Nazi collaborator’s name found on Victims of Communism monument

 

Canadian Heritage engraved the nameplates before deciding who to commemorate

The name of a Nazi collaborator believed to have participated in the massacre of Latvian Jews was engraved on Ottawa’s Monument to the Victims of Communism, according to internal emails obtained by Ricochet through Access to Information.

In addition, the engraving took place before the federal department had made a final decision about who to commemorate. This contradicts previous statements by Canadian Heritage, which has consistently denied that any names had been engraved on the controversial monument, as they had not yet determined who among the roughly 500 individuals slated for commemoration aligned with Canadian values. 

In fact, several hundred names had been engraved and affixed to the monument in advance of the monument’s original unveiling date, scheduled for November 2nd 2023.

In an email dated November 3rd 2023, Sandra Richards, a Canadian Heritage (PCH) project manager responsible for monuments and public art, indicated to her colleagues at Canadian Heritage and the National Capital Commission that an Assistant Deputy Minister with Canadian Heritage wanted the names removed as soon as possible.

“Per my previous email, we fully understand the need to continue production of the names in the absence of a final decision from PCH so that you can close out that contract. It may have been a misunderstanding on our part that this work would also involve installation, but the direction from senior management is that tiles should not be installed until we’ve reached a decision.”

Richards further stated that she noticed the name of a known Nazi collaborator during a site visit that occurred on November 1st 2023.

“I didn’t look at all the names when I was on site, but I did notice “Janis Niedra,” which has already been decided in principle to be removed (it’s a name that can be readily researched and identified as a nazi [sic] collaborator with no ambiguity).”  (more...)

Nazi collaborator’s name found on Victims of Communism monument