Federal Government Refuses to Disclose Reason for Cancelling Consultation with Veterans on Plans for Afghan Monument

The federal government changed the final design choice for a proposed monument to Canada’s mission in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country, but Ottawa did not consult with veterans to see if they felt the situation warranted a change.

The monument is meant to “pay tribute to the commitment and sacrifice of Canadians in helping to rebuild Afghanistan,” according to its vision statement, but the government rejected the first design chosen by a jury, and selected another option.

The Veterans’ Affairs Committee has already been studying the issue, but just before Christmas, Conservative MP Blake Richards, frustrated with the lack of answers from the government, introduced a motion to order the government to hand over more documents to explain its decision.

“All we know is that the Prime Minister’s Office has interfered in this process that has delayed, at the very minimum, the construction of this monument,” Mr. Richards said at a committee meeting Dec. 21.

NDP MP Rachel Blaney said she will support the motion at a future meeting.

“We want these monuments to honour the people who worked hard, who sacrificed so much, and now there’s a whole bunch of questions, and the government cannot answer them in a way that makes sense,” she said in an interview.

More than 40,000 Canadian soldiers, and hundreds more civilians and government officials, served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014. Seven civilians and 158 Canadian Armed Forces members died. The former Conservative government announced plans to build a national monument to the mission in 2014.

A design competition was launched in August 2019.

In November 2021, a jury tasked with reviewing proposals for the monument chose the design by Team Daoust, made up of the firm Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker, artist Luca Fortin and former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour. Team Daoust described its lace-like stone wall as referring “to a view of the world through the magnified motif of a burqa, a view opened up by the axis of democracy.”

That selection came three months after Kabul fell to the Taliban, leading to sweeping changes, and a backsliding of women’s rights, including extreme restrictions on girls’ education.

Shortly after the design was chosen, government officials began to question internally if it was the right vision given the changes in Afghanistan.

Ultimately the government went with a different option. Last June, then-veterans affairs minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the monument would instead be designed by Indigenous artist, and Armed Forces veteran, Adrian Stimson.