Petition started to relaunch competition for National Memorial to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan

A House of Commons petition has been created in hopes of relaunching the competition to design the National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan.

In September 2023, the Government of Canada’s process for selecting the winner for a competition to design the National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan was under scrutiny.

At the time, documents shared by Quebec architecture firm Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker and a subsequent investigation by Quebec newspaper La Presse revealed how the Government chose the winner of a public poll over the jury’s selected winner.

While the project designed by Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Architecture + Luca Fortin (artist) + Louise Arbour (advisor) was selected the winner by the competition jury, it was not awarded the project by the Government of Canada.

As a result, Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker wrote to the Prime Minister of Canada to protest the “undemocratic selection process,” and gathered support for a follow-up letter asking that the government reverse its decision and award the mandate to the team selected by the jury, as stipulated in the competition rules

The latest petition, which has already garnered over 200 signatures, is currently underway and will be open until June 9, 2024.

“Over the past ten months, the team formed by Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker Architecture + Luca Fortin (artist) + Louise Arbour (advisor) has multiplied its efforts to denounce the undemocratic selection process,” said Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker in a release.

“Despite the undeniable support of major players from all walks of life, and the publication of numerous articles and reports, the situation does not seem to be improving. In this context, we support the petition launched in the House of Commons by MP Blake Richards, calling on the Government of Canada to cancel the current national monument project and start afresh.”

“We, the undersigned citizens or residents of Canada, petition the Government of Canada to scrap the current national monument project and start over from scratch, and build a monument that properly honors and represents the great service and sacrifice of all those who served in the Canadian Mission to Afghanistan,” concluded the release.

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