National Victims of Communism Memorial | U/C

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

The site is supposed to house the Federal Court of Canada, not a tax court specifically. It's also a grassy lawn not a parking lot.

All the more reason to build a building on it; at least a parking lot would currently be serving some function.

[rocketphish]

Dewar, Watson speak out against site for victims of communism memorial

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 10, 2015, Last Updated: February 10, 2015 4:59 PM EST

Opposition to the Memorial to the Victims of Communism widened Tuesday as Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar called on the government to move it to a different location and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson described it as a “blight” on its Wellington Street site.

Dewar said he wrote this week to Public Works Minister Diane Finley, asking her to reconsider the location of the memorial, slated to be built this year on a 5,000-square-metre site between the Supreme Court and Library and Archives Canada.

Wellington Street is “one of our major thoroughfares to tell our story as a country,” the New Democrat MP said. “In terms of the narrative of our history, is this what we want to have given prominence? I don’t think it’s appropriate to have it there.”

Dewar said his opinions were his own because the NDP caucus hasn’t taken a position. But, he added, “I think you would find most of my caucus colleagues agree with me, including my leader.” The Citizen asked NDP leader Tom Mulcair for his view, but a spokesman said he was too busy Tuesday to comment.

Watson described the memorial as “overwhelming.”

“It takes away from the beauty of the Supreme Court building and I think it is a blight on that particular site.

“It’s very stark, I don’t find it particularly attractive and the public didn’t really have any say on where it was going to go,” Watson said. “It was just sort of thrust on us — no consultation — and I think you’re seeing an awful lot of backlash from the community as to why a monument that overwhelming is going on that particular site.”

The $5.5-million memorial, designed by Toronto’s ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture, features six parallel folded concrete rows, rising 14.5 metres at their highest, covered with 100 million “memory squares,” each representing a life lost to Communist regimes worldwide.

“I don’t see it as something that creates a balance of memory and aspiration to something better,” Dewar said.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau declined to comment. “While Mr. Trudeau has been supportive of the creation of the monument, we are not commenting on the location of the site,” said Cameron Ahmad, Trudeau’s spokesman.

The memorial’s location has come under growing fire in recent months. Last week, the 4,800-member Royal Architectural Institute of Canada urged the government to shift it 300 metres west to the Garden of the Provinces — the site originally chosen by the National Capital Commission in 2010.

Toronto architect Shirley Blumberg, a member of the memorial’s selection jury, and Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky have also publicly spoken out against the current site, which had long been reserved for a new building to complete a “judicial triad” centred on the Supreme Court. Even Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin raised concerns about the “bleak and brutal” appearance of some of the memorial designs.

The NCC’s board of directors signed off on the new site in November 2013, a decision Dewar called “unfortunate. There should have been more debate about that. It’s a very significant change.”

Dewar, who spoke to NCC chief executive Mark Kristmanson about the memorial last week, said the shift to the current location was not something the NCC had been considering. “It was clearly something thrust upon them.”

He stressed that he wasn’t opposed to a memorial recognizing the “anguish” suffered by those who suffered under communism and other totalitarian regimes. “It’s really about where it’s put and how it’s done.”

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...unism-memorial

[J.OT13]

Better sites for Victims of Communism monument is any one of our commie-block districts. The monument could double to represent the Victims of Bad Architecture.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_Avenue


http://www.cogeim.ca/appartement-a-l...rk-towers.html


http://roycehomesales.com/properties...zabeth-towers/


http://primecorppm.com/blog/2014/09/...ents-for-rent/


http://www.robhuntley.ca/Kite-Aerial...r-Purification

These will go in the Commie-Block Canada thread.

[Kitchissippi]

Ottawa's already getting the Holocaust Memorial, we should share the "love" and move this one to Gatineau

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Ottawa's already getting the Holocaust Memorial, we should share the "love" and move this one to Gatineau

They do get a fascist government every few years. It would be quite fitting.

[MoreTrains]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Better sites for Victims of Communism monument is any one of our commie-block districts. The monument could double to represent the Victims of Bad Architecture.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_Avenue


http://www.cogeim.ca/appartement-a-l...rk-towers.html


http://roycehomesales.com/properties...zabeth-towers/


http://primecorppm.com/blog/2014/09/...ents-for-rent/


http://www.robhuntley.ca/Kite-Aerial...r-Purification

These will go in the Commie-Block Canada thread.

That would really liven up the Khruschev-esque buildings and perhaps create a public meeting area. lol

[JM1]

Why are we creating a Victims of Communism memorial?

Communism is an economic system (granted, not a particularly successful one). But the tragedies of the 20th century were brought about not by communism but by totalitarian regimes.

While I don't like the location chosen for the Victims of Communism memorial, I am even more opposed to the very nature of the memorial.

A memorial to the victims of Communism excludes the impact that non-communist totalitarian regimes have had on populations including through human rights abuses, abuses of judicial review, starvation, murder, etc...

The Nazis were not communists. It is even questionable whether many countries that claimed/claim to be "communist" are indeed communist.

The issue is with the totalitarian nature of these regimes.

in their fervour to bash communists, some may lose sight of what is really to be feared and are making the same mistake that US Senator Joe McCarthy made.

A suitable location for a monument to totalitarianism might be LeBreton flats, close to the War Museum.

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by JM1

Why are we creating a Victims of Communism memorial?

Because our PM lives in a Black and White world.... and your later paragraphs add far too many shades of grey...

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

Because our PM lives in a Black and White world.... and your later paragraphs add far too many shades of grey...

The area around it can be a meta-monument: Victims of the worst Ideological Government.

[MoreTrains]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

Because our PM lives in a Black and White world.... and your later paragraphs add far too many shades of grey...

Time for a movie about the current Gov't: Too Many Shades of Grey

[J.OT13]

Is this the scale model of Ottawa at the NCC HQ? If so, what the hell is up with Place de Ville C? And the random box behind the Lutheran Church (next to Christ Church Cathedral)?


https://www.raic.org/news/raic-state...tims-communism

BTW, Garden of the Provinces is also a bad spot for this pointless monument. It's an established park that already has interesting sculptures and existing, non-commie related vocation.

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Is this the scale model of Ottawa at the NCC HQ? If so, what the hell is up with Place de Ville C? And the random box behind the Lutheran Church (next to Christ Church Cathedral)?


https://www.raic.org/news/raic-state...tims-communism

BTW, Garden of the Provinces is also a bad spot for this pointless monument. It's an established park that already has interesting sculptures and existing, non-commie related vocation.

I think this was Heritage Ottawa's. Not just tower C (is that the tower in Hull?), but the church on Kent and Wellington is missing it's highrise on Queen, and it looks like the CBC buildng is missing. And 180 Kent's third sibling isn't there.

[rocketphish]

NCC changed donor recognition policy after lobbying by memorial group

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 12, 2015, Last Updated: February 12, 2015 7:13 PM EST



The National Capital Commission “caved in” to lobbying by Tribute to Liberty, the charitable group raising funds for the new $5.5-million Memorial to the Victims of Communism, abandoning a policy that banned the acknowledgment of donors at commemorative sites, says the charity’s former chair.

The 2012 policy reversal cleared the way for Tribute to Liberty, then struggling to raise money for the memorial, to offer donors name recognition at the memorial, which will occupy a 5,000-square-metre site between the Supreme Court and Library and Archives Canada.

However, a Department of Canadian Heritage spokesman said the amendments “were not driven by Tribute to Liberty.”

Under a banner that reads “final opportunity,” a notice in Tribute to Liberty’s most recent newsletter offers those who donate $1,000 a place on the memorial’s “Wall of Remembrance.”

“You can forever memorialize the name of a loved one on the Memorial to the Victims of Communism’s Wall of Remembrance with a $1,000 donation,” the text reads. “Space on the wall is limited. Make your donation today to ensure that the world never forgets the suffering endured under communism.”

As well, Tribute to Liberty’s website promises an on-site plaque to those who donate $100,000 or more. Those who donate between $1,001 and $99,999 will also be recognized by name at the memorial site.

Under a policy adopted in 2006, the NCC explicitly ruled out this sort of donor recognition. “Donor contributions to the commemoration, whether financial or other, shall not be acknowledged in any manner as part of the commemorative site,” the policy stated.

In its fall 2011 newsletter, Tribute to Liberty reported that many donors and potential donors were asking why there was no donor recognition at the memorial site. The charity had total assets of just $9,574 at the time.

Tribute to Liberty had recently participated in an evaluation of the NCC’s commemoration program, the newsletter said, and “raised the issue of on-site donor recognition. The NCC responded by saying they would look into the issue.”

In its winter 2012 newsletter, Tribute to Liberty advised that the NCC had promised an answer by March. “Tribute to Liberty is hopeful the NCC will change its policy regarding on-site recognition as it wants to be able to recognize donors at the memorial site.”

In an interview, Alide Forstmanis, who was chair of the charitable group from 2008 until October 2012, said she pushed for the policy review. It took about two years, she said, but “obviously, they caved in on that.”

Forstmanis, now the charity’s treasurer, said about 500 people have made the requisite $1,000 donations and will be named on the Wall of Remembrance.

The NCC referred Citizen questions about the policy change to the Department of Canadian Heritage, which assumed responsibility for commemorative monuments in September 2013.

In an email, Tim Warmington, a media relations adviser with Canadian Heritage, said the amendments to the NCC’s 2006 policy “were made with international standards in mind and were not driven by Tribute to Liberty.” In a followup interview, Warmington refused to say what motivated the policy change. “The response we provided is the response we provided,” he said.

Tribute to Liberty chair Ludwik Klimkowski denied that the charity is effectively selling space on the memorial. “I don’t want to create an impression that there’s some kind of monetary exchange here,” he said. “It is about gathering testimonials and information about the life of someone they would like to commemorate.”

Klimkowski suggested the fee was a way of limiting the number of names, given finite room on the memorial. “Obviously, we have to be prudent in terms of the space.”

Leslie Maitland, president of Heritage Ottawa, said on-site donor recognition is a relatively new idea that has become increasingly common in the arts and in heritage conservation projects.

However, she added, “It’s a bit of a head-scratcher with something like a commemorative monument, because while you want to thank your generous donors, you don’t want a distraction from what the actual theme of the monument is.”

Bill Pechet, director of Vancouver’s Pechet Studio, which has worked on memorial projects, said donor recognition ideally should be disengaged from the memorial itself “so it’s not encountered and confused with its actual purpose. It’s not about the glorification of those who gave money.”

But Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky, who has publicly criticized the choice of a prime location on Wellington Street for the memorial, said recognizing donors at the memorial site “doesn’t trouble me too much,” provided it is done discreetly.

Padolsky said it was “probably true” that the NCC policy wasn’t changed in response to Tribute to Liberty’s lobbying. “I think there’s been pressure to find ways to engage sponsors and donors to contribute to public art and commemorations.”

Since the policy change, Tribute to Liberty’s fundraising efforts have been much more successful. Including outstanding pledges, it now has raised about $1.5 million, Klimkowski said.

He said the names on the Wall of Remembrance will represent the stories of the 100 million people worldwide who were victimized by communist regimes.

“You cannot put hundreds of thousands of names of Canadians on the wall,” he said. “So I said, ‘Why don’t we just ask 1,000 generous Canadians to represent the stories of the survivors and victims of communism?'”

Klimkowski made the first donation, but said his name on the wall will represent the story of a Polish priest who was tortured and killed for supporting the Solidarity movement.

“You might argue that my name on the wall is not representative of my story,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be. I chose to commemorate a hero who is really close to my heart.”

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/ButlerDon
What donors get



Tribute to Liberty offers these levels of recognition to people who donate to the Memorial to the Victims of Communism:

LEGACY LEADERS: $100,000 and up

Name of a plaque on memorial
‘Special thank you gift’
Name and logo on Tribute to Liberty website
Name on bricks on the website’s virtual Pathway to Liberty
Photo and profile in Tribute to Liberty newsletter
Reserved seating at official dedication of memorial

VISIONARIES: $50,000 to $99,999

Name at memorial site
‘Special thank you gift’
Name and logo on Tribute to Liberty website
Name on bricks on the website’s virtual Pathway to Liberty
Invitation to the dedication reception
Special seating at official dedication of memorial

AMBASSADORS: $20,000 to $49,999

Name at the memorial site
‘Special thank you gift’
Name on bricks on the website’s virtual Pathway to Liberty
Invitation to the dedication reception
Invitation to the official dedication of the memorial

BUILDERS: $1,001 to $19,999

Name at the memorial site
Name on bricks on the website’s virtual Pathway to Liberty
Invitation to the dedication reception
Invitation to the official dedication of the memorial

CHALLENGERS: $1,000

Name at the memorial site
Name on bricks on the website’s virtual Pathway to Liberty
Invitation to the official dedication of memorial

STORYTELLERS: $200 to $999

Name on a brick on the website’s virtual Pathway to Liberty
Opportunity to share a story, message or dedication to a victim of communism on the Tribute to Liberty website

FRIENDS: $199 and below

Name on final donor list on the Tribute to Liberty website


http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...memorial-group

[MoreTrains]

Lol, so a random donor is supposed to be representative of someone who may or may not have been enslaved/torture/murdered? Seems legit.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by defishel

I think this was Heritage Ottawa's. Not just tower C (is that the tower in Hull?), but the church on Kent and Wellington is missing it's highrise on Queen, and it looks like the CBC buildng is missing. And 180 Kent's third sibling isn't there.

Tower C is the tallest in Ottawa at Sparks/Lyon/Queen and yeah, it shows as something similar to Place de Portage 1 for some reason. Weird that St-Andrew's tower (Kent at Wellington) and nearly everything on the Sparks/Bank/Queen. Disappointed I didn't see that initially.

180 Kent's omission could be explained by the fact that it's moderately recent (2009).

[rocketphish]

Second architects association protests memorial location

Robert Bostelaar, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 18, 2015, Last Updated: February 18, 2015 5:46 PM EST



The Ontario Association of Architects has joined its national counterpart in urging the federal government to find a new home for a memorial scheduled to rise this year outside the front door of the Supreme Court of Canada.

In a Feb. 11 letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the group says the planned location would detract from both the significance of the Memorial to Victims of Communism and the prominence and “symbolic context” of existing architecture at the site.

It notes that the Wellington Street property has long been earmarked for a third federal justice building. Giving it over to a monument would “undo the efforts of the long-term vision and plan and destroy the opportunity for a significant work of public architectural built form anticipated for this site,” the group says.

Its letter largely echoes a call made by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada a week earlier for the government to reconsider the site. However, while the national body offered no opinion on the merits of the memorial itself, the Ontario group describes the marker as “important” and an example of “architecture that enhances our collective cultural understanding of world events.”

Toronto firm ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture submitted the winning design for the $5.5-million memorial, a bunker-like assembly of sharp concrete shapes.

Other critics have taken issue with the theme as well as the location, arguing that a memorial restricted to those who have suffered under communism represents a narrow, simplistic view of history. They say any memorial should commemorate victims of all anti-democratic regimes.

The Royal Architectural Institute says the monument should be shifted across the street and 300 metres to the west to the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, the site that had originally been set aside by the National Capital Commission. In 2012 the federal government donated the current site to Tribute to Liberty, the charity formed in 2008 to raise funds for the memorial.

The Ontario association, which represents 3,500 architects, says the Garden of the Provinces should be assessed along with other potential sites.

“Relocating the memorial will have a positive effect; it will reduce conflict, recognize the voice of the people, and maintain the architectural integrity of the design,” its letter says.

rbostelaar@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/robt_bostelaar

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...orial-location

[ars]

I hope these protests aren't falling on deaf ears, but I have a sinking feeling that they are :/

[Arcologist]

Originally Posted by ars

I hope these protests aren't falling on deaf ears, but I have a sinking feeling that they are :/

I'm drafting a letter at this very moment, that I plan to send to everyone who has a say in this: the entire City Council, local MPs and MPPs, NCC, and a few others.

Hopefully, if enough people speak up, people will realize this is the wrong place for such a monument...

[rocketphish]

Victims of communism memorial land worth at least $16M, Ottawa architect says

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 19, 2015, Last Updated: February 19, 2015 8:11 PM EST

The prestigious Wellington Street site the federal government has made available for the planned Memorial to the Victims of Communism is worth at least $16 million and perhaps as much as $30 million, says Barry Padolsky, the Ottawa architect who has led the charge against the memorial’s location.

The estimated value, which Padolsky said is based on credible analyses by “respected independent real estate brokers and developers” familiar with Ottawa’s real estate market, far exceeds the previous estimate of $1 million for the 5,000-square-metre property adjacent to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The figures appear in an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Padolsky plans to release publicly Friday.

He writes that the $16-million to $30-million range for the property is based on its approved use for a major new building, not a park. The site had previously been reserved for a planned nine-storey Federal Court building named after former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau. That project has since been scrapped by the Conservative government.

The federal government has never revealed how much the property is worth. The $1-million estimate came from comments made last summer by Ludwik Klimkowski, chair of Tribute to Liberty, the charity formed in 2008 to raise money for the memorial.

At the time, Klimkowski told the Citizen that Tribute to Liberty had signed a memorandum of understanding with three federal departments to provide about $4 million in total support for the project.

Two of the departments — Canadian Heritage and Citizenship and Immigration — contributed a total of $3 million and Public Works provided the land but no money, suggesting an approximate value of $1 million for the site.

The Citizen asked Public Works this week for its valuation of the property, which will remain in public ownership after the memorial is built. In an email, the department replied: “No valuation has been undertaken as the land is not being disposed of.”

In an interview Thursday, Padolsky said it was “incredible” that the department would commit a prime piece of public land without telling Public Works Minister Diane Finley how much it was worth.

“They would have to have a handle on it,” he said. “They are stewards of the federal property portfolio. They have got to have a good command of all aspects of it.”

In his letter to Harper, Padolsky says the true cost of the memorial to taxpayers is at least $20 million, based on the most conservative estimate of the land value, the $3 million federal contribution and other undisclosed costs such as annual maintenance, contingencies and the national competition that selected the winning monument design.

The Citizen asked Public Works for the estimated maintenance and life-cycle costs for the memorial, but the department replied that it couldn’t provide one “as the design and operational parameters have not yet been finalized.”

But Padolsky said the implication for ongoing operational costs “is always one of the questions that’s asked” when the federal government issues a Request for Proposals for new monuments and memorials.

Canadian Heritage did provide a total cost for the national design competition — $198,600 — a number Padolsky said was plausible.

In his open letter, Padolsky urges Harper to ask Finley for advice on the “undisclosed true financial cost” of the federal financial contribution to the monument.

Once that has been obtained, “your reputed fiscal prudence and interest in ‘economy and efficiency’ will certainly lead you to seek a less costly site for this memorial,” he writes.

Padolsky reminds the prime minister that a site originally offered by the National Capital Commission at the Garden of the Province is “an appropriate site in waiting” and is available at significant less real estate value.

Since Padolsky first raised objections to the chosen site last fall, opposition has been building. Just this week, the Ontario Association of Architects joined the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in urging the government to reconsider the memorial site.

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...architect-says

[1overcosc]

Well if there's this much opposition to it, a future government can credibly relocate it even once its finished.