Mother Courage, the 10-storey statue planned for Green Cove in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, on the east coast of Canada, continues to draw support and protest.
It’s a memorial to soldiers whose remains were never brought home to Canada, created by ‘The Never Forgotten War Memorial Foundation’. Based in Ontario, the foundation, is trying to raise between $25 million and $60 million for the project. It has declined to say how much has been raised to date.
This past Sunday, 180 people gathered to show their support, while a group of history professors added their voices to the chorus of opposition.
In a commentary for a local newspaper, Jonathan Roberts, David Campbell, Corey Slumkoski and Martha Walls of Mount Saint Vincent University, expressed their view that the proposed site “falls into a trap of blind patriotism”.
According to Jonathan Roberts, “We’re not trying to be anti-veteran,” he said. “We’re not trying to be negative … but we feel the monument is not appropriate to commemorating the First World War or other wars because it distils down the story of those wars in kind of a simplified statue and mainly about soldiers dying and those who participated in those wars.”
The Never Forgotten War Memorial Foundation plan includes a restaurant, souvenir shop, interpretive centre and parking for 300 vehicles.
For Jonathan Roberts it is more a question of scale; “We’re concerned that a giant statue, which is a colossus, might be the wrong kind of public art to remember wars with,” He says large statues have been falling out of favour around the world for years.
“Canada has never built a colossus before. We’ re not really in the business of building giant statues because they are so politically divisive,” he said. “If it were the case that a giant statue generated economic development there would be a lot of giant statues all over the place.”
The university professors join 28 former senior Parks Canada managers who wrote an open letter to federal environment minister, Leona Aglukkaq, articulating their fierce opposition to the 30-metre war memorial in this national park.
They said the statue goes against the “ecological integrity” of the park. “It is not only inappropriate in a national park it is in violation of the site’s wilderness zone designation as detailed in the management plan for the park” it continues.
“This one project seems to be on a fast-track despite the lack of broad based public support. It certainly gives the appearance that decisions are being imposed on Parks Canada in opposition to its governing legislation and policies.” reads the letter dated June 4th.
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