The battle resumes around the highly controversial National Memorial to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan. A petition relayed on the House of Commons website (noscommunes.ca) requests the cancellation of the project selected by the federal government after it had flouted the rules of its own competition.
The e-petition launched by Armed Forces veteran John Senior of Calgary is sponsored by Conservative MP Blake Richards. It will receive signatures until June 9. There are more than 200 now.
The supporting text states that the memorial project “has been tainted by scandal and political interference” and that it is no longer “representative of the dedication and sacrifices of veterans of the Afghanistan mission.” The request is therefore made to the government to “erase the current project” and “start from scratch” to finally “erect a monument that honors and correctly represents” the services and sacrifices of the people who participated in the mission.
“The veteran behind the petition is not the first to point out that the monument built would be tainted by political interference,” points out Luca Fortin, artist and member of the despoiled winning team. It’s interesting that this criticism comes from this environment to say that the democratic process was not respected and that this is not a good way to honor the sacrifice that some have made to put in place democratic principles. in Afghanistan. »
More than 40,000 Canadian troops and hundreds of civilians served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014 as part of a United Nations mandate. The competition to pay tribute to them with a monument erected in Ottawa was launched in 2019 with the aim of inaugurating it on the tenth anniversary of the end of the mission, this year. The deadline has been missed.
Mr. Fortin and his partners are now considering taking legal action against the government to enforce the jury’s decision. “Everyone asks us why we don’t go to court,” said Mr. Fortin. We did things elegantly. We tried to find common ground, possible solutions, but the government does not want to hear anything. So it is certain that now we are considering the legal avenue. »
A bogus consultation
The Trudeau government announced in June 2023 that it would not award the contract to the Quebec team designated as the winner by an independent jury, that of Mr. Fortin, therefore, who worked with the architectural firm Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker and the jurist Louise Arbour. The conceptual work is based on a “strategically open” memory wall which evokes the democratic breach attempted by the mission. Compensation of some $34,200 was offered to the robbed winners.
The proposal chosen instead was designed by Adrian Stimson, an Indigenous artist from Alberta. The figurative work plans to install warrior armor in front of a flaming basin.
The first contract to create this monument was signed in October. The initial budget of 3.4 million was revised to 4.7 million in August 2023. Construction could begin in the fall of 2024 or in 2025. Normally, the final plans and specifications should be approved by the National Capital Commission , which has still not intervened in the burning issue.
The favor granted ultimately was based in part on the result of an online consultation conducted in 2021 with veterans, members of the Forces and their loved ones, a survey deemed unscientific by the professional firm Léger. The Minister of Veterans Affairs, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, admitted that it was not an objective approach, but that the people consulted preferred the concept of the Stimson team, “focused on the courage and sacrifice of the soldiers “.
Solutions rejected
Pressure to push Ottawa to reverse course took up much of last fall, including in parliamentary committee. Liberal elected officials finally admitted to not having respected the rules of the competition.
Official documents showed that, according to the opinions of lawyers from the Ministry of Heritage, the only legal options were to award the contract to the Daoust-Fortin team or to “cancel the design competition and relaunch the calls for tenders “. The analysis predicted that overturning the jury’s choice would “place the Crown at risk of negative press.” At the last count of media coverage of the controversy, there were at least 33 reports and columns in French and around twenty in English.
The recommendation from the Contract Management Directorate was to proceed with the winning team of the competition. Veterans Affairs still decided to go with the Stimson team. The Minister of Heritage at the time, Pablo Rodriguez, endorsed this choice in a decision signed on May 11, 2023.
The three opposition parties united in the House to allow the adoption by 167 votes of a motion of censure once again repeating the observation of the flouting of the rules. A Liberal MP even then proposed building the two proposals for the monument in dispute.
Luca Fortin has taken many steps to understand the underlying facts of Ottawa’s decision. He recently received redacted and incomplete documents from Veterans Affairs Canada. He lodged a complaint in April with the Information Commissioner’s Office. “How do you expect us to move forward on this issue if people continue to hide things from us? » he asks in an interview.