The winning team of the design competition for the creation of a monument commemorating Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, which saw its project replaced by another at the end of a contested popular consultation, presented itself Tuesday at the House of Commons to ask the Trudeau government to reverse its decision.
Otherwise, she says she fears that the management of this file by Ottawa will create a “dangerous precedent”.
The team that brings together Quebec artist Luca Fortin, the Montreal architectural firm Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker and jurist Louise Arbor won a design competition launched in 2019 to create a monument in tribute to the approximately 40,000 Canadian soldiers who fought in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014.
However, the Department of Veterans Affairs Canada preferred to hand over this three million dollar contract last June to the team linking the artist Adrian Stimson and MBTW Group, a Toronto firm, following an online consultation including the validity was notably contested by pollster Jean-Marc Léger. The federal government then ignored the conclusions initially reached by a jury in this case.
This is how Renée Daoust, the founding partner of the Daoust Lestage firm, appeared late Tuesday afternoon before the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs of the House of Commons, made up of federal elected officials, to denounce “undemocratic and unjust processes” which, according to her, tarnish the memory of the Canadian soldiers who fought for years in Afghanistan. “The government associates all these actors who mobilized to defend and establish democracy in Afghanistan with the worst anti-democratic approach of competitions in Canada,” she said.
The latter also said she felt “wronged and betrayed” on June 19, when Ottawa revealed that her team’s project had won the design competition, but that it would still be rejected. “For us, this is a total injustice. We are very concerned by the desire of the federal government to discredit a democratic process,” continued Mr.me Daoust, who accused Ottawa of “cheating” in this matter. “It’s really sad. »
“Political interference”?
In reaction to this controversy, the Group of Visual Arts Artists launched an online petition on September 6, which has since collected more than 1,750 signatures, asking the Ministry of Heritage to revise its decision while respecting the criteria defined by the competition. design which was launched in 2019.
A request reiterated on Tuesday by the team behind the project initially selected by a jury to see the light of day in front of the Canadian War Museum, not far from Parliament Hill.
“The government should make amends, respect its own rules of the game and ensure that the democratic process fundamental to the history of competitions in Canada prevails,” argued Renée Daoust, according to whom the way in which Ottawa managed this issue, in giving more weight to an online survey than to a jury’s decision, “sets a dangerous precedent for the development of public art and architecture in Canada and the management of architecture in Canada “.
Said survey was to “accompany the jury’s decision”, and not “invalidate it”, continued the artist Luca Fortier, whose comments were then supported by those of the lawyer specializing in copyright François Le Moine , who took part in this hearing. “The government, under the rules of this competition, simply did not have the discretion to award this contract to a team that had not been selected. It is a jury that has decision-making power, not a minister,” said the lawyer.
These comments then led the Bloc MP Luc Desilets to denounce the “political interference” of the Trudeau government in this matter, which according to him risks harming Canada’s reputation internationally.
The MP also had a motion adopted before this committee on Tuesday evening in which he asked Ottawa to make available a series of documents concerning the selection process of the team which will build the monument. The document also requests that the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs invite to testify on this issue the one who was Minister of Veterans Affairs from 2019 to July 2023, Lawrence MacAulay (now Minister of Agriculture), as well as Pablo Rodriguez, who was Minister of Canadian Heritage until last July before inheriting Transport.
The motion received the support of Conservative MPs who are members of this committee and NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice; the liberal elected officials present voted against it.