Planned Afghanistan war memorial now in doubt

[Tory MP Pierre Poilievre speaks to journalists on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Chris Wattie]

Erin O’Toole, veterans affairs minister with the previous Conservative government, has banded together with MP Pierre Poilievre to urge the Liberal government to continue with plans for a national Afghanistan war memorial in Ottawa that’s now in doubt.

“It was the longest-ever combat mission in which Canadians fought, and their sacrifice deserves to be commemorated in the nation’s capital,” Poilievre tells Yahoo Canada News.

Over 40,000 served in Afghanistan, Canada’s longest single military mission in history, between 2001 and 2014. More than 2,000 of those who served were injured, and 158 were killed.

Plans for a memorial to the Afghanistan war, called the National Memorial to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan, were first announced in 2014 under the Conservative government. The expected cost was $5 million, and the memorial was to be built at Richmond Landing in Ottawa.

But reconsideration of the memorial was among the responsibilities given to incoming Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr in November in his mandate letter. And while Hehr said in the House of Commons on Monday that the Liberal government would “get it done,” he didn’t give any particulars on when the memorial could be expected.

“He seems to be prepared to reconsider and that’s positive, but I’ll wait and see what happens and how quickly,” Poilievre says.

Hehr and O’Toole were not immediately available for comment.

Consideration of the memorial’s cancellation is tied to the current Liberal government’s intentional shift away from the previous government’s penchant for promoting Canada’s military history, the Ottawa Citizen reported last week.

The Tory MPs are also asking for continued federal funding for the Community War Memorial Program, which provided matching funding up to $50,000 for communities building or expanding war memorials. The program’s existing funding is set to expire March 31, and its website says new applications are no longer being accepted.

“It can cost $100,000 to build a really nice cenotaph, and it’s hard for a legion alone to raise that money,” Poilievre says.

An evaluation of the program done in 2015 found that over five years it had spent $3 million on 99 projects across the country. The evaluation called for continued support for the program from the federal government.

“These are the places where people gather on Remembrance Day, so it’s important to stay the course with that program,” Poilievre says. “I’m hopeful the minister will reconsider his decision and agree to fund these local projects.”

In a Monday editorial for the Ottawa Citizen, Poilievre wrote that cuts to the program are an insult to veterans.

“These monuments are symbols of the thousands who gave all so that we could enjoy the blessings of freedom,” Poilievre wrote. “They paid the ultimate price — and the cenotaph fund was a tiny price to pay in return.”