Ottawa’s latest monument arrives under scrutiny, with no names on its wall for now.
After more than a year of delay the controversial Victims of Communism memorial will be officially unveiled in Ottawa on Dec. 12.
The unveiling of the memorial was put on hold last year because of the controversy over parliamentarians honouring a Waffen SS soldier and potential links between the monument and Nazi collaborators, according to records obtained by the Ottawa Citizen earlier this year.
In addition, Jewish groups have voiced their ongoing concerns about the names of alleged Nazi collaborators and other fascists being inscribed on the memorial.
Charles Thibault-Béland, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, said Tuesday that at this point there will be no names on the memorial. Department officials are still reviewing the backgrounds of the names and events to be commemorated.
“At the time of the unveiling, there will be no names on the monument’s wall,” Thibault-Béland confirmed.
The memorial, which is located near the corner of Wellington and Bay streets, is supposed to honour those who suffered under communism.
But a Holocaust education organization has warned that a large number of names that were to be inscribed on the memorial had links to the Nazis. (more...)
Victims of Communism memorial delayed over Nazi link controversy to open
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