A memorial commemorating more than 160 Canadian Armed Forces and public service personnel who lost their lives in Afghanistan is being planned for Victoria’s Pioneer Square.
“We would love to see this in place before Nov. 11 this year,” said Coun. Chris Coleman, who has been working with the Afghanistan Memorial Committee of Victoria.
The memorial is not about glorifying war or the Afghanistan conflict, Coleman said.
“This is about understanding loss. This is about understanding the global perspective or the global persona of Canadians. Sometimes we do things extraordinarily well. Afghanistan wasn’t a peacekeeping mission, but it was fairly close to that,” Coleman said.
The proposed monument is estimated to cost about $80,000. Fundraising will be undertaken by the volunteer committee. It is to be made of polished grey granite etched on both sides with the image of a tree and blowing maple leaves, representing the fallen. It will be 1.8 metres tall at its highest point, just over 3.5 metres long and about one metre wide.
A dedication in English and French will be inscribed, along with the names of those who lost their lives in the deployment.
Canada’s 12-year engagement in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2012 involved more than 40,000 personnel and was the largest deployment of Canadian forces since the Second World War.
During that time, 158 Canadian Armed Forces personnel, five members of the Public Service of Canada and 43 United States Armed Forces personnel who were under Canadian command lost their lives.
Pioneer Square is a small park on Quadra Street at Rockland Avenue, just north of Christ Church Cathedral. It was Victoria’s cemetery from 1855 to 1873, and has been a city park since 1908. About 1,300 people are buried in the park, some marked by heritage tombstones. There are also several military memorials in the square, including the Scottish Regiment Cenotaph and the Royal Canadian Air Force commemorative monument.
The seeds of the idea for the Afghanistan memorial date to 2009 when Coleman and his wife, Judith, visited a garden in St. Andrews, N.B.
“In the pathway leading from the parking lot to the garden they had a raised garden bed with 155 hand-carved maple leaves on individual stems, painted red. It was a tribute garden to the 155 Canadian Armed Forces personnel who had died in Afghanistan thus far in the mission,” Coleman said. “It was evocative and they had a memorial book and that sort of stuff.”
Upon returning to Victoria, Coleman bumped into Dr. Richard Nuttall, whose son, Lt. Andrew Nuttall, died in Afghanistan in 2009 while serving with the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry.
Nuttall remarked how the falling leaf component would be a fitting motif in a memorial and the idea took off, Coleman said.
This week, Victoria councillors approved the monument being erected in the park, subject to it undergoing a heritage alteration permit process. Coleman said now that council has approved the project, fundraising will begin.
