Ottawa breaks ground on long-delayed Afghanistan memorial after bitter design fight

RCI

Monument in Ottawa will honour 158 fallen and more than 40,000 Canadian veterans.

The federal government officially broke ground Monday in Ottawa on a national memorial to the sacrifice of Canadians during more than a dozen years of war in Afghanistan.

The monument, which has a controversial design history, will be located on LeBreton Flats in the national capital, near the Canadian War Museum.

It is intended to recognize the contributions of those who served in Afghanistan and those who supported them.

More than 40,000 Canadian military members served in the war-torn country following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The last Canadian soldiers were withdrawn in 2014, making it this country’s longest combat deployment.

The campaign cost the lives of 158 Canadian Armed Forces members as well as a diplomat, four aid workers, a government contractor and a journalist.

Over 2,000 troops were wounded and many others suffer ongoing psychological trauma.

Veterans Affairs Canada said Monday that the monument, which was originally slated to be unveiled in 2027, is now expected to be completed in late 2028 and formally unveiled at some undefined point in the future.

A controversial process

In 2014, then prime minister Stephen Harper officially committed to building a permanent national monument to Canada’s war in Afghanistan, and his Conservative government set aside $5 million in the 2014 federal budget specifically for construction.

The Conservatives initially chose a site in Ottawa at Richmond Landing near the Royal Canadian Navy Monument, but veterans criticized the decision, calling the location isolated and difficult to access, particularly in winter.

When it finally came time to design the memorial there was more controversy.

In 2021, an independent jury of experts composed of design professionals and veterans unanimously selected a concept by Team Daoust, a Quebec-based architectural firm, as the winner of the national competition.

However, the Liberal government ignored the results and later awarded the contract to Team Stimson, led by Indigenous artist and veteran Adrian Stimson, citing results from an online survey in which 12,000 people apparently participated.

Critics questioned the validity of the survey, comparing it to a contest for likes on Facebook.

At the time, other critics including former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour called that move un-Canadian and anti-democratic, arguing that it undermined the procurement process and set a dangerous precedent for future public art competitions.

Supporters of Team Stimson argued its design was more straightforward than that of its rival. It features four helmets and flak jackets on crosses, centered on a circular platform rooted in the Indigenous medicine wheel.

The federal government initially offered Team Daoust $34,000 as compensation for being dropped. When the offer was refused, the government eventually reached an out-of-court settlement of $100,000 in early 2025 to resolve legal threats.

Murray Brewster (new window) · CBC News