert panel which had selected a winning design by Team Daoust (architects Renée Daoust and Luca Fortin), which featured two offset walls evoking mashrabiya screens and a crack of light aligned with the Peace Tower and the Canadian War Museum.
“There is a crack, a crack in everything - That’s how the light gets in”, a quote by Leonard Cohen poetically inspired the conceptual approach which led to the creation of the design not taken.
There is a long history both of controversy and of what might be described as 'deliberation' in the design and construction of Canadian war memorials.
After the First World War, 1914-1918, there was a strong feeling in Canada that a memorial should be built to recognize those who had served their country in that war. In 1925, a world-wide competition was held to choose a design for a national commemorative war monument to be built in the capital of Canada.
In January 1926, the Board of Assessors selected the model submitted by Vernon March of Farnborough, Kent, England.
In 1932 the bronze figures for the monument were completed, but it was not possible to commence construction of the memorial arch in Ottawa because the site was not yet ready.
In December 1937, a contract was awarded for the construction of the granite pedestal and arch. Work started the following year and on Wednesday, October 19, 1938, the memorial was completed, and placed on its permanent site in the Nation's Capital.
After the terraces, walks and grading of the site for which seven varieties of Canadian granite were used. The work was finally finished, in time for the Royal visit in the spring of 1939 when the National War Memorial was officially unveiled by His Majesty King George VI on Sunday, May 21, 1939.
On Remembrance day November 11 we will remember those who sacrificed for us. The monuments we build to serve as center pieces of that act of remembrance will never matter as much as the remembering, the remembering will never equal the sacrifice.
