Tear Down the Victims of Communism Memorial

It's been 17 years and a ballooning cost of millions of dollars, but Canada's monument to the "Victims of Communism" is finished. It's been ready since, at the very least, November 2023.

But the monument has not been unveiled to the public. The reason? After every member of Canadian Parliament rose to give a literal Nazi Waffen SS veteran a standing ovation, the Department of Canadian Heritage delayed the opening event.

"Canadian government officials have already identified some individuals who served with the Waffen SS among those names submitted, according to other federal documents obtained by this newspaper," wrote Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese in February 2024.

Putting aside the ballooning costs and the questionable political implications to key trading partners like Vietnam, and a relatively friendly relationship Canada has with Cuba, "victims of communism" itself is a dicey phrase. Claiming anyone killed under a communist government was a fascist or otherwise "deserved it" is not something anyone is seriously arguing. However, building a monument to the concept necessarily includes a large percentage of those who fought communists. Historically, this primarily includes far-right nationalists, fascists and Nazis.

Indeed, these are the types of names honoured in the Victims of Communism memorial that has yet to be unveiled. Pugliese, once again reporting on the monument, has found through government records that at least 330 names are linked to Nazis and fascists.

"A 2023 report for Canadian Heritage recommended more than 330 names be excluded to be on the safe side, the records noted. The exclusions were recommended because of the lack of information about the individuals or organizations and whether they might have links to fascist organizations or the Nazis."

Considering how the total amount was to be 553, that means approximately 60 per cent of names on the monument are people who are reasonably believed to have links to fascist organizations. This is the same government consisting of politicians bending over backwards to call pro-Palestine incidents antisemitic, like when a protestor dressed as Spider-man climbs scaffolding.

One notable fascist previously honoured in private donations is Roman Shukhevych, a prominent member of the Order of Ukrainian Nationalists who participated in the genocide of 100,000 Polish and Jewish people. Another, Ante Pavelić, led the Nazi-puppet government in Croatia and killed tens of thousands of Jews, Roma and Serbs during his rule. Who knows how many other genocidal fascists joining their ranks in those 330 names?

Besides the art installation's implicit fascist undertones, which have now become explicit, it's also been a financial disaster. Originally costing $1.5 million when proposed, the latest report from June of 2023 estimate a cost of $7.5 million. That was before the delay. That was before the investigations. How much more have these desperate attempts to scrub the fascist stink off of the monument cost us?

In 2015, before the Liberals won a majority government, Roy MacGregor wrote in The Globe and Mail, that the memorial was "a looming disaster." MacGregor and The Globe and Mail, of course, weren't against the monument in concept, but brought up the zoning and aesthetic issues of the piece. This was all backed up by the price tag at the time, a concern about the cost of $5 million.

If only MacGregor knew how right he was.

Since few journalists have posed questions to the government about these scandals, most MPs just seem to approach the monument somewhere on the scale between apathy and endorsement. Since it began as a brainchild of then prominent Conservative MP Jason Kenney in 2007, it has been the commitment of the Canadian state to get it finished. Once the Liberals took power, the Liberals wanted to move it from the site that had MacGregor so concerned. Then-Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said that the process had been, among other things, "too divisive." Joly also stated that monuments like these shouldn't be "shrouded in controversy."

How did that work out?

David Pugliese has been one of the most valuable journalists covering the complete shit show that the Victims of Communism monument has continued to be. But how has this scandal not touched the Liberals or Conservatives?

One reporter should not be carrying the weight of reporting on such a crucial issue. Other journalists should be pressing Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge on this complete disaster of a memorial. What has been the costs of these investigations? Why were names not vetted in the first place? How can the federal government justify a monument that is now, unequivocally, inseparable from fascism? These questions should be flooding pressers, inboxes, and voicemail.

Not only does it appear as though our political system is simply pre-disposed to worshipping fascism, but few journalists even press the federal government on this de facto outlook. Canada has continually and repeatedly shamed itself with its blatant praise of fascism for far too long. Political reporters refusing to use Pugliese's stories to hold the government to account, meanwhile, are a journalistic shame.

The Victims of Communism Memorial has been a complete national embarrassment. Disgrace doesn't even begin to cover it. Celebrating the forces that slaughtered so many people, including the 45,000 Canadians who died in WWII, should warrant an endless uproar. It's far past time that we all seriously consider demolishing this monument to fascism.

To those who would cry at the wasted expense if this option were to be considered, one simple question refutes that concern. Would we rather have a $7.5 million money pit, or a testament to how deeply this country tolerates fascism?

Tear it down.