How a tribute to 'victims of communism' became Canada's most controversial monument

 

A year after its unveiling was postponed indefinitely, concerns about Ottawa’s Memorial to the Victims of Communism remain

A year after its unveiling was postponed indefinitely, Canada’s most controversial monument remains fenced off and undedicated.

Officially named “Memorial to the Victims of Communism—Canada, a Land of Refuge”, the C$7.5m ($5.4m) public monument in downtown Ottawa was built by the federal government and intended to honour the victims of communist regimes who fled to Canada. Designed by the Toronto architecture firm Paul Raff Studio, it is composed of more than 4,000 bronze rods arranged on 365 slim posts. Each rod represents an hour of sunlight across an entire year, with a broken middle symbolising the winter solstice—the darkest day of the calendar.

In addition, there is a small “wall of memory” supposedly engraved with hundreds of names of alleged victims of communism submitted by the initial donors to the project. But this list was never vetted, and in 2021 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation revealed that several people listed for commemoration were wartime fascist leaders, Nazi collaborators or suspected war criminals.

The monument was supposed to be dedicated on 2 November 2023, but officials with Canadian Heritage—the ministry responsible for its construction—postponed the unveiling in the wake of the Yaroslav Hunka scandal. (Hunka, a 99-year-old Ontario resident, had been honoured by the Canadian Parliament in September 2023 for fighting the Soviets in the Second World War; it was later discovered that the veteran had volunteered to fight alongside the Nazis in a Ukrainian SS unit.)

Heritage department officials subsequently decided to review the monument’s commemorative content. That review is ongoing, but Canadian Heritage would not elaborate what specifically is being investigated, other than to say that the government is working to ensure that the monument aligns with “Canadian values”.  (more...)

How a tribute to 'victims of communism' became Canada's most controversial monument