OTTAWA LOOKS FOR PUBLIC INPUT ON NEW MONUMENT

The federal government is looking for advice from the public on what a monument to Canada’s 13-year mission in Afghanistan should look like. An online consultation runs until Jan. 20, seeking direction on whether the monument should be small and intimate or a place for larger public ceremonies. Another question is whether it should focus on members of the Forces and others who fought al-qaida and the Taliban and then tried to rebuild the country, or families and loved ones who supported them at home, or on the relationship between Canadians and Afghans. The monument already has a site, near the Canadian War Museum just west of downtown Ottawa. The monument will be separate from a memorial to the Canadians who died in the Afghanistan mission, which is at National Defence Headquarters.