Opposition to monument site shameful, minister says
Canada’s minister of state for democratic reform told a crowd of Vietnamese Canadians gathered to commemorate the inaugural Journey to Freedom Day that opposition to the prominent downtown site planned for a memorial for the victims of communism was “shameful” and that the controversial monument will get built.
“It is shameful that the Liberals and the NDP have come out against building this monument at this site, and it is shameful that some in the media have done the same. This is a worthy project, it is the right thing to do, and under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Harper, we will build this monument,” Pierre Poilievre told more than 500 people at a rally on the downtown site chosen for the monument across from the Supreme Court and fronting onto Wellington Street.
Poilievre’s sentiments were echoed by Ludwik Klimkowski,
It is shameful that the Liberals and the NDP have come out against building this monument at this site …
board chair for Tribute to Liberty, the group fundraising to build the monument.
The monument’s prominent location has drawn criticism and opposition from the likes of Mayor Jim Watson, Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky, Shirley Greenberg, an architect who was on the jury that chose the winning design, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
“It troubles us greatly when some prominent members of our community say that your story is not Canadian enough, that you don’t belong. They want you and your memory to be delegated to some dark corner of Canadian history,” said Klimkowski. “They claim this land is better used and better suited for a stack or papers and endless corridor of file cabinets.”
The land was initially designated for a new federal court building.
Klimkowski said the placement of the monument in the heart of the parliamentary precinct demands respect and humility. Eight million Canadians trace their roots to countries oppressed and occupied by Communism, he said.
“Your Journey to Freedom will remain restless until people like they embrace you and demand for the memory and justice for your wife and daughters raped and killed at the sea, for your fathers and sons blown up in the fields of rice,” Klimkowski said.
Conservative Sen. Thanh Hai Ngo and Heritage Minister Shelly Glover were also present at the rally in support of the memorial. Those who attended later marched to Parliament Hill for another rally to commemorate the inaugural Journey to Freedom Day.
Duy Nguyen — who fled Vietnam by fishing boat in 1980 — called the memorial an “awesome project” that all of Canada should support.
“When you talk about one innocent person being killed, that is a huge thing. This is about hundreds of millions of innocent lives, so I think it is worth it,” he said.