Anti-Communist Monument in Ottawa

In the Name of Doing "Due Diligence" Canada Postpones Unveiling of "Memorial to the Victims of Communism"


Information picket at the Ottawa site of the anti-communist monument, August 21, 2020

Following the exposure of the collaboration between the government of Canada and World War II Nazi collaborators in the Canadian Parliament on September 22, it has now been revealed that the government of Canada's official unveiling of its "Memorial to the Victims of Communism -- Canada, a Land of Refuge" -- a project inspired by Nazi collaborators and apologists in and outside of government -- which was to take place this fall, has been postponed.[1] Up till now, no matter how many Canadians decried the project or exposed who was funding it and its aim, the government has found ways to proceed with it. And seems to be up to the same thing once again.

According to Canadian Heritage, "The Memorial to the Victims of Communism -- Canada, a Land of Refuge will recognize Canada's international role as a place of refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution and honour the millions who suffered under communist regimes." Canadians do not accept the idea that Canada's role in giving "refuge" to war criminals and Nazi collaborators is something to be celebrated and commemorated.

The Canadian Heritage website states: "Important Note: Although the Memorial to the Victims of Communism -- Canada a Land of Refuge was scheduled to be inaugurated by the end of 2023, the Government of Canada is doing its due diligence to ensure all aspects of the Memorial remain compatible with Canadian values on democracy and human rights."

Heritage Canada further states, "The Government of Canada is committed to complete this project. The Memorial will be inaugurated in 2024, at a date to be selected in consultation with the main proponent of the project, Tribute to Liberty."

The proposal for the Memorial has been opposed by Canadians since day one, just as the admission of war criminals was opposed vigorously at the time the Canadian government decided to allow and even encourage their admission to Canada. Those in whose name donations have been made include the Latvian SS, the Croatian Ustasha, members of the Hungarian puppet government established by the Nazis and responsible for the deportation of the Jewish population to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the fascist Slovene "Home Guard," and the Romanian Iron Guard -- and this is not a complete list. The list of donors seems to have been white washed but all the evidence shows that this project is established to glorify Nazism and give credence to a cause aimed at wiping out Russia today to "vindicate" what are called the "victims of communism." It has not gone unnoticed that the government of Canada has not expended this much money and effort to promote a memorial to the victims of U.S. imperialism around the world, or of colonial genocide, or to the children kidnapped into residential schools and the murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited persons.

Official Canada must be held to account for the criminals the memorial to the so-called victims of communism has been established to defend and "remember." The claim that Canada is doing its "due diligence" will come back to haunt all those who have been a part of this criminal project. No amount of attempts to sanitize the evidence that it was set up to honour the perpetrators of horrendous war crimes and crimes against humanity will give this project a pretty face. It is rotten to its very core and all attempts to sanitize it show what kind of democracy and human rights the government of Canada and cartel parties stand for.

What Tribute to Liberty stands for cannot be condoned, no matter how much money and acceptance they have received from U.S. and Canadian official circles. Canadians sacrificed their lives in World War Two to defeat the heroes who are being praised. Tribute to Liberty's founders and funders are scum of the earth. Far from convincing anyone that the monument is about "democracy and human rights," or that its cause represents the security of the state against communism or a Russian or Chinese threat, what its promoters stand for tells the truth of the matter. First came the Harper government and its minister Jason Kenney -- whose avowed mentor, Aloysius Stepanic, was responsible for the murder of thousands of Serbs. This was followed by the Trudeau governments whose Deputy Prime Minister is herself integral to the glorification of Nazi collaborators. Others in positions of power and influence are also implicated and now is the time to bring the entire sordid affair to light once again.

Demand that the Government of Canada do its "due diligence" in the light of day. When it took up the crusade of Tribute to Liberty to destroy the anti-fascist contribution and sentiment of Canadians, its imposition of an anti-communist, warmongering agenda was clear. Now the government is engaging in a cover-up. It may withdraw the information that the so-called victims of communism in whose name donations have been made include the fascist organizations and their leaders who fought with Hitler. It is making the claim that the receipt of donations in their names was some kind of "inadvertent mistake" with "unintended" consequences. It will not succeed. 

This entire monument should be demolished. With or without the donations and names of these Nazis and their collaborators, the aim of declaring Canada a refuge to victims of communism is unacceptable because it is based on the cold war definitions of democracy versus totalitarianism which are being resuscitated today to foment divisions amongst the Canadian people, present those who do not conform to the ruling ideology on crucial issues like the war in Ukraine, the aims of NATO, the need for a new world order where all countries are equal, Canada's international role in supporting Israel and condemning those who support the Palestinian people and oppose the crimes of the Israeli state as anti-Semitic and terrorists, and so forth. 

The organization Tribute to Liberty was an unsavoury organization from the get go. The government of Canada has a lot to explain as to why it is associated to such an organization and why it is allotting public land and public funds to realize its heinous project. Trying to sanitize this project will not succeed, no matter how hard the government tries. The monument should be condemned and demolished and the place allotted to it handed over to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada to do with as they decide, without government interference but at its expense. 


This article was published in
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Volume 53 Number 19 - November 2023

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53195.HTM


    

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