QUESTION PERIOD — Veterans Affairs
National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan
February 8, 2024
My question is for the government leader in the Senate.
In 2014, former Prime Minister Harper promised to have a monument erected to pay tribute to the commitment and sacrifice of Canadians in helping to rebuild Afghanistan. Following a juried competition, Team Daoust’s design was selected.
The jury’s decision was later overruled by the federal government. The decision was justified by responses from veterans and the general public to an anonymous online survey. However, the jury consulted these survey results, and remained firm that Team Daoust’s submission was the best option.
This sets a dangerous precedent, as surveys are far from being the most reliable instruments. For example, 35% of respondents were from Ontario, while only 2% were from Saskatchewan.
Senator Gold, how does the government justify breaking its own procurement rules?
Thank you for your question.
The national monument will be a very solemn tribute to the more than 40,000 Canadians — whether military, police or civilians — who served there. Indeed, as I’ve mentioned in this chamber before, Veterans Affairs Canada heard from over 10,000 Canadians.
The Team Stimson design best reflects — and this is important — the input of veterans, their families and others who served on the mission. The government has always supported and appreciated the work of the jury members who evaluated the finalists’ designs, but the design that was chosen was the one that the veterans on the mission and their families felt best represented the bravery, the sacrifices and, tragically, the losses of those who served there.
Senator Gold, Afghan women and girls have been stripped of their basic human rights. They live in the shadows and are essentially confined to their homes. Yesterday, I spent the evening with many Afghan refugees, as well as eight former women parliamentarians. Team Daoust’s proposed remembrance wall with the lace-like stone meant to refer to a view of the world through the motif of a burka. The jury stated that this design best reflected the sacrifices made by Canadians in Afghanistan, particularly in regard to the education of women and girls there.
Senator Gold, women and girls have already been erased from Afghan society. Why are they now being erased from Canadian commemoration?
The treatment of women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan is reprehensible and condemned by all fair-thinking people and, indeed, by this government. But the fact remains that the decision to go with the design that was chosen was the one that was supported and preferred by the veterans and their families.
