Monument to Afghanistan mission design is approved by NCC board
A national monument to Canada's mission in Afghanistan has been approved by the National Capital Commission, setting the stage for construction on Booth Street at LeBreton Flats.
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The monument, to be located across from the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, was approved by the NCC's board of director at its meeting on June 19.
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There have been two changes made: Stairs that were initially part of the design have been replaced by a slight ramp to improve accessibility, and the orientation of the monument has been shifted to ensure a straight-line view of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in the distance.
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'Obviously, we've got veterans in wheelchairs or with mobility devices, and earlier iterations of the monument had stairs right in front, and those are gone, so now it's a gentle rise that's fully accessible,' Alain Miguelez, vice-president of capital planning and chief planner of the NCC, said to reporters at a media conference.
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Other design elements include 13 maple leaves to represent the 10 provinces and three territories, four helmets and flak jackets and a circular design after Indigenous concepts of the medicine wheel.
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'The design of the monument takes the form of a circular sacred space of safety: a homebase of reflection, memory and contemplation,' Jason Hutchinson, chief of federal design approvals, said at the public NCC board meeting.
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Two years ago, Pablo Rodriguez, then the minister of Canadian Heritage, and Lawrence MacAulay, then minister of Veterans Affairs, pulled the project from the Quebec-based design team Daoust, which had been selected by a government-appointed jury, and awarded the commission to Alberta-based designers Team Stimson.
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The federal government said the decision was based on an online survey of veterans and other members of the public who preferred the Stimson design.
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