Never Forgotten National Memorial
The Mother Canada monument, officially the Never Forgotten National Memorial, was a project planned for Cape Breton Highlands National Park as a memorial to Canadian soldiers who had fought and died overseas. It was meant as a trans-Atlantic complement to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.[1]
The $25 million project was to include a 24-metre statue of a bereft mother, her hands outstretched towards Europe and the Canada Bereft monument at the Vimy Memorial in France.[2] It was to be funded through donations collected by the Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation headed by Toronto businessman Tony Trigiani.[3] The project had been conceived by Trigiani after he visited a Canadian World War I cemetery in Europe.[2]
Approved by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, which donated $100,000 to the memorial foundation,[4] it was cancelled by Parks Canada in February 2016 following the 2015 federal election that brought a Liberal government to power, following opposition by Cape Bretoners and environmentalists who wished to preserve the Green Cove site in its natural state, and by others who believed it to be in poor taste,[3] such as the Globe and Mail which, in an editorial, described the proposed monument as "hubristic, ugly and just plain wrong".[5]
References
- ↑ "Parks Canada backs out of controversial 'Mother Canada' war memorial project in Cape Breton". National Post. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- 1 2 "Mother Canada statue won't be built in Cape Breton after all". Toronto Star. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- 1 2 "Mother Canada project won't go ahead in Cape Breton park". CBC News. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ "Mother Canada statue's future under Liberal government review". CBC News. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ "Mother Canada statue is hubristic, ugly and just plain wrong (editorial)". Globe and Mail. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2016.