Site dispute delays NCC vote on Afghan war memorial

The National Capital Commission is caught in another memorial controversy.

The Canadian War Museum and its architect are resisting a plan to locate the National Memorial to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan at a site near the building.

NCC management Tuesday recommended the board approve the site location west of the War Museum, but CEO Mark Kristmanson won support to defer the vote, sensing cold feet around the table.

Board member Carol Loughrey, who’s from New Brunswick, was emotional when she explained that she lives next to a military base and supports the memorial project.

“It sends a powerful message of our respect for what so many people gave up and suffered,” Loughrey said. “The woman first to die in combat, that’s a very significant thing.”

Loughrey said she hated to vote against something that honours the sacrifices of the military, but she’s convinced by the War Museum’s opposition to the site.

The NCC is in charge of land-use approval.

The War Museum told the NCC the memorial could jeopardize the “architectural vision” originally conceived for the museum. It’s also worried a monument commemorating one war will lead to monuments to other conflicts.

As it is, the museum tries not to emphasize one conflict over another and it says locating the monument close to the building would make people think the monument is part of the museum.

Museum architect Ray Moriyama, who attended the NCC board meeting, is also opposed to locating the memorial near the building. He believes the museum’s connection with the Ottawa River would be interrupted.

“The placement of the memorial there seems to be the anti-philosophy of the institution itself,” Moriyama said after the meeting. “I feel we have to maintain not only the integrity, but the honesty of what the War Museum is trying to do.”

Veterans Affairs Canada announced the memorial project in May 2014.

The NCC board in January 2015 approved the Richmond Landing upper plaza for the memorial before Veterans Affairs asked for a second review of locations.

There was a shortlist of four locations: the site west of the War Museum; Richmond Landing upper plaza near the Portage Bridge; the lawn of the Canadian Phalanx memorial at Wellington and Lyon streets; and Cartier Square Drill Hall beside Ottawa City Hall.

A consultation between Veterans Affairs and the Defence Department in October 2016 ended with the majority of participants preferring the site west of the War Museum. Last spring, the NCC received a request from Canadian Heritage to approve the War Museum site.

The NCC thinks the museum’s concerns can be mitigated through design, but board members want more analysis before voting.

Board member Kay Stanley said she sides with the War Museum. Only people driving on the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway would see a memorial next to the War Museum, she said. Stanley said the monument should be at Richmond Landing, “an ideal place.”

After the meeting, Kristmanson said it’s worth reviewing past NCC work on capital military commemorations, considering the difference in opinion on the proposed War Museum site.

“I think sober second thought is a good move in this case,” Kristmanson said.

A design competition is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, leading to a winning design in September 2018, but Canadian Heritage is still going through consultations.

Meanwhile, the board approved a capital illumination plan that has been in the works for several years.

The NCC wants to use strategic lighting to dramatically animate the central area or, in the agency’s words, “enhance the capital’s nocturnal landscape.” The right lighting, the agency believes, could give the capital more character.

An illumination plan was first proposed in Canada’s Capital Core Area Sector Plan in 2005. Public consultations have been happening since 2014.

With the board’s approval Tuesday, the NCC will now implement strategic lighting on federal projects and encourage municipalities to consider the illumination plan during their own planning processes.

Priority projects include Richmond Landing, Rideau Hall, Nepean Point, Confederation Park and the Sussex Courtyards.

Kristmanson said the 10-year illumination plan already has a good start with federal projects downtown giving thought to interesting lighting.